Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights PDF

# Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty Adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 44/128 of 15 December 1989 ## The States Parties to the present Protocol - Believing that abolition of the de...

# Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty Adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 44/128 of 15 December 1989 ## The States Parties to the present Protocol - Believing that abolition of the death penalty contributes to enhancement of human dignity and progressive development of human rights, - Recalling article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on 10 December 1948, and article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted on 16 December 1966, - Noting that article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights refers to abolition of the death penalty in terms that strongly suggest that abolition is desirable, - Convinced that all measures of abolition of the death penalty should be considered as progress in the enjoyment of the right to life, - Desirous to undertake hereby an international commitment to abolish the death penalty, ## Have agreed as follows: ### Article 1 1. No one within the jurisdiction of a State Party to the present Protocol shall be executed. 2. Each State Party shall take all necessary measures to abolish the death penalty within its jurisdiction. ### Article 2 1. No reservation is admissible to the present Protocol, except for a reservation made at the time of ratification or accession that provides for the application of the death penalty in time of war pursuant to a conviction for a most serious crime of a military nature committed during wartime. 2. The State Party making such a reservation shall at the time of ratification or accession communicate to the Secretary-General of the United Nations the relevant provisions of its national legislation applicable during wartime. 3. The State Party having made such a reservation shall notify the Secretary-General of the United Nations of any beginning or ending of a state of war applicable to its territory. ### Article 3 The States Parties to the present Protocol shall include in the reports they submit to the Human Rights Committee, in accordance with article 40 of the Covenant, information on the measures that they have adopted to give effect to the present Protocol. ### Article 4 With respect to the States Parties to the Covenant that have made a declaration under article 41, the competence of the Human Rights Committee to receive and consider communications when a State Party claims that another State Party is not fulfilling its obligations shall extend to the provisions of the present Protocol, unless the State Party concerned has made a statement to the contrary at the moment of ratification or accession. ### Article 5 With respect to the States Parties to the first Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights adopted on 16 December 1966, the competence of the Human Rights Committee to receive and consider communications from individuals subject to its jurisdiction shall extend to the provisions of the present Protocol, unless the State Party concerned has made a statement to the contrary at the moment of ratification or accession. ### Article 6 1. The provisions of the present Protocol shall apply as additional provisions to the Covenant. 2. Without prejudice to the possibility of a reservation under article 2 of the present Protocol, the right guaranteed in article 1, paragraph 1, of the present Protocol shall not be subject to any derogation under article 4 of the Covenant. ### Article 7 1. The present Protocol is open for signature by any State that has signed the Covenant. 2. The present Protocol is subject to ratification by any State that has ratified the Covenant or acceded to it. Instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. 3. The present Protocol shall be open to accession by any State that has ratified the Covenant or acceded to it. 4. Accession shall be effected by the deposit of an instrument of accession with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. 5. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall inform all States that have signed the present Protocol or acceded to it of the deposit of each instrument of ratification or accession. ### Article 8 1. The present Protocol shall enter into force three months after the date of the deposit with the Secretary-General of the United Nations of the tenth instrument of ratification or accession. 2. For each State ratifying the present Protocol or acceding to it after the deposit of the tenth instrument of ratification or accession, the present Protocol shall enter into force three months after the date of the deposit of its own instrument of ratification or accession. ### Article 9 The provisions of the present Protocol shall extend to all parts of federal States without any limitations or exceptions. ### Article 10 The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall inform all States referred to in article 48, paragraph 1, of the Covenant of the following particulars: - (a) Reservations, communications and notifications under article 2 of the present Protocol; - (b) Statements made under articles 4 or 5 of the present Protocol; - (c) Signatures, ratifications and accessions under article 7 of the present Protocol; - (d) The date of the entry into force of the present Protocol under article 8 thereof. ### Article 11 1. The present Protocol, of which the Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall be deposited in the archives of the United Nations. 2. