A/HRC/55/51 30. From a minority rights perspective, this is a clear case of discrimination in the equal enjoyment of the right to education. In the Special Rapporteur’s understanding of the reasoning in the judgment, the Court would agree with that reading, except that, as they underline, the European Convention on Human Rights contains no specific provision on the right of minorities to be treated differently, despite the fact that they are in a different situation to pupils whose mother tongue is the State language. Therefore, despite recognizing that “the Court may examine allegations of discrimination from different angles”, they choose to consider that, irrespective of their mother tongue, all pupils are in a similar situation (the right to have access to education in a particular country) and there is therefore no discrimination, according to article 2 of Protocol No. 1, read alone and in conjunction with article 14 of the Convention.18 It is for the Court to decide in such a case whether the situation of the pupils is similar or different – and it admits that both views could be held. However, it then decides to consider the applicants in a similar situation to those belonging to the majority of the population. 31. That case illustrates why the negative dimension of non-discrimination, with regard to persons belonging to a minority group, does not offer a sufficient guarantee for equal enjoyment of human rights. Persons belonging to minorities are not in the same situation as those belonging to the majority or dominant part of society. Therefore, the requirement of equal enjoyment of human rights by such persons entails that they should be treated both equally and differently to persons belonging to the majority/dominant part of society, in order to guarantee that they are not discriminated against. That requirement stems from the combined principles of equality and non-discrimination. As a consequence – and confirmation that such a differentiated implementation of human rights, to guarantee the effective enjoyment of rights by persons belonging to a minority, is a proper, but complex, way to achieve non-discrimination – article 8 (3) of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities states that implementing differentiated measures for the benefit of persons belonging to a minority group shall not prima facie be considered contrary to the principle of equality contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.19 32. Thus, implementing minority rights according to the principles of equal and nondiscriminatory treatment implies including in the concept of the universal enjoyment of human rights room for differentiated measures to be taken or tolerated by States in order to implement the requirement of equal treatment. This is why article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights and article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights are not sufficient to guarantee the non-discriminatory enjoyment of human rights by persons belonging to a minority. B. Articulation of individual human rights and minority rights 33. Article 3 (2) of the Declaration on the Right of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities states clearly that no disadvantage shall result for any person belonging to a minority as a consequence of the exercise or non-exercise of the rights set forth in the Declaration. That wording shows that the rights linked to persons belonging to minorities do not appear in a legal vacuum, but are additional to the existing human rights enjoyed by all, including persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. That is also the opinion of the Human Rights Committee in relation to the rights recognized to persons belonging to minorities according to article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Committee stated, in its general comment No. 23 (1994), that it observed that article 27 established and recognized a right that was conferred on individuals belonging to minority groups and that was distinct from, and additional to, all the other rights that, as individuals in common with everyone else, they were already entitled to enjoy under the Covenant (para. 1). 34. The wording of article 3 (2) of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities clearly states that such persons are 18 19 8 Ibid., para. 162. Article 4 of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities also conveys the same idea. GE.24-00944