These aims or purposes are not to be interpreted loosely. The Siracusa Principles on the Limitation and Derogation Provisions in the ICCPR151 provide a helpful explanation of how these aims and purposes should be defined. Public safety, for example should be characterized as “protection against danger to the safety of persons, to their life or physical integrity or serious damage to their property.”152 The same principles state that national security may be invoked by states to justify measures limiting certain rights only when they are taken to protect the existence of the nation or its territorial integrity or political independence against force or the threat of force.153 National security cannot be invoked as a reason for imposing limitations on rights if the threats to law and order are local or relatively isolated.154 By the same token, national security cannot be used as a pretext for imposing vague or arbitrary limitations and may only be invoked when there exist adequate safeguards and effective remedies against abuse.155 Public order is defined as “the sum of rules which ensure the functioning of society or the set of fundamental principles on which society is founded.”156 Limitations are permitted for the protection of the rights of others. This provision is to be read in the light of article 20(2) ICCPR, which prohibits any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred, and Article 5, which excludes from the protection of the Covenant activities or acts “aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms recognised” in the Covenant.157 To ensure the legality of any restrictions on rights, the state has to be able to justify that the restriction is in line with one or more of the grounds for the restriction listed in the article at issue.158 Moreover, the state has the additional obligation to prove that the restriction is necessary in a democratic society. Is it “necessary in a democratic society”? The third test requires a balancing act between the rights of the individual on the one hand and state or community interests on the other. In order to make that assessment, the govern- 151 “Siracusa Principles on the Limitation and Derogation of Provisions in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights”, doc. E/CN.4/1985/4 (1985). These principles were developed in 1984 by a panel of 31 international experts who met in Siracusa (Italy) to adopt a uniform set of interpretations of the limitation clauses contained in the ICCPR. While they do not have the force of law, they offer important and authoritative guidance as to the meaning of the terms contained in the Covenant, especially in areas not covered by a general comment of the Human Rights Committee. 152 Ibid., para. 33. 153 Ibid., para. 29. 154 Ibid., para. 30. “In contrast to public order, national security is endangered only in grave cases of political or military threat to the entire nation”, M. Nowak, CCPR Commentary, (2nd ed.) (Kehl-Strasbourg-Arlington, 2005), p. 506. 155 Op. cit., note 151, Siracusa Principles, para. 31. 156 Ibid., para. 22. 157 Ibid. See also HRC, M. A. v. Italy, Communication no. 117/1981, 10 April 1984, para. 13.3, where, in relation to the reorganization of the dissolved Italian fascist party, the HRC stated “the acts of which M. A. was convicted (reorganizing the dissolved fascist party) were of a kind which are removed from the protection of the Covenant by article 5 thereof and which were in any event justifiably prohibited by Italian law having regard to the limitations and restrictions applicable to the rights in question under the provisions of articles 18 (3), 19 (3), 22 (2) and 25 of the Covenant.” 158 See for example Article 19(3) ICCPR (freedom of expression) which points out that “[i]t may therefore be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary […] for respect of the rights or reputations of others [or] for the protection of national security or of public order, or of public health or morals.” Countering Terrorism, Protecting Human Rights 69