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall transmit certified copies of the present Protocol to all States referred to in article 48 of the Covenant. # Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966 Entry into force 23 March 1976, in accordance with Article 9 ## The States Parties to the present Protocol - Considering that in order further to achieve the purposes of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (hereinafter referred to as the Covenant) and the implementation of its provisions it would be appropriate to enable the Human Rights Committee set up in part IV of the Covenant (hereinafter referred to as the Committee) to receive and consider, as provided in the present Protocol, communications from individuals claiming to be victims of violations of any of the rights set forth in the Covenant. ## Have agreed as follows: ### Article 1 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. ### Article 2 Subject to the provisions of article 1, individuals who claim that any of their rights enumerated in the Covenant have been violated and who have exhausted all available domestic remedies may submit a written communication to the Committee for consideration. ### Article 3 The Committee shall consider inadmissible any communication under the present Protocol which is anonymous, or which it considers to be an abuse of the right of submission of such communications or to be incompatible with the provisions of the Covenant. ### Article 4 1. Subject to the provisions of article 3, the Committee shall bring any communications submitted to it under the present Protocol to the attention of the State Party to the present Protocol alleged to be violating any provision of the Covenant. 2. Within six months, the receiving State shall submit to the Committee written explanations or statements clarifying the matter and the remedy, if any, that may have been taken by that State. ### Article 5 1. The Committee shall consider communications received under the present Protocol in the light of all written information made available to it by the individual and by the State Party concerned. 2. The Committee shall not consider any communication from an individual unless it has ascertained that: - (a) The same matter is not being examined under another procedure of international investigation or settlement; - (b) The individual has exhausted all available domestic remedies. This shall not be the rule where the application of the remedies is unreasonably prolonged. 3. The Committee shall hold closed meetings when examining communications under the present Protocol. 4. The Committee shall forward its views to the State Party concerned and to the individual. ### Article 6 The Committee shall include in its annual report under article 45 of the Covenant a summary of its activities under the present Protocol. ### Article 7 Pending the achievement of the objectives of resolution 1514(XV) adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 14 December 1960 concerning the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, the provisions of the present Protocol shall in no way limit the right of petition granted to these peoples by the Charter of the United Nations and other international conventions and instruments under the United Nations and its specialized agencies. ### Article 8 1. The present Protocol is open for signature by any State which has signed the Covenant. 2. The present Protocol is subject to ratification by any State which has ratified or acceded to the Covenant. Instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. 3. The present Protocol shall be open to accession by any State which has ratified or acceded to the Covenant. 4. Accession shall be effected by the deposit of an instrument of accession with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. 5. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall inform all States which have signed the present Protocol or acceded to it of the deposit of each instrument of ratification or accession. ### Article 9 1. Subject to the entry into force of the Covenant, the present Protocol shall enter into force three months after the date of the deposit with the Secretary-General of the United Nations of the tenth instrument of ratification or instrument of accession. 2. For each State ratifying the present Protocol or acceding to it after the deposit of the tenth instrument of ratification or instrument of accession, the present Protocol shall enter into force three months after the date of the deposit of its own instrument of ratification or instrument of accession. ### Article 10 The provisions of the present Protocol shall extend to all parts of federal States without any limitations or exceptions. ### Article 11 1. Any State Party to the present Protocol may propose an amendment and file it with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The Secretary-General shall thereupon communicate any proposed amendments to the States Parties to the present Protocol with a request that they notify him whether they favour a conference of States Parties for the purpose of considering and voting upon the proposal. In the event that at least one third of the States Parties favours such a conference, the Secretary-General shall convene the conference under the auspices of the United Nations. Any amendment adopted by a majority of the States Parties present and voting at the conference shall be submitted to the General Assembly of the United Nations for approval. 2. Amendments shall come into force when they have been approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations and accepted by a two-thirds majority of the States Parties to the present Protocol in accordance with their respective constitutional processes. 3. When amendments come into force, they shall be binding on those States Parties which have accepted them, other States Parties still being bound by the provisions of the present Protocol and any earlier amendment which they have accepted. ### Article 12 1. Any State Party may denounce the present Protocol at any time by written notification addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Denunciation shall take effect three months after the date of receipt of the notification by the Secretary-General. 