9. The Human Rights Committee, acting under article 5, paragraph 4, of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is of the view that the facts before it do not reveal a violation by the State party of any of the provisions of the Covenant. 8.2 As to the question of whether the State party's refusal to issue a passport to Mr. Peltonen, pursuant to section 9, subsection 1 (6), of the Finnish Passport Act, violates his right, under article 12, paragraph 2, of the Covenant, to leave any country, the Committee observes that a passport is a means of enabling an individual "to leave any country, including his own" as required by article 12, paragraph 2. The Committee further observes that, pursuant to article 12, paragraph 3, the right to leave any country may be subject to such restrictions as are "provided by law, are necessary to protect national security, public order (ordre public), public health or morals or the rights and freedoms of others, and are consistent with the other rights recognized in the ... Covenant". There are, therefore, circumstances in which a State, if its law so provides, may refuse a passport to one of its citizens. 8.3 The travaux préparatoires to article 12, paragraph 3, of the Covenant reveal that it was agreed upon that the right to leave the country could not be claimed, inter alia, in order to avoid such obligations as national service.4 Thus, States parties to the Covenant, whose laws institute a system of mandatory national service may impose reasonable restrictions on the rights of individuals who have not yet performed such service to leave the country until service is completed, provided that all the conditions laid down in article 12, paragraph 3, are complied with. * The text of an individual opinion submitted by Mr. Bertil Wennergren is appended. APPENDIX Individual opinion submitted by Mr. Bertil Wennergren pursuant to rule 94, paragraph 3, of the rules of procedure of the Committee on Human Rights Under article 12, paragraph 2, of the Covenant, everyone shall be free to leave any country, including his own. This right shall not, according to paragraph 3 of this article, be subject to any restrictions, except those which are provided by law, are necessary to protect national security, public order (ordre public), public health or morals or the rights and freedoms of others, and are consistent with the other rights recognized in the Covenant. The travaux préparatoires to article 12 reveal that it was agreed that the right to leave one's country could not be claimed in order to escape legal proceedings or to avoid such obligations as national service, the payment of fines, taxes or maintenance allowances. A proposed text that "anyone who is not subject to any lawful deprivation of liberty or to any outstanding obligations with regard to national service shall be free to leave any country including his own" was rejected earlier. The limitations agreed upon are covered by the text of paragraph 3. According to section 9 of the Finnish Passport Act (Law No. 642/86), which entered into force on 1 October 1987, a passport may be denied to a person, inter alia, if he is liable to perform military service and is at least 17 but not yet 30 years of age, unless he shows that his liability to perform military service does not constitute an obstacle to the issue of a passport. 8.4 In the present case, the Committee notes that the refusal by the Finnish authorities to issue a passport to the author, indirectly affects the author's right under article 12, paragraph 2, to leave any country, since he cannot leave his country of residence, Sweden, except to enter countries that do not require a valid passport. The Committee further notes that the Finnish authorities, when denying the author a passport, acted in accordance with section 9, subsection 1 (6), of the Passport Act, and that the restrictions on the author's right were thus provided by law. The Committee observes that restrictions of the freedom of movement of individuals who have not yet performed their military service are, in principle, to be considered necessary for the protection of national security and public order. The Committee notes that the author has stated that he needs his passport for holiday travelling and that he has not claimed that the authorities' decision not to provide him with a passport was discriminatory or that it infringed any of his other rights under the Covenant. In the circumstances of the present case, therefore, the Committee finds that the restrictions placed upon the author's right to leave any country are in accordance with article 12, paragraph 3, of the Covenant. The Nordic States have agreed that their citizens do not require a passport to travel within the territory of the Nordic States. The author therefore could leave Finland in 1986 and take residence in Sweden without a passport. He has been residing in Sweden ever since and has disregarded all call-ups for military service by the Finnish authorities. It is therefore unsurprising that the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland rejected his appeal against the Finnish Embassy's decision to refuse to provide him with a passport. As the Court observed, he was a conscript and had failed to prove that military service was no obstacle for him to obtain a passport. What is at issue now is not the author's right to leave Finland. Thanks to the agreement among the Nordic States, he has been able to do so without a passport. What is at issue is his right to leave "any country", which, because of the aforementioned agreement, means "any of the other Nordic countries", as he can move freely from one of them to the other. Without a passport he cannot leave any Nordic State to travel to non-Nordic countries. 4 See E/CN.4/SR.106, p. 4; E/CN.4/SR.150, para. 41; E/CN.4/SR.151, para. 4 and E/CN.4/SR.315, p. 12. 144