ICCPR: civil and political rights and their implementation

1. Adoption and structure

The ICCPR was adopted by the General Assembly on 16 December 1966 (resolution 2200 A (XXI)) and came into force on 23 March 1976, three months after the thirty-fifth ratification. It has 53 Articles in six Parts.

• Part I (Art. 1): the right of all peoples to self-determination, common to both Covenants.
• Part II (Arts. 2–5): general obligations. Article 2(1): each state undertakes to respect and ensure the rights to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction, without distinction. Article 2(2): to adopt legislative or other measures. Article 2(3): to provide an effective remedy. Article 3: equal rights of men and women. Article 4: derogation. Article 5: no right to destroy others’ rights.
• Part III (Arts. 6–27): the substantive rights.
• Part IV (Arts. 28–45): the Human Rights Committee and implementation.
• Parts V and VI (Arts. 46–53): interpretation and final clauses.

Unlike the ICESCR, the obligation is immediate: a state must secure the rights from the moment of ratification, not progressively.

2. The rights: Articles 6 to 27

• Art. 6 — the inherent right to life. Death sentence only for the most serious crimes, under a law in force at the time, after a final judgment; not for crimes by persons below eighteen, nor carried out on pregnant women.
• Art. 7 — no torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and no medical or scientific experimentation without free consent.
• Art. 8 — no slavery, servitude, or forced or compulsory labour.
• Art. 9 — liberty and security of person: no arbitrary arrest; to be told the reasons; to be brought promptly before a judge; to take proceedings to test the detention; and, by Art. 9(5), an enforceable right to compensation for unlawful arrest or detention.
• Art. 10 — humane treatment of persons deprived of liberty; accused persons segregated from convicts and juveniles from adults.
• Art. 11 — no imprisonment merely for inability to fulfil a contractual obligation.
• Art. 12 — liberty of movement, freedom to leave any country, and not to be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter one’s own country.
• Art. 13 — procedural protection for aliens facing expulsion.
• Art. 14 — equality before courts; a fair and public hearing; presumption of innocence; minimum guarantees including legal assistance assigned free where the interests of justice require and the accused cannot pay (Art. 14(3)(d)), and no compulsion to testify against oneself (Art. 14(3)(g)); review by a higher tribunal; no double jeopardy.
• Art. 15 — no retroactive criminal laws or heavier penalties.
• Art. 16 — recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
• Art. 17 — no arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy, family, home or correspondence.
• Art. 18 — freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
• Art. 19 — freedom of opinion and expression, subject to restrictions provided by law and necessary for the rights or reputations of others, national security, public order, health or morals.
• Art. 20 — prohibition by law of propaganda for war and of advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that incites discrimination, hostility or violence.
• Arts. 21 and 22 — peaceful assembly; freedom of association, including trade unions.
• Art. 23 — protection of the family; marriage with free and full consent. Art. 24 — rights of the child, including registration after birth and a nationality.
• Art. 25 — to take part in public affairs, to vote and be elected at genuine periodic elections, and equal access to public service.
• Art. 26 — equality before the law and equal protection without discrimination. This is a free-standing guarantee, not limited to Covenant rights.
• Art. 27 — persons belonging to ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with others, to enjoy their own culture, profess and practise their own religion, or use their own language.

3. Derogation: Article 4

In a time of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation and which is officially proclaimed, a state may take measures derogating from its obligations, to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation, provided they are consistent with its other obligations under international law and do not discriminate solely on the ground of race, colour, sex, language, religion or social origin. No derogation is permitted from Articles 6, 7, 8(1) and (2), 11, 15, 16 and 18. A derogating state must inform the other states parties through the Secretary-General of the provisions derogated from and the reasons.

4. Implementation

(a) The Human Rights Committee (Art. 28). Eighteen members, nationals of states parties, persons of high moral character and recognised competence in human rights, elected by secret ballot by the states parties for four years and serving in their personal capacity, not as government representatives. No two members may be nationals of the same state. It should not be confused with the Human Rights Council, a body of 47 states.

(b) State reports (Art. 40). The only mechanism that applies to every state party. Each state submits a report within one year of the Covenant’s entry into force for it, and thereafter whenever the Committee requests. The Committee examines the report in public dialogue with a government delegation, takes into account information from NGOs and national institutions, and adopts concluding observations with recommendations. Under Art. 40(4) it also issues General Comments interpreting the Covenant, such as General Comment 36 (2018) on the right to life.

(c) Inter-state communications (Arts. 41–43). A state party may complain that another state party is not fulfilling its obligations, but only if both have made a declaration under Art. 41 accepting the Committee’s competence. The Committee offers its good offices for a friendly solution; if that fails, an ad hoc Conciliation Commission may be appointed with the consent of the parties (Art. 42). The procedure exists but has never been used.

(d) Individual communications: the First Optional Protocol. Adopted with the Covenant in 1966 and in force from 1976. A state that ratifies it accepts the Committee’s competence to receive communications from individuals subject to its jurisdiction who claim to be victims of a violation. Conditions: the author must have exhausted all available domestic remedies, the same matter must not be under examination by another international procedure, and the communication must not be anonymous or an abuse of the right of submission. The Committee considers the communication in closed meetings on written information and forwards its views to the state and the individual. Views are not judgments and are not formally binding, but the Committee follows up on compliance and reports to the General Assembly annually.

(e) The Second Optional Protocol (1989, in force 1991) aims at the abolition of the death penalty. A state party may not execute anyone within its jurisdiction; the only reservation allowed is for the most serious crimes of a military nature committed in wartime.

5. Use in Indian courts

In Jolly George Varghese v. Bank of Cochin, 1980 INSC 19, (1980) 2 SCC 360, judgment debtors were to be arrested in execution of a decree. Krishna Iyer J. held that Article 11 of the ICCPR was not by itself enforceable in India without legislation, but read section 51 of the Code of Civil Procedure in its light with Article 21: a debtor may be detained only where he has the means to pay and wilfully refuses, not merely because he is poor. In Nilabati Behera v. State of Orissa, 1993 INSC 113, (1993) 2 SCC 746, the Court referred to Article 9(5) in holding that compensation for custodial death is a public law remedy under Articles 32 and 226. In People’s Union for Civil Liberties v. Union of India, 1996 INSC 1509, (1997) 1 SCC 301, on telephone tapping, the Court read Article 17 into Article 21 and laid down safeguards for interception.

How this is examined

January 2026: “Discuss the implementation procedure of the rights provided under the ICCPR” (10 marks). August 2024: “Examine civil and political rights guaranteed under the ICCPR” (10 marks). June 2025 set “Civil and political rights” and February 2025 “Human Rights Committee” as notes. For implementation, write section 4 in order (a) to (e), then the India box. For rights, write section 2 with Article numbers, then Article 4. In the Committee note, state the 18 members and the Council distinction at the outset.