Minority rights focus in the United Nations 7 A group of citizens of a State, constituting a numerical minority and in a non-dominant position in that State, endowed with ethnic, religious or linguistic characteristics which differ from those of the majority of the population, having a sense of solidarity with one another, motivated, if only implicitly, by a collective will to survive and whose aim is to achieve equality with the majority in fact and in law.11 This proposal was simply forwarded to the Commission without having been approved by the Sub-Commission, and the Commission’s Working Group eventually decided to postpone further consideration of definitional questions and to proceed to elaborate the substantive articles of the draft declaration. While some elements of these definitions have often been challenged, notably the references to citizenship or nationality of the State concerned, they reflect the consensus that any definition of “minority” must include both objective factors (such as the existence of shared ethnicity, language and religion) and subjective factors (e.g., that individuals identify themselves as members of a minority group). It is also widely accepted that whether or not a minority exists is a question of fact and does not depend on a formal determination by the State.12 Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights refers to “ethnic, religious or linguistic” minorities. Instruments adopted by the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Council of Europe, on the other hand, refer only to “national” minorities. The Minorities Declaration has the broadest scope, encompassing persons belonging to “national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities”; it also refers to the protection of “cultural” identity. The Human Rights Committee, in its general comment No. 23 (1994), addresses definitions only indirectly. It observes that “it is not relevant to determine the degree of permanence that the term ‘exist’ connotes” and goes on to adopt the expansive view that article 27 applies to everyone belonging to one of the named categories of minorities and present within a country, including “migrant workers or even visitors”. Further information A great number of books have been written on the development of minority rights. Among those which pay particular attention to the United Nations and/or international mechanisms are: Mechanisms for the Implementation of Minority Rights (ECMI Minority Issues Handbook series, Council of Europe, 2004); R. M. Letschert, The Impact of Minority Rights Mechanisms (T. M. C. Asser Press, 2005); G. Pentassuglia, Minorities in International Law (Council of Europe, 2002); P. Thornberry, International Law and the Rights of Minorities (Oxford, 1991); and M. Weller, ed., Universal Minority Rights: A Commentary on the Jurisprudence of International Courts and Treaty Bodies (Oxford, 2007). E/CN.4/Sub.2/1985/31 and Corr. 1. 11 This point is supported by the Human Rights Committee. See its general comment No. 23 (1994) on the rights of minorities, para. 5.2. 12