Regional systems 95 jurisprudence regarding the concept of “peoples” and identifies criteria to distinguish minorities from indigenous peoples. The report states that “the major and crucial difference between minority rights and indigenous rights is that minority rights are formulated as individual rights whereas indigenous rights are collective rights. The specific rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities include the right to enjoy their own culture, to practise their own religion, to use their own language, to establish their own associations, to participate in national affairs etc. These rights may be exercised by persons belonging to minorities individually as well as in community with other members of their group.”111 The Commission also has underscored the importance of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, noting in a 2007 communiqué that “the Declaration will become a very valuable tool and a point of reference for the African Commission’s efforts to ensure the promotion and protection of indigenous peoples’ rights on the African continent”.112 Despite this flexible approach to the concept of “indigenous”, the Working Group remains concerned not with the issue of minority rights per se but rather with indigenous peoples’ issues. In the light of the different rights which may be important to minorities, some minority groups have called for the creation of a separate forum to consider issues specific to them. The Working Group on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was established in late 2004 with a mandate to develop draft principles and guidelines on economic, social and cultural rights; elaborate State reporting guidelines pertaining to economic, social and cultural rights; and undertake studies and research.113 The two main documents – Draft Principles and Guidelines on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and State Party Reporting Guidelines on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights – were officially launched during the Commission’s 50th Ordinary Session in Banjul, the Gambia, on 24 October 2011.114 Protective activities The Commission also has a protective mandate under the Charter, which is exercised through examination of periodic country reports, consideration of complaints (communications) submitted to it by individuals and NGOs, and fact-finding missions. Periodic reports Article 62 requires every State party to the Charter to submit a report every two years on the measures it has taken to give effect to the rights recognized in the Charter. However, compliance with this requirement has been problematic: 12 States115 have never submitted a report, and most have submitted only one or two.116 The existing guidelines contain a number of references related to the protection of ethnic and other groups, as discussed above. Minorities can contribute to the Commission’s consideration of these reports by submitting their own shadow reports, which Report of the Working Group of Experts on Indigenous Populations/Communities adopted by the African Commission at its 28th Ordinary Session, Cotonou, Benin, 2003. Available from http://pro169.org/res/ materials/en/identification/ACHPR%20Report%20on%20indigenous%20populations-communities.pdf (accessed 4 December 2012). 111 ACHPR/Res.121 (XXXXII) 07. 112 Resolution on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Africa adopted at the 36th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Dakar, Senegal, 7 December 2004. 113 Available from www.achpr.org. 114 The Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Malawi, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone and Somalia. 115 The status of submission of all reports is available from www.achpr.org/english/_info/statereport_considered_ en.html. 116