A/63/161 54. Furthermore, article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantees the right to freedom of movement, which encompasses the right to leave any country, including one’s own. This right also includes a right to issuance of travel documents, as a positive duty upon States to ensure the effective guarantee of the right to leave a country. 50 The Human Rights Committee has emphasized that where a State denies the issuance of a passport, this restriction of the right to leave requires special justification pursuant to article 12 (3) of the Covenant. 51 Limitations on the freedom of movement require a legal basis, have to be compatible with the other rights of the Covenant and be necessary and proportionate to the aim pursued. Prohibiting a person from leaving a country on account of his or her religious beliefs is incompatible with the freedom of religion or belief and the principle of non-discrimination and therefore violates article 12 (3) of the Covenant. 52 The Human Rights Committee has expressed its concern about obstacles in certain States that make it more difficult to leave the country, inter alia in the context of passport applications, and urges States to ensure that all restrictions imposed are in full compliance with article 12 (3) of the Covenant. 53 3. Restrictions on certain rights of members of particular religious groups 55. Restricting the rights related to citizenship of those belonging to certain religious groups violates the principle of non-discrimination as enshrined in international and regional human rights law (see paras. 34-44 above). 56. With regard to the denial to women of certain rights related to citizenship on the basis of religion, article 1 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women prohibits any discrimination on the basis of sex that limits women’s human rights. Furthermore, the right of everyone under article 16 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to be recognized everywhere as a person before the law implies that the capacity of women to own property, to enter into a contract or to exercise other civil rights may not be restricted on the basis of marital status or any other discriminatory ground. 54 57. The previous mandate holder, Abdelfattah Amor, has also warned against the occurrence of aggravated discrimination following the adoption by the State of the religion of the majority or of the ethnically dominant minority. He has also noted that the existence of a State religion may not in itself be incompatible with human rights but must not be exploited at the expense of the rights of minorities and the rights linked to citizenship, which imply prohibition of discrimination among citizens on the grounds, inter alia, of considerations relating to religion or belief. 55 Indeed, “to the extent that everything ultimately depends on the goodwill of the State, the personality of those in office at any given moment, and other unpredictable or subjective factors, there is no serious guarantee in law that the __________________ 50 51 52 53 54 55 18 Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 27 (1999), Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-fifth Session, Supplement No. 40 (A/55/40), vol. I, annex VI, sect. A, para. 9; Nowak, op. cit., art. 12, para. 19. Samuel Lichtensztejn v. Uruguay, views of 31 March 1983 (CCPR/C/18/D/77/1980), para. 8.3. General comment No. 27 (1999), para. 18. Ibid., para. 17. Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 28 (2000), Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-fifth Session, Supplement No. 40 (A/55/40), vol. I, annex VI, sect. B, para. 19. A/51/542/Add.1 (on Greece), para. 132; see also E/CN.4/1996/95/Add.2 (on the Islamic Republic of Iran), para. 88; A/51/542/Add.2 (on the Sudan), para. 134. 08-43442