FAQ: The Covenant on Civil & Political Rights (ICCPR)

What is the ICCPR?
The ICCPR is the most important international human rights treaty, providing a range of protections for civil and political rights. The ICCPR obligates countries who have signed the treaty to protect and preserve basic human rights such as the right to life and to human dignity, equality before the law, freedom of speech and association, freedom from torture and arbitrary detention, equality between men and women, fair trial and minority rights. The Covenant compels governments who ratified it to take administrative, judicial and legislative measures in order to protect the rights enshrined in the treaty. The Covenant was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1966 and went into force in 1976. As of May 2006, 156 countries have ratified the Covenant. www.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr.htm

Why does the U.S. have to comply with the ICCPR?
Because the U.S. ratified the treaty in June 1992, it is obligated to comply with and implement the provisions of the treaty just as it would any other domestic law, subject to U.S. reservations entered when it ratified the treaty. The U.S. Constitution itself makes clear that treaties are "the law of the land."

Does the ICCPR apply only to the federal government and its officials?
No. The ICCPR applies to all government entities and agents, including all state and local governments in the United States. The ICCPR thus applies to government actions in all states and counties and also applies to private contractors who carry out government functions.

What is the Human Rights Committee?
The Human Rights Committee was established to monitor the implementation of the ICCPR. It is composed of 18 independent experts with recognized competence in the field of human rights. Committee members are elected for a term of four years and must be from countries that have ratified the Covenant. The current members of the Committee come from: France, Japan, Argentina, Tunisia, United Kingdom, Switzerland, India, United States, Egypt, Sweden, Australia, Panama, Benin, Ecuador, Mauritius, Ireland, Colombia and Poland.

What does the Human Rights Committee do?
The Human Rights Committee meets three times a year for sessions of three weeks' duration, normally in March at United Nations headquarters in New York and in July and November at the United Nations Office in Geneva. Countries who have ratified the ICCPR are obliged to report to the Committee every four years. The Committee reviews these country reports. Three to five countries are invited to present their reports at each session. The Committee examines each report and addresses its concerns and recommendations to the country in the form of "concluding observations."

Has the United States submitted reports about its compliance with the ICCPR?
Yes. The U.S. submitted its most recent report in October 2005. The report was 7 years overdue; the last U.S. report was submitted in 1994. The concluding observations from the Human Rights Committee on the last U.S. report are available at www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/b7d33f6b0f726283c12563f000512bd1

The U.S. Department of State, currently headed by Condoleeza Rice, is responsible for drafting the reports and attending the Committee sessions in Geneva.

What will happen at the Human Rights Committee in Geneva?
On July 17 and 18, 2006, the Human Rights Committee will review the United States report in two public meetings which will be held at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Representatives from the U.S. Department of State will address the Committee and answer questions by Committee members. Some of these questions will be based on the list of issues and questions the Committee identified during its March 2006 meeting. www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/ hrc/docs/AdvanceDocs/ CCPR.C.USA.Q.3.pdf

What will happen after the Human Rights Committee reviews the U.S. report?
At the end of its session, the Human Rights Committee will issue a list of concerns and recommendations regarding the U.S. compliance with the ICCPR. Among its recommendations, the Committee may identify certain areas of concern and may ask for additional information from the U.S., within one year, on measures the U.S. has taken to address these concerns. While the recommendations are not legally binding, they place an important moral obligation on the U.S. government, which has committed to complying with the treaty before the nations of the world.

What is the role of human rights and civil liberties organizations in the treaty compliance process?
Domestic human rights organizations, or non-governmental organizations (NGOs), are encouraged to participate whenever the Committee considers a country's compliance with the treaty. Many groups submit information in the form of "shadow reports," and provide Committee members with a list of suggested questions and areas of concerns regarding the country report. The Committee relies in part on factual information provided by NGOs to counter information submitted by the government in its report.

Why is the ACLU involved in the review process? I thought the ACLU was a domestic civil liberties organization.
The ACLU is the nation's largest civil liberties organization, and is committed to defending and preserving the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution, laws and treaties of the United States. It is important for the ACLU and other domestic human rights and civil liberties groups to participate in the treaty compliance process to hold the U.S. government accountable for human rights abuses and to send a message to the rest of the world that U.S. violations of human rights within the United States and abroad will not be tolerated.

How has the ACLU been involved in the current review process?
The ACLU has been involved in the process since the U.S. submitted its report in October 2005. Together with other human rights NGOs, the ACLU provided the Committee with a list of issues and questions that the U.S. should be required to respond to. The ACLU, along with its state affiliate offices and clients, also participated in an NGO presentation to the Committee about the U.S. report at the March 2006 session in New York. In June 2006, the ACLU submitted a shadow report that documents U.S. failure to comply with the ICCPR both at home and abroad, entitled "Dimming the Beacon of Freedom: U.S. Violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights." The report focuses on five substantive areas: national security, immigrant’s rights, racial justice, women’s rights and religious freedom. Although the ICCPR covers a broad spectrum of civil and political rights, the shadow report does not address all of them; in addition, the report does not cover all of the work of the ACLU. The report is available online at /intlhumanrights/gen/25924pub20060620.html.

Finally, the ACLU will send to the Human Rights Committee session in Geneva a delegation of staff and clients to present the ACLU report and to testify and observe the proceedings. The ACLU and other US-based human rights NGOs will hold briefings with members of the Committee where they highlight U.S. failure to comply with the ICCPR and recommend measures that the U.S. must take to comply with its treaty obligations. www.ushrnetwork.org/page210.cfm