HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE CONTINUES DISCUSSION ON DRAFT GENERAL COMMENT ON ARTICLE 2 OF COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS

Human Rights Committee
76th session
16 October 2002



The Human Rights Committee this morning continued to discuss its draft General Comment on article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on the nature of the general legal obligations imposed on States parties to the Covenant.
The members of the Committee exchanged views on the remaining paragraphs of the text which stressed that States parties had obligations regarding the conduct of other States parties. They said that the monitoring mechanisms established under the Covenant, in particular under article 40, did not relieve States parties from their duty under international law to ensure compliance of all States parties to the Covenant.
The following draft paragraph said that the Covenant could not be viewed as a substitute for domestic criminal or civil law. However, the positive obligations on States parties to ensure Covenant rights would only be fully discharged if individuals were protected, not just against violations of Covenant rights by the State and its agents, but also against acts committed by private persons or entities that would substantially impair the enjoyment of the essence of Covenant rights.
The Committee will next meet in public at 3 p.m. on Thursday, 17 October, when the Committee will take up the third and fourth periodic reports of Egypt (document CCPR/C/EGY/2001/3).



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