2. Denunciation shall be without prejudice to the continued application of the provisions of the present Protocol to any communication submitted under article 2 before the effective date of denunciation. ### Article 13 Irrespective of the notifications made under article 8, paragraph 5, of the present Protocol, the Secretary-General of the United Nations shall inform all States referred to in article 48, paragraph I, of the Covenant of the following particulars: - (a) Signatures, ratifications and accessions under article 8; - (b) The date of the entry into force of the present Protocol under article 9 and the date of the entry into force of any amendments under article 11; - (c) Denunciations under article 12. ### Article 14 1. The present Protocol, of which the Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall be deposited in the archives of the United Nations. 2. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall transmit certified copies of the present Protocol to all States referred to in article 48 of the Covenant. # What is the ICCPR? The ICCPR is a key international human rights treaty, providing a range of protections for civil and political rights. The ICCPR, together with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, are considered the International Bill of Human Rights. The ICCPR obligates countries that have ratified the treaty to protect and preserve basic human rights, such as: - The right to life and human dignity - Equality before the law - Freedom of speech, assembly, and association - Religious freedom and privacy - Freedom from torture, ill-treatment, and arbitrary detention - Gender equality - The right to a fair trial - Right family life and family unity - Minority rights. The Covenant compels governments to take administrative, judicial, and legislative measures in order to protect the rights enshrined in the treaty and to provide an effective remedy. The Covenant was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1966 and came into force in 1976. As of December 2018, 172 countries have ratified the Covenant. # Why does the U.S. have to comply with the ICCPR? The U.S. ratified the ICCPR in 1992. Upon ratification, the ICCPR became the “supreme law of the land” under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which gives ratified treaties the status of federal law. The U.S. must comply with and implement the provisions of the treaty just as it would any other domestic law, subject to Reservations, Understandings and Declarations (RUDs) entered when it ratified the treaty. Though the government retains the obligation to comply with the ICCPR, one of the RUDs attached by the U.S. Senate is a “not self-executing” Declaration, intended to limit the ability of litigants to sue in court for direct enforcement of the treaty. # 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. When the U.S. Senate ratified the ICCPR, it included an Understanding that recognized our federal system of government, and specifically stated that the treaty "shall be implemented by the Federal Government to the extent that it exercises legislative and judicial jurisdiction over the matters covered" by the treaty, "and otherwise by the state and local governments" with support from the federal government for the fulfillment of the Covenant. # The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights was adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly # Articles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights The ICCPR contains about 53 articles divided into 6 parts. Their details are as follows: ### Structure of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights | Articles of ICCPR | Details | |---|---| | Article 1 | It recognizes the right of all peoples to self-determination, including the right to "freely determine their political status", pursue their economic, social and cultural goals, and manage and dispose of their own resources. | | Articles 2 - 5 | These articles enable parties to come up with legislation to give effect to the rights recognized in the Covenant, and to provide a legal remedy in case of violation of such rights. | | Articles 6 - 27 | Article 6-27 contain rights such as: * Guarantee of physical integrity as in right to life and freedom from torture and slavery. * Freedom from unlawful arrest, right to habeas corpus and guarantee of individual liberty and security. * Fairness in law and its procedure through the rights to due process, fair and impartial trial, the presumption of innocence. * Freedoms of moment, thought, religion association, conscience, assembly, right to privacy and right to a nationality. * Disallowing propaganda for war and religious purposes as well as advocacy of national or religious hatred that will result in violence or hostility. * Political participation, including the right to the right to vote. * Equality before the law, no discrimination on grounds of anyone being a minority or not. | | Articles 28 - 45 | These articles establish the guidelines of the Human Rights Committee will operate, as well as the reporting and monitoring of the Covenant. It also enables the parties to recognise the authority of the committee to resolve the disputes between parties on the implementation of the ICCPR. | | Articles 46 - 47 | Articles 46 - 47 states that the provisions of the ICCPR does not mean that parties will interfere with the operation of the United Nations or "the inherent right of all peoples to enjoy and utilize full and freely their natural wealth" | | Articles 48 - 53 | Governs ratification, entry into force, and amendment of the Covenant. |