From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In
international law
,
civil and political rights
are those
rights
a person has over their own
autonomy
(civil) and their right to have a part in their
government
(political).
[1]
Civil and political rights are guaranteed to every person by the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR) and the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR).
[2]
Universal civil rights include:
[1]
- The
right to life
- Every
human being
has right to their life. It is protected by
law
and no one has a right to take another person's life
arbitrarily
.
[3]
This means without a legal reason.
- The
right to a fair trial
- Every person has a right to a fair trial.
[4]
They have the right to be equal before courts and tribunals.
[4]
They have a right to a fair and public trial before a competent and impartial court.
[4]
- The
freedom from torture
- Every person has the right to be free from torture.
[5]
They have the right to be free of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
[5]
- The
freedom of speech
- Article 19 of the ICCPR
guarantees
the right to
free expression
. But it is a
derogable right
, meaning it can be
regulated
if that regulation serves a vital public interest.
[6]
An example is the
US Supreme Court
Justice
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
in the case
Schenck v. United States
(1919). The case was about limiting free speech during
wartime
to serve the greater good. He is famously quoted as saying: "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic."
[6]
- The
right to privacy
- Article 17 of the ICCPR protects all persons from any
interference
, un
lawful
or
arbitrary
, with their "privacy, family, home or
correspondence
."
[7]
- The rights of
liberty
and
security
- Article 9(1) of the ICCPR uses the expression "Liberty and security of the person."
[8]
It says no one may be arbitrarily
arrested
or detained. No one may have their liberty taken away except by lawful process.
[8]
- The
right of asylum
- When the UDHR was first drafted, one of the rights granted was the right to enjoy asylum. This status right was included with the right to a nationality and the right to be recognized before the law.
[9]
- The rights
were made in 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Political rights include:
- The right to
natural justice
- Includes the principals of a fair hearing. It is also called
Audi alteram partem
.
[10]
Latin
for "hear the other side".
[11]
- The right to
due process
- The right to due process in
criminal proceedings
under the law.
[12]
Currently it is not a derogable right
[12]
(see freedom of speech above).
- The right to seek
legal redress
- This is a right all people have to the court system. It is the right to bring a
lawsuit
against another person,
organization
or
government
.
- The right to
Political participation
- A right granted UDHR.
[9]
It states: "Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives."
[13]
- The
right to assemble
- The
right of assembly
is provided by the UDHR.
[13]
It says: "Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association". It adds: "No one may be compelled to belong to an association".
[13]
- The
right to petition
- This is a right to complain about injustices and to have those complaints heard. Several international conventions provide the right to petition to individuals.
[14]
- The
right of self-defense
- This applies to persons and is a right to defend themselves against immediate harm. It applies when a person is charged with a crime.
[15]
It also applies to collective self-defense against attack.
[15]
- The
right to vote
- This was first granted by the UDHR.
[9]
The ICCPR expanded this right to include the rights to vote, to be
elected
, to vote by
secret ballot
and
universal suffrage
[3]
(the right for all adults to vote regardless of race or sex).
- ↑
1.0
1.1
Zoran Milovanovich.
"Civil and Political Rights"
. The Lincoln University. Archived from
the original
on 26 October 2015
. Retrieved
29 October
2015
.
- ↑
Berta E. Hernandez-Truyol, 'Civil and Political Rights ? An Introduction',
University of Miami Inter-American Law Review
, Vol. 28-1 (January 1, 1997), p. 235
- ↑
3.0
3.1
"International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights"
. United Nations
. Retrieved
29 October
2015
.
- ↑
4.0
4.1
4.2
Jixi Zhang, 'Fair Trial Rights in ICCPR',
Journal of Politics and Law
, Vol. 2, No. 4 (December 2009), p. 39
- ↑
5.0
5.1
"The Right to Freedom from Torture, or Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment"
. Icelandic Human Rights Centre
. Retrieved
29 October
2015
.
- ↑
6.0
6.1
"International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights"
. Levin Institute, State University of New York. Archived from
the original
on 18 September 2015
. Retrieved
29 October
2015
.
- ↑
Steven M. Watt (13 March 2014).
"Privacy Rights are Human Rights"
. American Civil Liberties Union
. Retrieved
29 October
2015
.
- ↑
8.0
8.1
Dr Alex Conte; Dr Richard Burchill,
Defining Civil and Political Rights: The Jurisprudence of the United Nations Human Rights Committee
, Second Edition (Surrey, UK; Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing, 1971), p. 111
- ↑
9.0
9.1
9.2
Annemarie Devereux,
Australia and the Birth of the International Bill of Human Rights, 1946-1966
(Annandale, N.S.W.: Federation Press, 2005), p. 59
- ↑
Dr Alex Conte; Dr Richard Burchill,
Defining Civil and Political Rights: The Jurisprudence of the United Nations Human Rights Committee
, Second Edition (Surrey, UK; Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing, 1971), p. 174
- ↑
"Audi Alteram Partem Definition:"
. Duhaime's Law Dictionary. Archived from
the original
on 14 September 2007
. Retrieved
29 October
2015
.
- ↑
12.0
12.1
Roza Pati,
Due Process and International Terrorism
(Leiden; Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2009), p. 31
- ↑
13.0
13.1
13.2
"Universal Declaration of Human Rights"
. United Nations
. Retrieved
29 October
2015
.
- ↑
P Sukumar Nair,
Human Rights In A Changing World
(Delhi: Kalpaz Publications, 2011), p. 289
- ↑
15.0
15.1
Connie de la Vega,
Dictionary of International Human Rights Law
(Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2013), p. 131