E/CN.4/1987/35 page 24 way as to make them comparable to offences or crimes punishable by law; there are also cases where religious leaders have been arrested without any charge being brought against them; sometimes, members of sects considered to be illegal are held without trial for periods of as long as five years. 2. Infringements of the right to freedom of movement 82. The right to freedom of movement, defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, entails the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of a State; the right to leave any country, including one's own, and that of not being arbitrarily deprived of the right to entern one's country. Yet the information gathered by the Special Rapporteur attests to a number of infringements of these rights for reasons of religion. 83. The possibility of freedom of movement and freedom to choose one's residence within a country are threatened in various ways by religious intolerance; in several countries entire segments of the population belonging to prohibited sects or tribes having religious beliefs different from the majority religion have been deported; at times, high-ranking leaders of the religious hierarchy are prevented from moving about within their country. In some cases, believers are sent into internal exile, or placed under house arrest. In others, foreign missionaries have been forced to leave their country of residence because of the non-renewal of their residence permit. At times, foreign members of a sect have been expelled from the place of residence where they had taken refuge after they had been persecuted in their own country, to which they were nevertheless forcibly repatriated, deported and interned. 84. The right to leave any country, including one's own, may also be infringed for essentially religious reasons. In one country, bishops who wished to travel abroad to meet their spiritual leader were not given permission to leave on that occasion; elsewhere, members of the clergy were prevented from leaving their country on the pretext of the failure to renew their passports. At times these limitations apply to nearly all the members of one religion or religious community. Thus, in one country, not only do the authorities refuse to allow members of one religious minority to leave the country, but they have even arrested and brutally treated persons suspected of complicity with members of this minority who succeeded in emigrating. In another country, certain religious minorities, tens of thousands of whose members apply to emigrate, are usually denied their request. In the case of one particular minority in that country, the number of exit visas granted has declined spectacularly in recent years. 85. Finally, there are also restrictions on the right of followers of certain beliefs or religions to enter their own country. Spiritual leaders are sometimes denied entry to their own countries following journeys abroad; in other cases, the emigration of members of religious minorities in effect means forfeiting their original nationality; expulsion and exile measures against the followers of a faith or the members of the clergy also deprive them of the right to return to their own country.