- 12 - Individual opinion of Nisuke Ando (dissenting) I am unable to agree with the Committee’s Views that the authors in this case are victims of a violation of article 26 of the Covenant because the State party has instructed its civil servants not to reply to their written or oral communications with the authorities in the Afrikaans language. Article 26 provides for everyone’s right to equality before the law as well as to equal protection of the law without discrimination. It further provides that “the law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground such as race, colour, sex, language etc.” Certainly the instruction in question will put a great burden on speakers of Afrikaans in their official correspondence with the authorities. However, according to the circular by which the instruction is given, “All phone calls and correspondence should be treated exclusively in English which is the official language of the Republic of Namibia” and Afrikaans which “was for a very long time the official language ... now officially enjoys the same status as other tribal languages.” In other words, now that English has become the official language of the State party, civil servants shall “refrain from using Afrikaans when responding to phone calls and ... correspondence.” Nevertheless, it is undoubtedly clear that the instruction puts the Afrikaans language exactly on the same footing as any other native languages spoken in Namibia, thus guaranteeing Afrikaans equal treatment without discrimination. Of course English is treated differently from all native languages including Afrikaans, but considering that each sovereign State may choose its own official language and that the official language may be treated differently from non-official languages, I conclude that this differentiation constitutes objective and reasonable distinction which is permitted under article 26. My concern with respect to this instruction is whether it might unduly restrict communication between Namibian population and its authorities by apparently prohibiting not only written but also oral correspondence in any tribal language. This may raise issues under article 19, although I prefer to reserve my position on the subject in this particular case. (Signed) N. Ando [Done in English, French and Spanish, the English text being the original version. Subsequently issued also in Arabic, Chinese and Russian as part of the present report.]