rights of persons belonging to minorities are set out in Article 2, while the duties of states to respect, protect and fulfil those rights are set out in Articles 4 and 5. The purpose of the commentary was to clarify the modalities of this flexibility while emphasizing that some basic principles had to be applied under all circumstances. A major purpose of the Declaration is to establish a defence against assimilation. At the same time it is also intended to prevent any patterns that resemble apartheid by enforcing separation. When dominant groups seek to prevent minorities from benefitting equally in society, it approaches apartheid. This can be in the form of denial of political rights, as it was in South Africa until the fall of apartheid, but it can also take the form of economically imposed ghettos where some minorities live in substandard housing and under weaker conditions than others. Patterns of social and economic apartheid need to be resisted: this has to be ensured through active anti-discrimination measures. . This is probably spelled out better in the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention on National Minorities, but we find it also in the UN Minority Declaration article 4.5 –calling for integration in the overall economic life in society In sum, the Declaration requires both acceptance of multiculturalism – the coexistence within states of separate cultures – and inter-culturalism: a close interaction between the different cultures based on reciprocal respect and joint promotion of equality in the common domain. For this to function, government policy alone is not enough. Principles of multi-culturalism and interculturalism have to permeate the political system. Our best source for this is the Convention on the Rights of the Child’s Article 29, which sets out the purposes of education. I would like to strongly emphasize the importance of this Article. The primary purpose of education obviously is to develop the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential, but the convention places equal importance of the purpose to develop respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and for the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations; the development of respect for the child’s parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values, for the national values of the country in which the child is living, the country from which he or she may originate, and for civilizations different from his or her own; and finally the preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin. Nearly all states of the world have ratified the CRC. It can therefore be safely argued that states have generally agreed that education should not be solely focussing on one’s own identity or religion , but should ensure a process of intercultural education overcoming the boundaries of the separate religions, nations and cultures occurring within states and in the world at large, and yet to recognise and respect the right to be different. The preamble of the constitution of UNESCO reminds us that since wars begin in the minds of men (and women), it is in the minds of men and women that the defences of peace must be constructed. As we move ahead with our efforts to create peaceful and cohesive societies in respect for pluralism and diversity, the role of education is crucial and there is in my mind no better guidance to be found than Article 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child