Priorities for the work of the Independent Expert and the twentieth anniversary of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities 2012, para. 26
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Article 1 of the Declaration requires that "States shall protect the existence and the national or ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identity of minorities within their respective territories and shall encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity". The Declaration on Minorities does not provide a comprehensive or legally binding definition of which groups can be considered to constitute minorities or provide detailed criteria for according minority status. In all regions there are national, ethnic, religious or linguistic communities that are not recognized as minorities by States and therefore may not be fully benefiting from minority rights as required by the Declaration. The independent expert considers that States should take an inclusive approach and interpret the Declaration in a progressive and unrestrictive way to ensure that both long-established and relatively newly established minorities enjoy their minority rights.