A/CONF.189/PC.2/22 page 12 Explicit recognition 36. The 1960 UNESCO Convention, though adopted well before the two International Covenants, explicitly recognizes the right of members of national minorities to “the use or the teaching of their own language” (art. 5, para. 1 (c)). However, that recognition, while explicit, does not apply to State schools but to schools established by minorities who wish “to carry on their own educational activities” (art. 5, para. 1 (c)). There do not appear, therefore, to be any additional obligations on the educational system established by the State. 37. The instruments dealing particularly with minorities appear to give more protection to minorities’ identity in educational terms, although they are drafted in such a way as to give States discretion to decide for themselves whether it is appropriate to make provision for such education.29 (a) This applies to the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, which states as follows in article 4, paragraph 3: “States should take appropriate measures so that, wherever possible, persons belonging to minorities may have adequate opportunities to learn their mother tongue or to have instruction in their mother tongue” (author’s emphasis); (b) The document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (5-29 June 1990) proclaims, in paragraph 34, the rights of persons belonging to minorities to receive instruction of their mother tongue or in their mother tongue; (c) Article 14, paragraphs 1 and 2, of the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities guarantees the same rights, but on condition that there are sufficient people belonging to minorities and having regard to the resources available to the State; (d) The 1993 draft United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples recognizes indigenous peoples’ “right to revitalize, use, develop and transmit to future generations their histories, languages, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures ...” (art. 14) and indigenous children’s “rights to be provided access to education in their own culture and language”, even if they live outside their communities (art. 15).30 38. The treaty bodies have an important role to play in interpreting convention provisions regarding the issue of non-discrimination in education. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, for example, rightly considers that the use of a minority language, including as a compulsory teaching language, is a step towards implementation of the principle of non-discrimination within the meaning of articles 1, paragraph 4, and 2, paragraph 2, of the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.31 In many of its reports, the Committee also recommends that States parties should take all appropriate measures to ensure the promotion of minority languages and to enable children, including the children of migrant workers, to pursue their studies in their mother tongue.32

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