2 Chapter Conceptual Issues 2.1 WHO ARE MINORITIES? No legal definition of the term ‘minority’ has been agreed in international law. Individual States recognize a wide range of groups domestically as minorities based on shared ethnic, cultural, religious and/or linguistic characteristics. Such groups are typically non-dominant vis-à-vis the majority(ies) in the spheres of economic, political, social and/or cultural life. In the absence of a formal definition, the existence of a minority group can be assessed using objective and subjective criteria; these criteria have been elaborated by various UN independent experts drawing from international standards.1  Objective criteria focus on the shared characteristics of the group such as ethnicity, national origin, culture, language or religion. These categories derive from the only global standard on minorities, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (UNDM) (see Annex 1) and article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) concerning the rights of persons belonging to ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities.   The term ‘race’ is sometimes used alongside ‘ethnicity’ in legislation on non-discrimination; this is not considered an endorsement of the notion of distinct races but is recognition that practices of racism and racial discrimination nevertheless persist and need to be combated. Subjective criteria focus on two key points: the principle of self-identification and the desire to preserve the group identity. According to the principle of self-identification, individuals belonging to minority groups have the right to self-identify as a minority or to not self-identify as a minority (see UNDM article 3.2). A minority community has the Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR): In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to use their own language. A similar provision is found in article 30 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). See, for example, the UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 23: The Rights of Minorities (Article 27), CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.5; the UN Working Group on Minorities, Commentary on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.5/2005/2 (4 April 2005); and the UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues, Annual Report of the Independent Expert on Minority Issues, E/CN.4/2006/74 (6 January 2006). 1 Chapter 2: Conceptual Issues 7