The inclusion of Article 27 within the Covenant marked a new era for the protection of those belonging to minorities, well beyond that offered by the League of Nations, which sought to secure regional stability after the First World War but because of political failure lasted only until the 1930s. When the Universal Declaration was adopted, the General Assembly was acutely aware that even that instrument provided no protection for minorities because of the ‘difficulties of adopting a uniform solution of this complex and delicate question, which has special aspects in each State in which it arises’. It therefore asked that the Commission on Human Rights and the Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and the Protection of Minorities make a thorough study of the problem, in order that the UN may be able to take effective measures for the protection of racial, national, religious or linguistic minorities.