Jamaica Withdraws the Right of Individual Petition under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

1998 ◽  
Vol 92 (3) ◽  
pp. 563-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Schiffrin
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Optional Protocol ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
The Right ◽  
Roll Back ◽  
Individual Petition

In October 1997, a little-noticed event took place at the United Nations that may roll back the international legal protection of human rights. Jamaica became the first country to denounce the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and thus withdrew the right of individual petition to the UN Human Rights Committee (Committee). Although it is provided for under the Protocol’s Article 12, no state has previously made such a denunciation.

Views adopted by the Committee under article 5(4) of the Optional Protocol, concerning A.S., D.I., O.I., and G.D. V. Italy, Communication No. 3042/2017 (U.N. Hum. Rts. COMM.)

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Patricia Vella De Fremeaux (Mallia) ◽  
Felicity G. Attard
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Optional Protocol ◽  
Introductory Note ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
The Right ◽  
Article 5

On January 27, 2021, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC or Committee) published two separate decisions in response to communications brought against Malta and Italy. Both decisions concerned the same incident, which occurred on October 11, 2013, where over 200 migrants drowned in a shipwreck in the Mediterranean. The first complaint brought against Malta was dismissed by the Committee on procedural grounds. In the second case, A.S., D.I., O.I. and G.D. v. Italy, the HRC found that Italy had failed to protect the right to life of the migrants under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). This introductory note discusses the significance of the Committee's findings in this decision and its ramifications with respect to the protection of human rights at sea.

The Protection of Human Rights by the Organization of American States

1968 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 889-908 ◽  
Author(s):  
José A. Cabranes
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Optional Protocol ◽  
American States ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
Civil And Political Rights

On December 16, 1966, the General Assembly approved three agreements designed to establish a global system of enforceable treaty obligations with respect to fundamental human rights. These agreements are the second part of the “international bill of rights” proposed at the San Francisco Conference. Eighteen years separated the adoption of these agreements—the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights—and the approval in 1948 of the first part of the projected United Nations program for the protection of human rights, the non-binding Universal declaration of Human Rights.

Views Adopted by the Committee Under Article 5(4) of the Optional Protocol, Concerning Sanila-aikio v. Finland, Communication No. 2668/2015, and Klemetti Käkkäläjärvi et al., Communication No. 2950/2017 (H.R. Comm'n)

2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 302-332
Author(s):  
CJ Iorns Magallanes
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Electoral Roll ◽  
Optional Protocol ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Article 5

On November 1 and 2, 2018, the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations (the Committee) adopted views pursuant to Article 5(4) of the Optional Protocol in the cases of Sanila-Aikio v. Finland and Klemetti Käkkäläjärvi et al. In respect of both communications, the Committee considered that the interpretation made by the Finland Supreme Administrative Court (the Court), of who was eligible to be a member of the Sami Parliament's electoral roll, violated Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the Covenant), read alone and in conjunction with Article 27, and in light of Article 1.

scholarly journals THE LONG ROAD TO THE INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS: THE RIGHT TO AN ADEQUATE STANDARD OF LIVING

2018 ◽  
pp. 43-60
Author(s):  
GERMANA AGUIAR RIBEIRO DO NASCIMENTO
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Universal Declaration ◽  
Standard Of Living ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
The Right ◽  
Second World

A long road was necessary for economic and social rights to be internationally recognized. In fact, it was only after the Second World War that the protection of human rights, including economic and social rights, became one of the aims of the United Nations. Despite that, this legal protection was by no means made without controversies, especially when it comes to economic and social rights. The fact that most of the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights refer to civil and political rights corroborates these difficulties. Only articles 22 through 27 protected economic and social rights. The objective of this article is to shed some light into this process, as the Universal Declaration has been the foundation of the codification of the whole human rights system. Particular attention will be given to the discussions around the inclusion of article 25 that refers to the right to an adequate standard of living. It is interesting to analyze how this right was adopted during the process of elaboration of the Declaration, as it was then incorporated by so many texts and influenced the recognition of other rights. In fact, if today we are able to have autonomous rights to water, to health, to food, to housing and to education, it is thanks to the proclamation of the right to an adequate standard of living in the first place.

scholarly journals Extraterritorial application of the right to life on the high sea . Commentary to the Views adopted by the Human Rights Committee of 27 January 2021, A.S., D.I., O.I. and G.D. against Italy, Communication No. 3042/2017

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bartosz Pacholski
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Rescue Operation ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
The Right

The subject matter of this commentary, which instigates the Views of the Human Rights Committee of 27 January 2021, is the protection of one of the fundamental human rights – the right to life. The Committee, as an authority appointed to oversee compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, had to decide on the issue of Italy’s responsibility for failing to provide assistance to a boat in distress, even if the area in which the vessel was located was not within the territory of this state and other acts of international law attribute the responsibility for executing the rescue operation to a third country. According to the Committee’s views, which applied extraterritorial approach to the protection of the right to life, whenever states have the opportunity to take action for the protection of human rights they should do everything possible in a given situation to help people in need.

scholarly journals The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the European Convention on Human Rights: a tale of two halves or a potentially unified vision of human rights?

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Broderick
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
United Nations Convention ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Right

The traditional dichotomy of rights between civil and political rights, on the one hand, and economic, social and cultural rights, on the other hand, has been increasingly eroded in scholarly and judicial discourse. The interdependence of the two sets of rights is a fundamental tenet of international human rights law. Nowhere is this interdependence more evident than in the context of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD or UN Convention). This article examines the indivisibility and interdependence of rights in the CRPD and, specifically, the positive obligations imposed on States Parties to the UN Convention, in particular the reasonable accommodation duty. The aim of the paper is to analyse, from a disability perspective, the approach adopted by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or ‘Strasbourg Court’) in developing the social dimension of certain civil and political rights in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), namely Articles 2 and 3 (on the right to life and the prohibition on torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, respectively), Article 8 (on the right to private and family life) and Article 14 ECHR (on non-discrimination). Ultimately, this paper examines the influence of the CRPD on the interpretation by the Strasbourg Court of the rights of persons with disabilities under the ECHR. It argues that, while the Court is building some bridges to the CRPD, the incremental and often fragmented approach adopted by the Court could be moulded into a more principled approach, guided by the CRPD.

scholarly journals ASSESSING THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE’S GENERAL COMMENT NO. 37: IS THE INTERPRETATION SUFFICIENT TO PROTECT THE FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY IN TIMES OF PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY?

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Sonia Widya Febriana
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Right ◽  
Scope Of Protection

Implementing the right of peaceful assembly in the midst of a pandemic seems dangerous, especially when the disease is highly infectious. The United Nations Human Rights Committee then adopted General Comment No. 37 which explains the scope of protection of Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966. This writing is normative research on the interpretation made by the Human Rights Committee and assessing the sufficiency of the said interpretation in protecting the freedom of assembly in the midst of public health emergencies. It is found that the Human Rights Committee has conducted a thorough method in interpreting the protective scope of Article 21 of the ICCPR, whereas the General Comment No. 37 provides a vast protective scope, including a thorough guideline on how to conduct the freedom of assembly in times of public health emergency.

scholarly journals Individual Communications Against Poland Before the Human Rights Committee: a Review and Tentative Conclusions

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 55-78
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Łasak
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Optional Protocol ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
The Right

Poland has been a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 16 December 1966 for forty years, and has been recognizing the right of individuals to submit applications to the Human Rights Committee for 25 years. The total number of communications amounts to 11, and the results of the examination thereof encourage consideration of denouncing the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 16 December 1966.

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