E/CN.4/2006/16 page 12 intercultural encounter thus generates an identity-related tension which lies at the heart of the process of multiculturalization. Depending on the nature of the initial perception of diversity, whether cultural, ethnic or religious, identity-related tension is subject to a particular reading or interpretation or to a particular use, as determined by the value system of each group, community or people. Intercultural encounter thus functions through the cultural perspective from which peoples, communities and groups brought together within a given national framework perceive, compare, measure, oppose or acknowledge each other. Identity-related tension constitutes the engine of an ongoing process of reciprocal reconstruction of identity on the part of communities brought into contact. Identity-related tension is inherent in cultural diversity. It expresses itself in two major constituents of the identities of groups and communities and hence two areas subject to the multicultural process which profoundly structure discriminatory practices: memory and values. 32. The memory factor in multiculturalism concerns the place of particular memories of various components of a multicultural society in the national collective memory. Memory being the expression of the historical and identity-related experience of each community over a long period, multicultural societies are by their very nature receptacles of plural memories. The identity-related tension of memory stems from the latent or overt conflict between the construction of a national memory by the group or dominant community and the claiming by other groups or communities, whether or not minority, of an acknowledgement, complete and full, of their particular memories. The national memory, officially sanctioned and legitimized through its place in the national history books and transmitted through the national education system, is generally built on the basis of two principles: negation, dismissal or misrepresentation of the specific memories of minority groups or communities and the promotion of the memory construct of the group or dominant community. Tension arises as a result of the fact that the memory of the dominated groups or communities is suffused with conditions, manifestations and expressions of the domination of which they were victims. History and heritage are the major battlegrounds of this conflict of memories in multicultural societies. The dominant national memory usurps the recording and teaching of the national history and the designation of what should represent the national heritage. National citizenship is also organized around symbolic events, emblematic of national identity. These relate to historical, cultural and religious events, to places and to figures that exemplify national values and the national identity and which, through their commemoration and incorporation into the national cultural and social landscape, are intended to be acknowledged, memorized and celebrated by the model citizen. Historical overlooking of events and actions, the invisibility of personalities and places evoking memories and the reduction to folklore of cultural and spiritual expressions characterize the treatment and place in the national consciousness of dominated or minority groups and communities. This conflict of memory and heritage increases the initial identity-related tension and gives a meaning and substance to the visions and policies of integration and/or maintenance of cultural identity in any multicultural society. The multicultural dynamic thus has a fundamental relationship with memory. 33. The ethical issue, the question of values, constitutes a central dimension of the multicultural process and a particularly sensitive element in countering discrimination in a multicultural society. It is in the domain of cultural and spiritual or religious values that the identity of each group, community and people is most deeply rooted and is most sensitive. This identity-related tension is reflected, in the multicultural process, depending on the historical circumstances and political context, in the promotion and imposition of the cultural and spiritual