members of minorities to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their religion, or to use their own language in community with other members of their group are certainly of a unique character given the silence on the minority issue in the previous UN human rights instruments. The phrase ‘in community with the other members of their group’ surely envisages the right-bearer in the context of a group. Nevertheless, the right-bearers are definitely the individual members of the groups, not the group as such, very much in conformity with the dominant philosophy – liberal individualism – of the UN regime. It was necessary, according to Capotorti, for three reasons: historical continuity, maintaining coherence with the overall individualist tone of the Covenant, and lastly and perhaps most importantly, mitigating the threat to territorial integrity and political independence of existing States as well as upholding the individual freedom of voluntary assimilation.25 Political participation, including the right to join a political party and the right to vote are also guaranteed in the Covenant. Article 25 establishes the right for everyone to take part in the running of public affairs of his or her country. With this provision, the ICCPR makes clear that State authorities require some sort of democratic legitimacy. In any society, democratic practice largely depends on the 25 30 Francesco Capotorti, Study on the Rights of Persons Belonging to E Article 19 of the ICCPR.thnic, Religious or Linguistic Minorities (1977), UN Doc E/CN4/Sub 2/384/Rev1, 35.