A/59/258 Human Rights and other bodies have received numerous communications to this effect. 38. Beyond respect for their human rights, indigenous organizations also claim the right to political representation as indigenous peoples at the national level, an issue which may or may not be compatible with existing political structures. The insistent demand for some form of autonomy is not always met by existing legislation, although this has been achieved in some countries. A case in point is the Constitution of the Philippines, which recognizes the right of the Muslim and Cordillera peoples to self-determination in the form of autonomy, but the latter are still awaiting the creation of their autonomous region. In Mexico, the Constitution establishes the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination in the form of autonomy and makes the state governments responsible for promulgating the necessary legislation, a procedure which has been challenged by indigenous organizations. While the constitutional reform took place in 2001, there has been no progress in the area of indigenous peoples’ autonomy to date. Indigenous peoples’ territorial entities or reservations are defined as autonomous units in the Colombian Constitution, but their administrative integration has not yet been achieved. Some of Panama’s indigenous regions are autonomous. 39. International opinion remains divided on the question of whether the principle of the right of peoples to self-determination is applicable to indigenous peoples; this is one of the reasons for the lack of progress on the draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples. The international movement of indigenous peoples is calling — rightly, in the Special Rapporteur’s view — for this right to be recognized and respected, but various reasons of State have been brandished by their opponents in yet another episode of the old debate between human rights and State interests. F. Education and culture 40. Mention must be made in the first place of the importance of language to the identity of any people. Language is not only a medium of communication, but also a crucial element in the structuring of thought processes and in providing meaning to the natural and social environment of any person in his or her society. Indigenous language communities provide their members with the full range of cultural meanings attached to the use of a shared idiom. Most indigenous languages are very ancient and while they have undergone changes, they are transmitted from generation to generation and thereby help preserve the continuity of a language community and its culture. 41. Language rights are an essential element of the cultural rights that all persons enjoy under international human rights standards. The right to one’s own language pertains not only to individuals, but also to communities, nations and peoples. If a language community is denied the collective and public use of its language (for example, in schools, the media, the courts and the administration), then any individual’s right to this language is severely curtailed. Therefore, language rights are nowadays proclaimed as human rights, which entail respect, promotion and promotion by others and especially by State authorities. Numerous States have now adopted legislation concerning the protection of regional, minority or indigenous languages, as New Zealand has done with the Maori language. 12