equal rights for minority or marginalized groups.336 OSCE participating States have committed to “remove all legal and other restrictions with respect to travel within their territories for their own nationals and foreigners, and with respect to residence for those entitled to permanent residence, except those restrictions which may be necessary and officially declared for military, safety, ecological or other legitimate government interests, in accordance with their national laws, consistent with CSCE commitments and international human rights obligations. The participating States undertake to keep such restrictions to a minimum”.337 232. Preventing the access of human rights defenders to relevant sites – such as places where assemblies or protests are held or where people are deprived of their liberty – for the purpose of monitoring, reporting and other human rights activities, is not a legitimate justification for restrictions in the context of this commitment. In recognition of the importance of the work of human rights defenders in enhancing the implementation of human dimension commitments, participating States should proactively facilitate the free movement of human rights defenders across the territory of the state, including to remote regions, as required to effectively pursue their human rights activities. They should also actively facilitate access of human rights defenders to relevant sites to support human rights monitoring and reporting.338 233. Entry regulations: Travel by human rights defenders to other participating States to conduct human rights work, including advocacy, participation in meetings and assemblies, monitoring and reporting, should be facilitated and welcomed. The UN Human Rights Committee, for example, has noted in this regard that representatives of international organizations and NGOs, journalists and human rights defenders should be allowed to enter and carry out their work in another country 336  According to the European Court of Human Rights, exclusion of an individual from a particular public area, for example a city centre district, amounts to interference with the right to freedom of movement (see Oliviera v. Netherlands, Application no. 33129/96, 6 November 2002). Also, preventing someone from leaving their house and/or stopping them from leaving a particular area are also examples of interference with freedom of movement (see Ivanov v. Ukraine, Application no. 15007/02, 7 March 2007). In the case of Shimovolos v. Russia (Application no. 30194/09, 21 June 2011) the Court also found a violation of Article 5 (right to liberty and security) for an arrest of a human rights activist that, according to the authorities, was intended to prevent the applicant from committing “offences of an extremist nature”. However, from the domestic judgements it had transpired that the police measures against the applicant were taken because his name was registered in a “Surveillance Database” (whenever a person mentioned in the database purchased a train or airplane ticket the Interior Department of Transport received an automatic notification). According to the police attendance reports, the applicant was checked and arrested on the basis of information that an opposition rally was planned in Samara and that the Interior Department considered it necessary to stop members of certain opposition organizations from taking part in that rally in order to prevent them from committing “unlawful and extremist acts”. The Court also found a violation of the right to private life due to the applicant’s inclusion in the database, which did not offer sufficient safeguards against abuse. See section on the Right to private life below. 337  Moscow 1991, para. 33. 338  This is consistent with the recommendations of international human rights bodies. The UN Committee against Torture in its Concluding Observations on Belarus, for example, urged the state party “to grant access to independent governmental and non-governmental organizations to all detention facilities in the country, including police lock-ups, pre-trial detention centres, security service premises, administrative detention areas, detention units of medical and psychiatric institutions and prisons”, UN Doc. CAT/C/BLR/CO/4, 7 December 2011, para. 14. See also the section Right to participate in the conduct of public affairs above. Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders 107