A/77/246 The first is to ensure that nationals belonging to racial, religious or linguistic minorities shall be placed in every respect on a footing of perfect equality with the other nationals of the State. 7 32. This advisory opinion was perhaps the first time that a concept of equality elaborated specifically for racial, religious or linguistic minorities appeared. More than a little ironically, the League of Nations minorities t reaties, which sought true equality between individuals regardless of their race, religion or language, became demonized and scapegoated as inherently collective and lending themselves to instrumentalization, and hence to have little or no relevance for th e new world order after World War II. 33. Nevertheless, at the time of drafting, some States insisted that the situation of minorities could not be completely omitted from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – hence the inclusion in the resolution of the General Assembly on the International Bill of Human Rights of a commitment for a thorough study on minorities to be conducted by the Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and the Protection of Minorities so that the United Nations could t ake effective measures for the protection of minorities (resolution 217 C (III)). 34. Still, the ultimate result remains the omission of any reference to minorities in the earliest declarations and treaties, such as the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, until the adoption of the Convention against Discrimination in Education of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in the 1960s. 8 35. Minorities were not, however, completely invisible at the United Nations. The thorough study on minorities referred to in General Assembly resolution 217 C (III) was to be conducted by the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities as the main subsidiary body of the former Commission on Human Rights. By 1999, however, the reference to minorities disappeared and this Subcommission was renamed the Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. The main functions of this United Nations “think tank” nevertheless continue to be “to undertake studies on human rights issues, to make recommendations concerning the prevention of discrimination of any kind relating to human rights and fundamental freedoms and the protection of racial, national, religious and linguistic minorities, and to carry out any other functions which may be entrusted to it”. 9 36. The United Nations earliest documents and structures thus hint at divisions, or even an unwillingness or unease about how and to what extent to deal with minorities, because of disagreements and divergences between Member States themselves, including: (a) Between States with a purely individualistic view of human rights that were uncomfortable with any rights linked to any group and sought a complete break from the League of Nations minorities treaties approach, and States that felt it necessary to have specific measures which acknowledged the inherent inequality experienced by many minorities; __________________ 7 8 9 10/21 Minority Schools in Albania, Advisory Opinion, 1935 PCIJ Series A/B No. 64, paras. 48 –50. Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is not the only United Nations treaty provision that refers to minorities. Articles 17 (d) and 30 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child also refer to minority children having distinct rights, as does article 5, paragraph 1 (c), of the 1960 Convention against Discrimination in Education, which refers to national minorities. See https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/sc/sub-commission. 22-11516