danger of recurrence, transferred to a post which does not enable him/her to come into direct contact with potential victims. The State party should ensure prompt, impartial and effective investigations into all such acts of violence. (CAT/C/RUS/ CO/4, paragraph 23). Access to Justice: CAT has recommended taking measures to prevent the high incidence of deaths in custody among members of minorities, including through increasing the representation of minorities in police forces (e.g. in relation to Guyana in 2006): While taking note of the efforts made by the State party in addressing the issue of the ethnic composition in the Guyana Police Force, the Committee is concerned at the reduced presence of persons of Indo-Guyanese origin in the police force, which would appear to be among the underlying causes of the high number of deaths in custody of persons of Indo Guyanese origin. The State party should continue its efforts to diversify the ethnic composition of the Guyana Police Force and take appropriate measures to prevent the incidence of deaths in custody. (CAT/C/GUY/CO/1, paragraph 9) The CRC has drawn attention to the protection of minorities in relation to the process of post-war reconciliation (e.g. in 2005 in relation to Bosnia and Herzegovina): The Committee recommends that the State party take effective measures to protect the full enjoyment of the rights of children belonging to ethnic minority groups [in Bosnia and Herzegovina] and undertake special measures to stimulate a process of reconciliation and confidence building, including wide-ranging educative and awareness-raising campaigns. (CRC/C/15/Add.260, paragraph 76). Minority Rights Cases in Individual Complaints Mechanisms: Four of the international human rights treaties (those dealing, respectively, with civil and political rights, racial discrimination, women’s rights, and torture) have individual complaint mechanisms through which members of minorities (among others) can seek protection of their rights. Complaints can be considered under these optional petitions procedures where the State has accepted the First Optional Protocol of ICCPR, Optional Protocol to CEDAW, Article 22 of CAT and Article 14 of ICERD. The successful use of these mechanisms by persons belonging to minorities is illustrated through the following examples:95 In Waldman v. Canada (communication No. 694/1996), the author (a father of two children enrolled in a private school) claimed that the legislation entitling solely the Roman Catholic minority in the Province of Ontario with the right to receive public funding for religious education, was in breach of articles 2, 18, 26 and 27 of ICCPR. The CCPR Committee held that the Covenant does not create any obligation upon the States parties to fund schools established on a religious basis. On the other hand, it noted that when a State party chooses to publicly fund religious schools, it should make the funding available without discrimination. According to the Committee, any discrimination should be justified on the basis of reasonable and objective criteria. The Committee held that the criteria presented by the Government to justify the preferential treatment of the Roman Catholic minority, such as the historical basis of such preferential measures and their constitutional legislative basis, could not be considered as reasonable and objective. As a result, Canada was found in breach of Mr. Waldman’s right to be afforded equal and effective protection against discrimination (art. 26, ICCPR). The case summaries are taken from E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.5/2006/4. The full text of these cases can be found on the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights website (www.ohchr.org) in the treaty bodies database, jurisprudence section. 95 186 M A R G I N A L I S E D M I N O R I T I E S I N D E V E LO P M E N T P R O G R A M M I N g