A/HRC/20/26/Add.1 remained the same since 1995), and believe the scattered project-based approach to the support given to minority cultural activities is unhelpful. 52 Media 63. The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) is mandated to broadcast commensurate proportions of radio and television programmes in national minority languages. ORF has established a medium wave radio service in languages of the recognized national minorities, airing programmes in Croat, Hungarian and Czech. However, the service has a restricted outreach due to the low quality of the broadcasting and the unpopular time slots allocated for these. For the Roma minority, access to media in their own language is exceedingly limited. 64. Members of national minorities expressed concern about the insufficient airtime, inadequate staff representation of minority groups within ORF, difficulties in obtaining private radio broadcasting licences and in cooperating with ORF to develop programmes in minority languages, and the limited airtime for programmes in the minority languages (mostly one hour per week). They are equally concerned about the substantial reduction in the federal funds allocated to national minorities‟ print media. 53 Other minorities 65. Polish families, settled in Austria since the beginning of the 17th century, are not a recognized national minority. Today, most Austrian Poles live in Vienna. In 2011, 59,753 persons of Polish origin, i.e. Polish nationals or Austrian nationals who were born in Poland, lived in Austria. The Polish minority has been seeking recognition for some years as a national minority under the Law on Ethnic Groups as interpreted through the declaration of Austria on the occasion of the Ratification of the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. 54 In 2001, the Austrian Government rejected this request, arguing that the Polish community does not have a long-standing and firmly rooted presence in Austria and further that a majority of the Polish community were immigrants and not Austrian citizens. In this regard, the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities has stressed that Austria should “pursue a flexible approach with regard to criteria such as the length of established presence of a group of persons belonging to a national minority in the country to be recognized as an ethnic group and ensure that the resulting approach takes into account existing calls for inclusion of additional groups in the protection of the Framework Convention”.55 The Committee also urged the Austrian authorities to “engage in a constructive dialogue with Polish representatives rather than limiting their consideration of the request for recognition to the analysis of statistics which are frequently incomplete and, therefore, favour a narrow interpretation.”56 52 53 54 55 56 See also: ACFC/OP/III (2011)005, paras. 43- 48. See also: ACFC/OP/II (2007) pp. 20-21, and ACFC/OP/III (2011) pp. 19-20. Austria‟s declaration states that: “The Republic of Austria declares that, for itself, the term "national minorities" within the meaning of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities is understood to designate those groups which come within the scope of application of the Law on Ethnic Groups (Volksgruppengesetz, Federal Law Gazette No. 396/1976) and which live and traditionally have had their home in parts of the territory of the Republic of Austria and which are composed of Austrian citizens with non-German mother tongues and with their own ethnic cultures”, at: http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/ListeDeclarations.asp?NT=157&CM=8&DF=21/12/20 11&CL=ENG&VL=1 ACFC/OP/II(2007)005, para. 33. ACFC/OP/III(2011)005, para. 26. 15