Encore Course - International Human Rights
Civil and Political Rights
February 7, 2011
II. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (adopted 1966)
Ratifications - 166 (US ratified 1992)
Entry into Force - 1976
Optional Protocol (1966) (authorizes complaints from individuals to the
Human Rights Committee)
Ratifications - 113 (US- neither signature or ratification)
Entry into Force - 1976
A State Party to the Covenant that becomes a party to the present Protocol recognizes the competence of the Committee to receive and consider communications from individuals subject to its jurisdiction who claim to be victims of a violation by that State Party of any of the rights set forth in the Covenant. No communication shall be received by the Committee if it concerns a State Party to the Covenant which is not a party to the present Protocol.
Second Optional Protocol (1989) (aimed at abolishing the death penalty)
Ratifications - 72 (US - neither signature or ratification)
Entry into Force - 1991
Article 1
1. No one within the jurisdiction of a State Party to the present Protocol shall be executed.
2. Each State Party shall take all necessary measures to abolish the death penalty within its jurisdiction
III. Focus on Specific Rights
Right to Self-determination (article 1)
All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
Derogation (Suspension) of rights (article 2)
In time of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation and the existence of which is officially proclaimed, the States Parties to the present Covenant may take measures derogating from their obligations under the present Covenant to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation
No derogation from articles 6, 7, 8 (paragraphs 1 and 2), 11, 15, 16 and 18 may be made under this provision.
(see article 6 and 2nd Optional Protocol)
Applies to capital punishment in the US and other countries?
“Capital Punishment,” Wikipedia
*Prohibition on Slavery and Involuntary Servitude (article 8)
*Prohibition on Torture and Cruel, Inhumane, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (article 9)
*Prohibition on Ex Post Facto Laws and Punishments (article 11)
Right to Due Process (article 14)
Right to Privacy (article 17)
*Right to Freedom of Thought and Conscience and Religion (article 18)
Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.
No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.
Right to Freedom of Expression and to Seek, Receive and Import Inormation (article 19)
Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.
Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.
The exercise of the rights provided for in paragraph 2 of this article carries with it special duties and responsibilities. It 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;
For the protection of national security or of public order (ordre public), or of public health or morals.
Prohibition of War Propaganda and Hate Speech (article 20)
Right of Peaceful Assembly (article 21)
Right of Freedom of Association (article 22)
Family and Marriage Rights (see article 23)
The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
The right of men and women of marriageable age to marry and to found a family shall be recognized.
No marriage shall be entered into without the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
States Parties to the present Covenant shall take appropriate steps to ensure equally of rights and responsibilities of spouses as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. In the case of dissolution, provision shall be made for the necessary protection of any children.
Equal Protection Before the Law and without Descrimination (article 26)
IV. Democracy as a Human Right
Provisions of Article 24 of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity
To take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives;
To vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors;
To have access, on general terms of equality, to public service in his country.
Articles 19 to 22 are also support democratic governance
Freedom House - Freedom in the World 2010
V. Other Treaties on Political and Civil Rights
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)
Ratifications - 141 (US ratification 1988)
Entry ito Force - 1951
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
International Convention on the Elimination of Forms of Racial Discrimination (1966)
Ratifications - 173 (US ratification 1994)
Entry into Force - 1969
Article 2
1. States Parties condemn racial discrimination and undertake to pursue by all appropriate means and without delay a policy of eliminating racial discrimination in all its forms and promoting understanding among all races, and, to this end: (a) Each State Party undertakes to engage in no act or practice of racial discrimination against persons, groups of persons or institutions and to en sure that all public authorities and public institutions, national and local, shall act in conformity with this obligation;
Convention Against Torture and Other Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984)
Ratifications - 147 (US ratification 1994)
Entry into Force - 1987
For the purposes of this Convention, torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person,
Article 2
Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.
No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.
An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture.