increases public confidence in the fairness of the courts, which in turn can act as a bulwark against conflict and radicalization. For these reasons, increasing the representativeness of the judicial system and national human rights institutions should be regarded as a priority.34 Achieving diversity in the judicial system and national human rights bodies requires a sustained effort on the part of the State to put in place and implement policies that will make these bodies a desirable place of employment for minorities, including minority women, and to remove discriminatory hurdles during the recruitment process. Measures should aim to enhance not only the hiring, but also the promotion and retention of minorities, in the judicial system and national human rights institutions. It should be emphasized, however, that in the case of the judiciary, such policies will need to be tailored to respect the principle of judicial independence. This is in line with the 1990 Copenhagen commitments, which state that “the independence of legal practitioners will be recognized and protected, in particular as regards conditions for recruitment and practice.”35 National minorities can be underrepresented in the judicial system and national human rights institutions for a variety of reasons. These include negative previous experience with these institutions, discrimination in recruitment and promotion, lack of relevant qualifications, inadequate knowledge of State and/or official languages and lack of information about professional opportunities in these bodies. The reasons for this lack of diversity vary in each situation, and States should devote time and resources to understand the precise causes of underrepresentation of minorities and of minority women in particular in the judicial system and national human rights institutions. Disaggregated data collection according to relevant criteria, such as ethnicity, language and gender, should be a regular and integral part of this effort, with due consideration given to data protection issues.36 Special measures can then be designed and implemented to tackle systemic obstacles to diversity and achieve targets for recruitment and promotion. It is important to underline that such measures should not lower standards for minorities at the 34 35 36 24 OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) (2010) Kyiv Recommendations on Judicial Independence in Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia, paragraph 24. OSCE (1990) Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE, paragraph 5.13. See United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (2006) Conference of European Statisticians Recommendations for the 2010 Censuses of Population and Housing; Council of Europe (1981) Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (CETS No. 108); Council of Europe (1997) Recommendation No. R 97 (18) of the Committee of Ministers to Member States Concerning the Protection of Personal Data Collected and Processed for Statistical Purposes (Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 30 September 1997 at the 602nd Meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies); and HCNM (2012) Ljubljana Guidelines, explanatory note to Guideline 15. The Graz Recommendations on Access to Justice and National Minorities