chapter 3

The 1966 International Covenant on Civil

and Political Rights (iccpr)1

3.1 Introduction

The iccpr was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 16
December 1966 and it entered into force on 23 March 1976.2 The iccpr has
been ratified by a large number of States: 167.3 They include all 27 Member
States of the European Union.4 There are two Optional Protocols to the iccpr.
The First Optional Protocol,5 which entered into force on the same date as the
iccpr itself, establishes an individual complaints mechanism, allowing indi-
viduals to complain to the Human Rights Committee (hrc) about violations
of the iccpr.6 The First Optional Protocol has 113 parties, including all the eu
Member States, except the uk.7

1 See the following literature for more comprehensive descriptions and analyses of the history
and working of the iccpr: Van Dijk (and others) (1987), Nowak (1993), McGoldrick (1996),
Ghandi (1998), Hanski & Scheinin (2003), Carlson & Gisvold (2003), Conte, Davidson &
Burchill (2004), Nowak (2005), Joseph, Schultz & Castan (2005), Hanski & Scheinin (2007),
Steiner, Alston & Goodman (2008). For the role of the iccpr in international asylum law, see
in particular Wouters (2009), Chapter 4.
2 United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2200 A (XXI), 21 un gaor Supp. (No. 16) at 52,
un Doc. A/6316 (1966), 999 unts 171; see http://treaties.un.org under ‘Status of Treaties’.
3 The number of States Parties mentioned here reflects the situation on 1 June 2014. See: http://
treaties.un.org and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Covenant_on_Civil_and
_Po-litical_Rights.
4 The number of Member States mentioned here reflects the situation on 1 June 2014; see
http://europa.eu/abc/european_countries/eu_members/index_nl.htm.
5 United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2200A (XXI), 21 un gaor Supp. (No. 16) at 59,
un Doc. A/6316 (1966), 999 unts 302.
6 Article 1 of the First Optional Protocol to the iccpr stipulates: ‘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’.
7 The number of Member States mentioned here reflects the situation on 1 June 2014; see
http://treaties.un.org.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2015 | doi 10.1163/9789004290723_004

The 1966 iccpr 67

As the uk is party to the iccpr itself, this State is bound by it and by the
interpretations of treaty provisions given by the hrc, the body created by the
iccpr to monitor the compliance of States parties with the treaty provisions.
However, as a result of the fact that the uk has not ratified the First Optional
Protocol, individuals in the uk, including asylum seekers, cannot bring com-
munications to the hrc. The Second Optional Protocol8 entered into force on
11 July 1991. It commits its members to the abolition of the death penalty within
their borders.9 The Second Optional Protocol has 73 States parties, including
all 27 eu Member States.
The iccpr (1966) is a universal general human rights treaty which, together
with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(icesr 1966)10 gives treaty status to human rights proclaimed in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (udhr 1948).11 Both these treaties form the core
of the international human rights protection instruments of the United
Nations, the so called ‘International Bill of Human Rights’. Unlike the udhr,
the iccpr and icesr are both treaties and, therefore, legally binding on the
States parties to them. The International Bill of Human Rights is further sup-
plemented by a number of specialized treaties established within the frame-
work of the United Nations, for example, the Convention against Torture and
Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (cat), investi-
gated in Chapter 4 of this book.

3.1.1 The iccpr and Asylum

The iccpr does not contain a right to asylum.12 Article 7 iccpr stipulates that
no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treat-
ment or punishment and that no one shall be subjected without his or her free
consent to medical or scientific experimentation. The hrc has interpreted
Article 7 in such a way that States parties must not expose individuals to the
danger of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
upon return to another country by way of their extradition, expulsion or
refoulement. The first decision on the merits of an individual complaint in

8 United Nations General Assembly Resolution 44/128, annex, 44 un gaor Supp. (No. 49)
at 207, un Doc. A/44/49 (1989).
9 Article 1 of the Second Optional Protocol to the iccpr stipulates that: ‘no one within the
jurisdiction of a State Party to the present Protocol shall be executed and that each State
Party shall take all necessary measures to abolish the death penalty within its jurisdiction’.
10 United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2200A (XXI), 21 un gaor Supp. (No. 16) at
49, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 993 unts 3, which entered into force on 3 January 1976.
11 United Nations General Assembly Resolution 217 A (III), un Doc A/810 at 71 (1948).
12 See, for example, hrc, V.M.R.B. v. Canada, 26 July 1988, No. 236/1987, para. 6.3.