Guidelines to Assist National Minority Participation in the Electoral Process Page: 4 • Article 21(3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that the “will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of the government;” • The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) guarantees the following rights and freedoms:12 - the rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and to manifest those beliefs (Article 18); - the right to hold opinions without interference and the freedom to express those opinions (Article 19); - the right of peaceful assembly (Article 21); - the right to freedom of association (Article 22); - the right and opportunity, without distinction of any kind such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status: ! to take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives, ! to vote and be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, and ! to have access on general terms of equality to public service in one's country (Article 25); - the right to equal and effective protection by law against discrimination on any ground such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status (Article 26). • Article 2 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) provides: “State Parties shall condemn racial discrimination and undertake to pursue by all appropriate means and without delay a policy of eliminating racial discrimination in all its forms and promoting understanding among all races, and, to this end: (a) Each State Party undertakes to engage in no act or practice of racial discrimination against persons, groups of persons or institutions and to ensure that all public authorities and public institutions, national and local, shall act in conformity with this obligation; (b) Each State Party undertakes not to sponsor, defend or support racial discrimination by any persons or organizations; (e) Each State Party undertakes to encourage, where appropriate, integrationist multiracial organizations and movements and other means of eliminating barriers between races, and to discourage anything which tends to strengthen racial division.” • Article 5 of the CERD provides: “In compliance with the fundamental obligations laid down in Article 2 of this Convention, State Parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, without 12 It is to be noted that, aside from permissible restrictions on certain of the stipulated rights, Article 5(1) of the ICCPR prescribes that “Nothing in the present Covenant may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or perform any act aimed at their … limitation to a greater extent than is provided for in the present Covenant”.