CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT Since the end of the Second World War an ever-growing number of international instruments have placed increasing emphasis on the objectives of education. According to these instruments education is required not only to provide strictly academic or technical training but it is also required to inculcate such values as tolerance, pluralism, anti-racism and international and inter-communal harmony. Such requirements evidently put a special onus on States that have national minorities within their borders. In these States, the issue of inter-group/inter-ethnic cohabitation and harmony is also of vital importance to their internal stability. Such cohabitation and harmony is also an important factor in the preservation of regional peace and security. Article 4 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities requires States to "encourage knowledge of the history, traditions, language and culture of the minorities existing within their territory". Article 12 of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities requires States to "foster knowledge of the culture, history, language and religion of their national minorities". Paragraph 34 of the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE refers to the requirement that, in the school curriculum, States "will also take account of the history and culture of national minorities". These requirements make it incumbent upon States to make room in the school curriculum for the teaching of the history and traditions of the various national minorities living within their borders. This can be achieved in a unilateral manner by the State authorities without due regard to the participation of the minorities in question. Such an approach, however, is not advisable and could be detrimental. Article 15 of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, paragraph 30 of the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE and article 3 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities all underline the necessity for national minorities to participate in the decision-making process especially in cases when the issues being considered affect them directly. 16 The Hague Recommendations - October 1996