International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

About International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:

• It is a key international human rights treaty, providing a range of protections for civil and political rights.
• The Covenant was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1966 and came into force in 1976.
• 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 etc.
• 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.
• As of 2024, 174 countries have been party to this Covenant.
• India became a party to the ICCPR in 1979 and has undergone three such reviews so far, the last being in 1997.