Dr. Maria Lundberg Law Faculty, University of Oslo, Norway Geneva, 13 Nov. 2009 Madame Chair The Forum on minority issues provides an important occasion for exchange among a wide range of person and institutions concerned about minority rights protection which I think all of us are grateful for having. I am here to introduce the contents, and structure of one significant practical and concrete result of the Sino Norwegian cooperation on minority rights The Beijing-Oslo Recommendations on the Protection of the Right's of Linguistic Minorities. - - Minority language use is a prerequisite for effective participation and it is a main instrumental element for guaranteeing the effective participation of minorities in public life. The draft recommendations of the 2009 session of the Forum on Minority Issues bring out the importance of minority language use for effective political participation of minorities. ' The Beijing-OSlo Recommendations address minority language use in a wide range of areas relevant to the effective political participation of minorities. I would like to mention Chapter VII minority language use in elections, Chapter 3 in state organs, legislative or administrative, Chapter 12 in institutions and mechanisms providing remedies in case of violations of the rights of minorities, and Chapter 9 in the media. Based on the recognition of a number of general principles and rules in international human rights instruments, including non-discrimination, minority rights and the effective participation of minorities in pUblic life, a "pick and choose menu" system is used for the structure of the Beijing-Oslo Recommendations, This structure provides alternatives for policy and law in a wide range of situations, taking into account the practice in different countries, such as China and Norway. This morning the representative of _ Norway addressed some of the relevant Norwegian practice. This structure is chosen in order to accommodate for the large diversity.in languages and situations of languages. It should provide specific alternatives based on general principles. Some advantages of this structure are • avoiding a too general wording to have .any real practical input, and to go beyond minimum standards The Beijing-Oslo Recommendations were drafted responding to the multiple and common challenges to the languages and cultures of linguistic minorities worldwide. It is our hope that the Beijing-Oslo Recommendations on the Protection of the Rights of Linguistic Minorities may have a practical value to the effective participation of different stakeholders in discussing, formulating and implementing law and policy relating to the rights of linguistic minorities, promoted by the draft recommendations of the 2009 session of the Forum on Minority Issues and the Independent Expert.