A/HRC/19/15 41. The Lithuanian model could be regarded as a unique case in the European context, when national minorities are entitled to receive education in their mother tongue from the first grade through the twelfth grade. Pursuant to national legislation, all subjects except Lithuanian and other languages of national minorities are taught in educational institutions in the native language, which accounts for about 85 per cent of all learning time. At present, the model of education of national minorities has been reoriented towards a modern education model that meets the European Union standards, and seeks to provide equal opportunities for access to education at all levels for persons belonging to national minorities, including the introduction of a uniform Lithuanian State language examination standard to all educational institutions operating in Lithuania. 42. From this year onward, more classes of the Lithuanian language in Lithuanian schools for national minorities will be allocated to developing skills in the State language. Graduates of national minority schools who will take the examination on the Lithuanian language and literature during the transitional period will be entitled to various examination allowances and exemptions, such as longer duration of the examination, the possibility to use dictionaries and less strict assessment criteria. 43. Fostering tolerance through education is one of the priorities of Lithuania’s presidency of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in the human domain, therefore much attention was devoted to the Holocaust. Lithuania was among the first countries that introduced the commemoration day for victims of the genocide of the Jewish nation. In 1994, by the decision of the Parliament, September 23 (the liquidation of Vilnius ghetto in 1943) was declared the national Holocaust Remembrance Day 44. The Holocaust is part of the mandatory school history syllabus and has been integrated into the larger context of the history of the Second World War. The Holocaust is also included in such disciplines as ethics, religious and civic education, and literature. The development of education on the Holocaust has been significantly advanced by the Task Force for International Co-operation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research (ITF), with which Lithuania has cooperated since 2000. 45. The provisions of article 14 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania enshrine the Lithuanian language as the State language (using Lithuanian in public life is an absolute requirement, whereas in private life persons belonging to a national minority may use, whether orally or in writing, any language that they find acceptable). The legal regulation of Lithuania guarantees that persons who have no command of the State language have the right and the opportunity to use interpreting services in legal proceedings and in administrative proceedings, regulatory offence proceedings as well as criminal and civil proceedings. 46. The existing laws of the Republic of Lithuania do not provide the opportunity to use the language of a national minority alongside the official State language in official names of traditional places. A Working Group, including officials and national minority representatives prepared a draft Concept of the law on national minorities. It laid down the provisions which envisaged legal establishment of the option in residential areas inhabited by substantial numbers of persons belonging to national minorities to use bilingual topographical signs. It also provided for them as to apply to territorial entities of public and municipal administration in the language of the national minority if the person belonging to a national minority so requested. 47. According to the population census, approximately 2,500 persons living in Lithuania belonged to the Roma national minority. More than a half of the Roma in Lithuania did not face acute social and other problems. These Roma lived scattered throughout the territory and successfully led their cultural, economic, educational and professional life. Meanwhile, 8