A/51/536 English Page 9 with inter-ethnic relations. The local authorities in areas inhabited by national minorities had similar deliberative bodies. F. The right to establish and maintain their own associations (article 2.4) 28. The Government of Austria stated that many associations of ethnic groups sought to develop their own language and culture, and collectively represent the interests of their members, and the Government of Lithuania stated that ethnic communities might administer independently the affairs of their ethnic culture, education and organizations. G. The right to establish and maintain, without any discrimination, free and peaceful contacts with other members of their group and with persons belonging to other minorities, as well as contacts across frontiers with citizens of other States to whom they are related by national or ethnic, religious or linguistic ties (article 2.5) 29. The Law on National Minorities of Lithuania guaranteed persons belonging to minorities the freedom to establish contacts with persons of the same ethnic background abroad. H. Equality before the law (article 4.1) 30. The Government of Iceland stated that the Constitution stipulated that everybody should be equal before the law and enjoy human rights without regard to, inter alia, national origin, race, colour or other status. I. The right to learn their mother tongue, have instruction in their mother tongue and, through education, to have opportunities to gain knowledge of the society as a whole (articles 4.3 and 4.4) 31. The Government of Austria stated that in Kärnten, members of the Croat, Slovene and Hungarian ethnic groups had an individual right to receive instruction in their mother tongue, on condition that they had Austrian citizenship. In the "Burgenland", instruction was available in Croat, Hungarian or Romany. In minority schools, education could be provided for in two languages, namely, the minority language and German, or in only the minority language. Teachers who taught in both the minority language and German were granted additional income benefits. Instruction to learn the mother tongue of a minority was available to children of ethnic groups, and included Albanian, Arabic, Bulgarian, Kurdish, Polish, Croat, Serb, Serbo-Croat, Slovak, Slovene and Turkish, as was instruction of a minority language as a foreign language. /...