A/HRC/19/43 rights, the impossibility of occupying certain State and public positions and the exclusion from membership of a political party. 8 B. Right to freedom of movement 8. Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides for the right of everyone lawfully within the territory of a State to liberty of movement and the freedom to choose a residence. The right to freedom of movement is of fundamental importance, as it deals with the question of physical access to a State’s territory and, by consequence, with the opportunity to exercise other human rights.9 Persons who have been arbitrarily deprived of their nationality may face severe limitations on their ability to travel and to choose a place of residence if, by depriving them of their nationality, the State has put them in a situation of irregularity concerning their country of residence. 9. The Human Rights Committee has stated that the question of whether a non-citizen is lawfully within the territory of a State is a matter governed by domestic law and that States may subject the entry of a non-citizen to the territory of a State to restrictions, provided they are in compliance with the State’s international obligations.10 However, the Committee also indicated that the right to enter one’s own country provided in article 12, paragraph 4, of the Covenant is not limited to an individual’s country of nationality in a formal sense, but that it also covers the country with which the person has special ties or claims. The Committee further stated that this would be the case of nationals of a country who have been arbitrarily deprived of their nationality, and of individuals whose country of nationality has been incorporated in or transferred to another national entity, whose nationality is denied to them. This also includes other categories of long-term residents, including stateless persons who have been arbitrarily deprived of the right to acquire the nationality of their country of residence.11 10. The Human Rights Committee has also stated that, according to article 12, paragraph 3, of the Covenant, once a person is lawfully within a State, any restrictions on the right to freedom of movement, as well as any treatment different from that accorded to nationals, may not be imposed except if they are provided by law and are necessary to protect national security, public order, public health or morals, or the rights and freedoms of others. If none of these restrictions is invoked, non-citizens should have the right to move from one place to another and to establish themselves in a place of their choice. The enjoyment of this right must not be made dependent on any particular purpose or reason for the person wanting to move or to stay in a place.12 However, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance has reported on certain practices where stateless persons are subject to severe restrictions to their freedom of movement, which resulted in their inability to access medical and educational services. Moreover, stateless persons wishing to travel outside their respective villages were required to obtain official authorization and to pay a fee that in many cases they could not afford (A/HRC/4/19/Add.1, para. 126). 11. The right to freedom of movement also comprises the right to leave any country, as provided in article 12, paragraph 2, of the Covenant. The Human Rights Committee has 8 9 10 11 12 See, for example, the Committee’s concluding observations on Estonia (CCPR/CO/77/EST), para. 17, and Latvia (CCPR/CO/79/LVA), para. 18. Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 27 (1999) on freedom of movement. Ibid., para. 4. Ibid., para. 20. Ibid., para. 5. 5