UNITED
NATIONS
CCP
International covenant
on civil and
political rights
Distr.
GENERAL
CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.6
11 November 1994
Original:
ENGLISH
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE
GENERAL COMMENT ADOPTED BY THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE
UNDER ARTICLE 40, PARAGRAPH 4, OF THE INTERNATIONAL
COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS
Addendum
General Comment No. 24 (52) 1/
General comment on issues relating to reservations made upon
ratification or accession to the Covenant or the Optional
Protocols thereto, or in relation to declarations
under article 41 of the Covenant
1.
As of 1 November 1994, 46 of the 127 States parties to the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights had, between them, entered 150
reservations of varying significance to their acceptance of the obligations of
the Covenant. Some of these reservations exclude the duty to provide and
guarantee particular rights in the Covenant. Others are couched in more
general terms, often directed to ensuring the continued paramountcy of certain
domestic legal provisions. Still others are directed at the competence of the
Committee. The number of reservations, their content and their scope may
undermine the effective implementation of the Covenant and tend to weaken
respect for the obligations of States parties. It is important for States
parties to know exactly what obligations they, and other States parties, have
in fact undertaken. And the Committee, in the performance of its duties under
either article 40 of the Covenant or under the Optional Protocols, must know
whether a State is bound by a particular obligation or to what extent. This
will require a determination as to whether a unilateral statement is a
reservation or an interpretative declaration and a determination of its
acceptability and effects.
1/ Adopted by the Committee at its 1382nd meeting (fifty-second session)
on 2 November 1994.
GE.94-19934
(E)