A/56/258 minority issues were not simply a European concern. As such, the discussions had served not only to enhance a more global understanding of the situations of peoples and groups but also to underscore the need to be more creative in finding solutions to protect and promote the rights of groups and communities. During the general debate participants proposed that minority claims could also be addressed by means of integration. It was also proposed that measures for integration be applied to residential policy-making and to ensuring the fair representation of minorities in the workplace and the law enforcement system. The need to provide for the inclusion of all communities in the Government and in the allocation of positions on public bodies, as well as in ensuring a fair share of economic development, was noted. Moreover, attention was also drawn to the need to differentiate between cultural autonomy and territorial democracy, it being indicated that cultural autonomy effectively sought to protect a culturally defined, rather than a territorially defined, group, through the right to self-rule or selfmanagement. Several participants spoke about the need for territorial decentralization to provide for the inclusion of all communities and groups and about the dangers of exclusion arising from ethnically based Governments. 21. Following this first debate on integration and autonomy, the Working Group recommended that there be further reflection on autonomist and integrative approaches to minority protection in multicultural societies, with a view to adopting a set of recommendations on these matters at the end of its eighth session, in May 2002. In preparation for this future debate, the Working Groups requested, inter alia, that its Chairperson-Rapporteur draft a paper identifying the effective and legitimate means which can be used by minorities to promote their rights and by Governments to maintain or restore human rightsbased law and order. It was also decided that the Working Group, at its eighth session, in May 2002, would focus on the role of national development policies and international development cooperation in promoting and protecting the rights of minorities with a view to preparing recommendations for adoption at its ninth session in 2003. 6 VI. Conclusions 22. In conclusion, there is increasing awareness that the protection and promotion of the rights of minorities can lead to stable societies, often addressing those group inequalities, particularly in the social, economic, cultural and political fields, that can be a root cause of conflicts. Where certain issues to be addressed are global in character, the Working Group on Minorities has chosen to formulate future recommendations concerning ways and means of ensuring the effective participation of minorities in public life as well as ensuring the socio-economic development of minority communities. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Working Group have also shown significant interest in pursuing recommendations to create awareness of practices that exist regionally and nationally, and from which lessons may be learned, for promoting the effective implementation of the provisions of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. For example, the Working Group has, inter alia, encouraged regional organizations to explore the possibility of establishing or strengthening regional institutions and mandates for the protection and promotion of the rights of minorities. In addition, the Commission on Human Rights and the Economic and Social Council have requested OHCHR to facilitate the sharing of information and cooperation between such existing international mechanisms as the United Nations treaty bodies and regional human rights systems for the better protection of the rights of minorities. Notes 1 The Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities was adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 47/135 of 18 December 1992.