Human Rights Committee reviews draft General Comment on the right of everyone to liberty and security of person

26 March 2013

The Human Rights Committee this morning continued its first reading, paragraph by paragraph, of a draft General Comment on Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on the right of everyone to liberty and security of person.

The Human Rights Committee publishes its interpretation of the content of human rights provisions in the Covenant in the form of General Comments on thematic issues. The draft General Comment on the right of everyone to liberty and security of person was presented by Committee Rapporteur Gerald L. Neuman on 21 March (see press release CT/13/10).

The Committee today went through paragraphs 2 to 9, out of a total of 71 paragraphs, that underline, among others, that liberty of person is a right of profound importance and is precious both for its own sake and because deprivation of liberty has historically been an principal means by which other human rights are suppressed; and that Article 9 recognizes and protects both liberty of person and security of person, and includes everyone, including girls and boys, soldiers, persons with disabilities, aliens, persons convicted of crime and persons who had engaged in terrorist activity.

The next public meeting of the Human Rights Committee will be at 4 p.m. on Thursday, 28 March, when it will adopt its concluding observations and recommendations on the reports of Paraguay, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, Angola, Macao Special Administrative Region of China and Peru and on the situation of civil and political rights in Belize in the absence of a report on how they are implementing the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Committee will then conclude its one hundredth and seventh session.

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For use of the information media; not an official record