International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is an international human rights treaty that commits state parties to protect and respect the civil and political rights of individuals. The UK ratified ICCPR in 1976.

ICCPR rights are crucial to enabling people to enjoy a broad range of human rights, such as rights in relation to:

• freedom from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
• freedom from slavery and forced labour
• arrest, detention and imprisonment
• movement into, within and out of a State;
• treatment by the judicial process;
• privacy, home and family life
• freedom of thought, religion and expression,
• peaceful assembly
• freedom of association, including through trade unions;
• marriage and the rights of children;
• political participation; and
• equality and non discrimination

The full text of ICCPR can be found here.

When it examines a State, the Human Rights Committee makes a number of concluding observations (recommendations) which outline how the State can improve its implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

In July 2015, the Human Rights Committee made recommendations about the following issues in the UK:

• Ensuring if any legislation is passed in lieu of the Human Rights Act 1998, it strengthens protections for human rights in the UK.
• Ensuring an adequate balance between national security and accountability for human rights violations allegedly committed by British Forces overseas.
• Strengthening efforts to prevent racism and xenophobia.
• Strengthening measures to prevent violence against women and girls.
• Taking robust steps to prevent self-inflicted deaths and self-harm of adults and young people in the custody of the state.
• Establishing a time limit on the duration of immigration detention; and ensuring reforms to the detained fast track system are fully compliant with international human rights law.
• Reviewing the surveillance laws to ensure any interference with the right to privacy are legal, proportionate and necessary.

The 2015 Concluding Observations can be found here. PDF | Word

The Human Rights Committee

The implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is monitored by the Human Rights Committee; a body made up of eighteen independent experts from around the world.

These experts are nominated by the Governments who have ratified ICCPR, and they are elected to serve four-year terms. The Human Rights Committee generally meets formally three times a year (March, July and October).

State reports

When a State party has first ratified ICCPR, it must provide information on the legal and practical measures it has taken to implement all the substantial articles in the Covenant. The State party will then submit periodic reports approximately every four years. These reports will be shorter, focussing on the issues raised by the Committee in its previous concluding observations and any significant developments since the previous report which are relevant to ICCPR. These reports are known as the ‘State Report.’ (See list of issues prior to reporting, below.)

The UK’s most recent State Report, from December 2012, is available here:

• Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 40 of the Convention 2012 PDF
• Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 40 of the Convention 2012 Word

The state’s reply to the Human Rights Committee’s List of Issues from March 2015, can be found here:

• Replies of the UK and Northern Ireland to the list of issues March 2015
• Replies of the UK and Northern Ireland to the list of issues March 2015.

Organisations like the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and civil society can also provide submissions to the Human Rights Committee. These can provide an alternative analysis of the impact of laws and policies, supported by different kinds of evidence. These reports are known as “Shadow Reports.”

The EHRC submitted its Shadow Report to the Human Rights Committee’s List of Issues in June 2015 and it is available here.

List of issues

At the session prior to the examination of the State Report, the Human Rights Committee draws up a list of questions that they want the State to provide further written information on. This is known as the ‘list of issues.’ This list is based on information provided to the Committee by the State party, NGOs and the NHRI as well as other relevant sources. The list of issues will usually form the basis of the public examination and it helps the State party to prepare for the types of questions it is likely to receive. More information about the working methods of the Committee is available here. (See list of issues prior to reporting, below.)

List of issues prior to reporting

Since November 2009, the Human Rights Committee has trialled an optional reporting procedure known as the ‘list of issues prior to reporting.’ At least one year prior to the submission date of the State Report, the Human Rights Committee provides the State party with a list of issues it wants the State party to cover in its State Report. This approach aims to help the State party produce a more focussed State report and submit it to the Human Rights Committee on time. The Human Rights Committee will not issue any further list of issues prior to the examination. More information about this procedure can be found here.

State Examination and follow up

When the UK is examined, Government officials will attend the examination, usually including representatives from the devolved administrations for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The examination takes the form of a constructive dialogue, where the Human Rights Committee seeks to gain a better understanding of the situation in the State party and advise it on how to improve on the implementation of ICCPR.

Following the examination, the Human Rights Committee produces a report which includes recommendations for the State to implement. These are called the ‘Concluding Observations’. The last concluding observations on the UK can be found here. States are required to publish these recommendations and follow them up.

The State party is required to report to the Committee on progress on the most serious recommendations (usually) in one year’s time. The State party must report on how it has implemented the remaining recommendations in its next periodic state report, usually around four years later.

The Human Rights Committee also has a follow up procedure to maintain dialogue with the State party. The Committee appoints a special rapporteur who reports to the Committee on information they receive from the State on how it is progressing the Committee’s recommendations. This ‘sessional follow-up progress report’ will help the Committee decide the date for the State’s next State report.

More information on how ICCPR is monitored can be found here.

General Comments

The Human Rights Committee periodically drafts general comments which offer clear guidance on the application of the ICCPR articles in particular situations. Such recommendations include guidance on:

• liberty and security of the person
• states of emergency
• right to equality before courts and tribunals and the right to a fair trial

The Optional Protocols

The Human Rights Committee can accept complaints from individuals against States that have ratified the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Optional Protocol) The UK has not ratified this optional protocol because it considers that individuals can seek more effective remedies in domestic courts that the ICCPR complaints procedure offers.

State parties can also ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. The UK has ratified this optional protocol.

Examples include:

September 2014: Follow-up regarding the Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee against Torture on the 5th periodic review of UK: A joint shadow report from the EHRC, Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and Scottish Human Rights Commission.

August 2014: Mid-Term Universal Periodic Review Report

July 2014: Submission to the United Nations Human Rights Committee Pre-Sessional Working Group on the United Kingdom’s Implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

February 2014: Response to Deportation with assurances: call for evidence

2014: Research project, Religion and Belief in the workplace

Stop and Think projects. Review of Stop and Search Powers.

August 2012: EHRC Submission to the UN Committee Against Torture: response to list of issues on the UK's 5th periodic report.

• Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights
• Centre for Civil and Political Rights
• Civil and Political Rights: The Human Rights Committee