A/HRC/4/19/Add.3 page 7 6. Seventy-five million Russians currently identify themselves as Orthodox, mainly for cultural reasons, though the Russian Orthodox Church was the target of persecution by the secular Communist government. The second most important religion is Islam - professed by about 20 million people - followed by Roman Catholicism - with approximately 1.3 million followers - Judaism - between 400,000 and 550,000 followers - and Jehovah’s Witnesses - with about 131,000 members. To a smaller degree, Buddhism and Hinduism are also practised in the country. B. Historical and social context 7. The former Soviet Union constituted a vast territory composed of a very wide range of ethnicities and cultures inherited from the former Tsarist Empire, including different nationalities of the Caucasus and Central Asia, which moved and intermingled throughout the Soviet territory. Despite this configuration, the Soviet policy on nationalities carried a mixed message that celebrated nationalities and cultures as part of the diverse heritage of the Soviet empire - well illustrated by the principles of “internationalism” and “friendship among peoples” - while at the same time discouraged ethnic nationalism and repressed minority nationalist impulses through deportation and displacement of ethnic and national minorities.1 8. The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 was accompanied by the collapse of the Communist ideology that had reigned for more than seven decades. This, together with the opening to globalization and a sharp increase in economic and social inequalities, led to the emergence of an ideological void, increasingly accompanied by a mounting nationalism, which has gained force in recent years. C. The legal system 9. The Russian Federation is party to six of the seven major international human rights instruments, including the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its First Optional Protocol, the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).2 Russia has not signed or ratified 1 Deportation on ethnic grounds took place from the mid-1930s until 1950. In 1943-1944, approximately 1 million people - Chechens, Ingush, Karachai, Balkars, Kalmyks, Meskhetian Turks and Crimean Tatars - were removed from the North Caucasus and Crimea and resettled in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, mostly charged with treason for collaborating with German occupiers. In 1941-1942, over 1 million ethnic Germans were also deported from the Volga region, Ukraine, North Caucasus and other regions to Siberia and Kazakhstan. 2 The Russian Federation is also party to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Moreover, the Russian Federation has ratified the Optional Protocol to CEDAW and signed the Optional Protocol to CRC on the involvement of children in armed conflict.