E/CN.4/2005/61/Add.1 Page 26 of some 50 members of the Charismatic Rhema Church, the arrest of 15 Christians and the arrest of two young people from the Evangelical Lutheran Church “after processing through the streets to celebrate Easter” . 99. The Government replied that the Jehovah's Witnesses had not been arrested because of their religious beliefs but because they refused to participate in the National Service Programme, which is compulsory and universal. 100. Members of the Charismatic Rhema Church and other groups were detained briefly because they had deliberately, contemptuously and provocatively disobeyed the decision of the Government that no religious group could operate until after they had registered with, and acquired a permit from, the Government in accordance with the existing law. These groups had refused to register with the Government and apply for permits. 101. It is a clear manifestation of the leniency and tolerance of the Government that those who had so contemptuously and willfully broken the law of the country and challenged the authority of the Government were released with only a warning after a brief detention of 10 days. They were not "beaten" or "threatened with death'' or attacked "by mobs, including priests". These charges are only malicious defamations. Only those who must serve in the compulsory and universal military, including presumably the two young people from the Evangelical Lutheran Church, have been taken to the Military Training Centre at Sawa. The claim that some in the armed forces have been "jailed for refusing to deny their beliefs and return to orthodoxy” is too fatuous for comment. Eritrea is a secular State that does not permit intolerance and religious fundamentalism of any type. 102. The Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted almost two years ago, provides as follows: (I) The national legislation of States constitutes the legal framework both for the realization and enjoyment of human rights and for the activities of the promotion and protection of human right. This means that both the State and individuals, groups and institutions of civil society have the duty to respect, promote and protect human rights. If Governments are duty-bound by law to respect, promote and protect human rights, then it is equally obvious that individuals, groups and institutions of civil society have the duty to respect the rights of their fellow citizens. They have to respect the law. No individual, group or institution of civil society can place itself above the law simply because it is engaged in activities for the promotion and protection of human rights. This is the core essence of the principle of ``equality before the law". (II) No individual, group or institution of civil society is allowed to engage in illegal and criminal activities that violate the Charter of the United Nations, sabotage the unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty of a State, subvert legitimate Governments, and undermine other peoples’ human rights under the cover of religious freedoms or human rights activities, or become a confederate of States that incite or aid, abet and sponsor individuals, groups or institutions of civil society to undermine a State's sovereignty and the unity of its people.