🧍🏼‍♂️International Human Rights Unit 4 – ICCPR: Civil and Political Rights Covenant

What's the ICCPR?

• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1966
• Commits its parties to respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, electoral rights, and rights to due process and a fair trial
• Consists of 53 articles divided into 6 parts
• Entered into force in 1976 after being ratified by 35 states
• As of 2023, the Covenant has 173 parties and six more signatories without ratification (China, Comoros, Cuba, Nauru, Palau, and Saint Lucia)
• Monitored by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, a body of 18 experts who meet three times a year to consider periodic reports submitted by member states on their compliance with the treaty
• Includes two Optional Protocols:
  • First Optional Protocol establishes an individual complaints mechanism
  • Second Optional Protocol aims to abolish the death penalty

Key Rights Protected

• Right to life (Article 6) prohibits arbitrary deprivation of life and mandates protection by law
• Freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment (Article 7)
• Freedom from slavery, servitude, and forced labor (Article 8)
• Right to liberty and security of person (Article 9) protects against arbitrary arrest or detention
• Right to humane treatment of prisoners (Article 10)
• Freedom of movement and choice of residence within a state (Article 12)
• Equality before courts and tribunals, and the right to a fair and public hearing (Article 14)
• Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion (Article 18)
• Freedom of expression (Article 19), subject to certain restrictions necessary to protect the rights or reputations of others, national security, public order, public health, or morals
• Right of peaceful assembly (Article 21) and freedom of association (Article 22)
• Right to marry and found a family (Article 23)
• Rights of children to protection, registration, name, and nationality (Article 24)

Historical Context

• Drafted in the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust, which highlighted the need for international human rights protection
• Built upon the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) adopted in 1948
• Developed alongside the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) to create a comprehensive framework for human rights
• Cold War tensions influenced the drafting process, with Western states emphasizing civil and political rights and Soviet bloc states focusing on economic and social rights
• Adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 16, 1966, after nearly two decades of drafting and negotiations
• Entered into force on March 23, 1976, after the required 35 states had ratified it
• Has since become one of the most widely ratified human rights treaties, with 173 state parties as of 2023

Structure and Implementation

• Consists of a preamble and 53 articles divided into six parts
• Part I (Article 1) recognizes the right of all peoples to self-determination
• Part II (Articles 2-5) outlines the general obligations of state parties and the principle of non-discrimination
• Part III (Articles 6-27) enumerates the specific civil and political rights protected by the Covenant
• Part IV (Articles 28-45) establishes the Human Rights Committee and its functions
• Part V (Articles 46-47) clarifies the interpretation of the Covenant
• Part VI (Articles 48-53) contains final provisions related to ratification, entry into force, and amendments
• States parties are required to submit periodic reports (usually every four years) to the Human Rights Committee on measures taken to implement the Covenant
• The Committee reviews these reports, engages in dialogue with state representatives, and issues concluding observations with recommendations for improvement

State Obligations

• States parties must respect and ensure the rights recognized in the Covenant without discrimination (Article 2)
• Obligation to adopt legislative or other measures necessary to give effect to the rights in the Covenant (Article 2)
• Duty to provide effective remedies for individuals whose rights have been violated (Article 2)
• Requirement to ensure equality between men and women in the enjoyment of civil and political rights (Article 3)
• Obligation to prohibit any advocacy of national, racial, or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility, or violence (Article 20)
• States may derogate from certain obligations during officially proclaimed public emergencies that threaten the life of the nation, but only to the extent strictly required and without discriminating solely on the grounds of race, color, sex, language, religion, or social origin (Article 4)
• Non-derogable rights include the right to life, freedom from torture, freedom from slavery, freedom from imprisonment for debt, the principle of legality in criminal law, recognition as a person before the law, and freedom of thought, conscience, and religion

Individual Complaints Mechanism

• First Optional Protocol to the ICCPR establishes an individual complaints mechanism
• Allows individuals who claim their rights under the Covenant have been violated by a state party to submit written communications to the Human Rights Committee
• State must have ratified the Optional Protocol for the Committee to consider complaints against it
• Complainant must have exhausted all available domestic remedies before submitting a communication
• Committee examines the complaint in closed meetings and forwards its views to the state party and the individual concerned
• Views are not legally binding but carry significant moral and political weight
• As of 2023, 116 states have ratified the First Optional Protocol

Challenges and Criticisms

• Lack of universal ratification and implementation, with some states not being parties to the Covenant or its Optional Protocols
• Weak enforcement mechanisms, as the Human Rights Committee's views are not legally binding
• Resource constraints and backlog of individual complaints hinder the Committee's effectiveness
• Some states enter reservations or declarations that limit the scope of their obligations under the Covenant
• Cultural relativism arguments challenge the universality of civil and political rights
• Tension between state sovereignty and international human rights obligations
• Criticism of the Covenant's focus on negative rights (freedoms from) rather than positive rights (rights to)
• Debate over the balance between individual rights and collective interests, such as national security or public health

Impact and Case Studies

• Toonen v. Australia (1994): The Human Rights Committee found that Tasmania's criminalization of consensual same-sex sexual activity violated the right to privacy under Article 17 of the ICCPR, leading to the repeal of the offending laws
• Lovelace v. Canada (1981): The Committee found that Canada's Indian Act, which deprived indigenous women of their legal status if they married non-indigenous men, violated the right to enjoy one's culture under Article 27 and the principle of non-discrimination under Article 26
• Mukong v. Cameroon (1994): The Committee held that the arbitrary arrest and detention of a journalist critical of the government violated his rights under Articles 7 (freedom from torture), 9 (right to liberty and security), 10 (humane treatment of prisoners), and 19 (freedom of expression)
• Waldman v. Canada (1999): The Committee found that Ontario's funding of Roman Catholic schools but not schools of other religious denominations violated the principle of non-discrimination under Article 26
• Gauthier v. Canada (1999): The Committee held that restrictions on the access of journalists to press facilities in Parliament violated the right to freedom of expression under Article 19
• The ICCPR has influenced the development of domestic human rights legislation and jurisprudence in many states parties, such as the United Kingdom's Human Rights Act 1998 and New Zealand's Bill of Rights Act 1990
• The Covenant has also served as a model for regional human rights instruments, such as the European Convention on Human Rights and the American Convention on Human Rights