(2) Article 18 of the Covenant protects the right to freedom of religion and article 17 guarantees everyone's right to the protection of the law against "arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy". However, in my opinion, it may be doubted whether the right to the protection of one's privacy combined with the freedom of religion automatically entails "the right to change one's family name". Surnames carry important social and legal functions to ascertain one's identity for various purposes such as social security, insurance, license, marriage, inheritance, election and voting, passport, tax, police and public records, and so on. In fact, the Committee recognizes that "the regulation of surnames and the change thereof was essentially a matter of public order and restrictions were therefore permissible under paragraph 3 of article 18" (see paragraph 6.1). Moreover, it is not impossible to argue that the request to change one's family name is a form of manifestation of one's religion, which is subject to the restrictions enumerated in paragraph 3 of article 18. shown that the changes sought were essential to pursue their studies, that the names had religious connotations and that they were not 'Dutch sounding'. The Committee finds the grounds for so limiting the authors' rights under article 17 not to be reasonable. In the circumstances of the instant case the refusal of the authors' request was therefore arbitrary within the meaning of article 17, paragraph 1, of the Covenant. 11. 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 disclose a violation of article 17 of the Covenant. 12. Pursuant to article 2 of the Covenant, the State party is under an obligation to provide Mr. Aurik and Mr. Coeriel with an appropriate remedy and to adopt such measures as may be necessary to ensure that similar violations do not occur in the future. (3) I do not consider that a family name belongs to an individual person alone, whose privacy is protected under article 17. In the Western society a family name may be regarded only as an element to ascertain one's identity, thus replaceable with other means of identification such as a number or a cipher. However, in other parts of the world, names have a variety of social, historical and cultural implications, and people do attach certain values to their names. This is particularly true with family names. Thus, if a member of a family changes his or her family name, it is likely to affect other members of the family as well as values attached thereto. Therefore, it is difficult for me to conclude that the family name of a person belongs to the exclusive sphere of privacy which is protected under article 17. 13. The Committee would wish to receive information, within 90 days, on any relevant measures taken by the State party in respect of the Committee's Views. ____________ * The text of individual opinions from Messrs N Ando and K. Herndl is appended to the Views. APPENDIX Nisuke Ando Individual Opinions concerning the Committee's Views 2. INDIVIDUAL OPINION BY MR. KURT HERNDL (DISSENTING) 1. INDIVIDUAL OPINION BY MR. NISUKE ANDO (DISSENTING) I regret that I am unable to concur in the Committee's finding that by refusing to grant the authors a change of surname, the Dutch authorities breached article 17 of the Covenant. I do not share the State party's contention that, in examining a request to change one's family name, elements such as the name's "religious connotations" or "non-Dutch sounding" intonation should be taken into consideration. However, I am unable to concur with the Committee's Views on this case for the following three reasons: (a) The States party's action seen from the general content and scope of article 17 Article 17 is one of the more enigmatic provisions of the Covenant. In particular, the term "privacy" would seem to be open to interpretation. What does privacy really mean? (1) Despite the authors' allegation that the requested change of the authors' family name is an essential condition for them to practice as Hindu priest, the State party argues that it has not been established that the authors cannot follow the desired religious education without the change of surname (see paragraph 9.5), and apparently, on the basis of that argument, the authors' claim has been rejected by the European Commission of Human Rights. Since the Committee is not in the possession of any information other than the authors' allegation for the purpose of ascertaining the relevant facts, I cannot conclude that the change of their family names is an essential condition for them to practice as Hindu priests. In his essay on "Global protection of Human Rights – Civil Rights" Lillich calls privacy "a concept to date so amorphous as to preclude its acceptance into customary international law".1 He adds, however, that in determining the meaning of privacy stricto sensu limited 1 Richard B. Lillich, Civil Rights, in: Human Rights in International Law, Legal and Policy Issues, ed. Th. Meron (1984), p. 148. 76