E/CN.4/2006/74 page 6 considerations as to how she perceives her mandate. In chapter III, she will elaborate on how she intends to conduct her mandate and the activities foreseen under it. In chapter IV, the independent expert will offer some initial comments on issues of particular relevance to her mandate and identify priority areas of concern. In chapter V of the report, the independent expert will outline her activities to date. 7. The independent expert looks forward to the opportunity to elaborate on some of the points not satisfactorily covered in this report, on the occasion of her oral presentation to the Commission on Human Rights. I. BACKGROUND 8. The Charter of the United Nations, which came into force in 1945, sets out to promote universal “respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion”. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, proclaims that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. It sets out the human rights that are due to all, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. 9. In 1965, the General Assembly adopted the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, whose article 1 defines discrimination as “any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life”. 10. In 1966, the General Assembly adopted the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which in article 27 provides that “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”. In 1994, the Human Rights Committee (HRC) adopted its general comment No. 23, providing an authoritative interpretation of this article. 11. In 1989, the General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In article 30, this convention similarly provides that “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 practice his or her own religion, or to use his or her own language”. 12. In 1992, the General Assembly built on these provisions and adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (hereafter the Declaration on the Rights of Minorities), the only United Nations instrument wholly devoted to the rights of minorities. The Declaration of the Rights of Minorities will be available on the independent expert’s page at the OHCHR website.