According to Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, all nations have the right to self-determination. Based on this right, they freely establish their political status and freely ensure their economic, social and cultural development. No nation can under any circumstances be deprived of its means of subsistence.
All States participating in this Covenant shall, under the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations, encourage the exercise of the right to self-determination and respect this right.
Each State party to the present Covenant undertakes to respect and to ensure to all persons within its territory and under its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the present Covenant, without any distinction as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other beliefs, national or social origin, property status, birth or other circumstance.
According to Article 19 of this International Covenant, everyone has the right to hold his views without hindrance. This right includes the freedom to seek, receive and impart any information and ideas, regardless of national boundaries, orally, in writing or through print or artistic forms of expression or other means of one’s choice.
According to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, crimes against humanity include, in particular, the persecution of any identifiable group or community on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender grounds, or on other grounds that are generally recognized as inadmissible under international law, combined with imprisonment or other substantial deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental norms of international law.
Moreover, intentional and gross deprivation of fundamental rights contrary to international law on the grounds of belonging to one or another group or community is considered persecution.
This Charter applies equally to all persons without any distinction based on position. In particular, the official position of the head of state or government, a member of the government or parliament, an elected representative or a public official does not in any case exempt a person from criminal liability according to this Statute and is not, in itself, a reason for mitigating the punishment.
Leontiy Shypilov, vice-president of ABN
