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Article 16
Persons belonging to minorities who genuinely hold religious, moral of philosophical beliefs
that forbid the performance of military service should have the right of replacing it with
alternative non-military service. Where this right is recognized, there shall be no discrimination
of conscientious objectors in relation to the terms or conditions of the alternative non-military
service and their economic, social, cultural, civil or political rights.
Article 17
Persons belonging to minorities who are not followers of a State’s official or national religion
or belief shall not be subjected to any impairment of the enjoyment of any of their human rights,
and in particular to any discrimination such as measures restricting eligibility for government
service to members of the predominant religion or belief, or giving economic privileges to them,
or imposing special restrictions on the practice of other faiths or beliefs, or the right to marry
and create a family or to be elected or appointed to public office.
Article 18
1. States should avoid criminalizing apostasy, blasphemy, defamation of religion or belief, as
they may prevent persons belonging to national, ethnic, religious or belief and linguistic
minorities from fully enjoying their freedom of religion or belief. This provision does not apply
to advocacy of religious or belief hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility
or violence.
2. While activities aimed at persuading others to change their religion or belief are a
manifestation of freedom that enjoy absolute protection, States should criminalize any form of
coercive proselytism which make use of violence, intimidation, threat or other unlawful form
of pressure to induce persons to change their religion or belief.
3. States should protect persons belonging to minorities from unwarranted pressures to change
their religion or belief.
Part IV
Article 19
Every person belonging to a linguistic minority have the right freely use her or his language in
private and in public, both orally and in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any
other media of his choice.
Article 20
1. Every person belonging to a linguistic minority has the right to use her or his surname and
first names in their language, according to their own traditions and linguistic systems, and to
have official recognition of these.
2. States Parties shall refrain from altering or transforming the original names of persons
belonging to minorities unless it is necessary because of objective reasons, such as transliteration
when the State or official language uses different alphabet that the language in which the original
name is given.