A/HRC/43/47 parts of the country where they are concentrated (Carinthia, Burgenland and Styria) “the same rights on equal terms” as other citizens in their own language, as well as in relation to education: 2. They are entitled to elementary instruction in the Slovene or Croat language and to a proportional number of their own secondary schools; in this connection school curricula shall be reviewed and a section of the Inspectorate of Education shall be established for Slovene and Croat schools. 36. The Treaty of Peace with Italy and the Austrian State Treaty were directly inspired by the human rights approach reflected in the content of the minority treaties of the interwar period, in that their content appears to be anchored to the principle of equality and they recognize general human rights for all. Furthermore, the minority language rights they refer to are, in relation to education and access to services in minority languages, dependent on what is reasonable and justified, that is, in those parts of the country where most speakers of these languages reside and according to a proportional approach. 37. By the end of the 1950s, international law had gradually shifted towards a more straightforward acknowledgement of the rights of minorities or language rights, starting with the International Labour Organization (ILO) Indigenous and Tribal Populations Convention, 1957 (No. 107), which, although avoiding the word “minority”,5 provided that indigenous populations had the right to be taught in their mother tongue or, where this was not practicable, in the language most commonly used by the group to which they belonged. A few years later, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention against Discrimination in Education of 1960 prohibited, under article 1, “any distinction, exclusion or preference” based upon language or other grounds, which “has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing equality of treatment in education”, while making clear, in article 2 (b) that it did not constitute discrimination to establish or maintain, for linguistic reasons, separate educational systems or institutions. 38. For the global human rights system, this UNESCO treaty is significant. Article 5 (1) (c) indicates that “it is essential to recognize the right of members of national minorities to carry on their own educational activities, including the maintenance of schools and, depending on the educational policy of each State, the use or the teaching of their own language”, provided that “this right is not exercised in a manner which prevents the members of these minorities from understanding the culture and language of the community as a whole and from participating in its activities, or which prejudices national sovereignty”. 39. In the 1960s, language continued to be referred to as impermissible grounds of discrimination in the two United Nations covenants on human rights, namely the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both adopted on 16 December 1966. The latter treaty provided a specific reference to some rights for linguistic minorities: “In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their own religion, or to use their own language.” 40. A few decades later, only one other United Nations treaty, namely the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted on 20 November 1966, would entrench an almost identical provision. Article 30 of the Convention states: “In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons of indigenous origin exist, a child belonging to such a minority or who is indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practise his or her own religion, or to use his or her own language.” By the 1990s, however, any remaining reluctance to address and acknowledge minority language rights was gone, with other 5 While indigenous peoples are a distinct legal category, factually indigenous peoples may simultaneously constitute a minority in countries where they live. Being a minority does not extinguish or diminish any indigenous rights. 7