CCPR/C/GC/35
United Nations
International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights
Distr.: General
16 December 2014
Original: English
Human Rights Committee
General comment No. 35
Article 9 (Liberty and security of person)*
I. General remarks
1.
The present general comment replaces general comment No. 8 (sixteenth session),
adopted in 1982.
2.
Article 9 recognizes and protects both liberty of person and security of person. In the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 3 proclaims that everyone has the right to
life, liberty and security of person. That is the first substantive right protected by the
Universal Declaration, which indicates the profound importance of article 9 of the
Covenant both for individuals and for society as a whole. Liberty and security of person are
precious for their own sake, and also because the deprivation of liberty and security of
person have historically been principal means for impairing the enjoyment of other rights.
Liberty of person concerns freedom from confinement of the body, not a general
freedom of action.1 Security of person concerns freedom from injury to the body and the
mind, or bodily and mental integrity, as further discussed in paragraph 9 below. Article 9
guarantees those rights to everyone. “Everyone” includes, among others, girls and boys,
soldiers, persons with disabilities, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, aliens,
refugees and asylum seekers, stateless persons, migrant workers, persons convicted of
crime, and persons who have engaged in terrorist activity.
3.
4.
Paragraphs 2 to 5 of article 9 set out specific safeguards for the protection of liberty
and security of person. Some of the provisions of article 9 (part of paragraph 2 and the
whole of paragraph 3) apply only in connection with criminal charges. But the rest, in
particular the important guarantee laid down in paragraph 4, i.e. the right to review by a
court of the legality of detention, applies to all persons deprived of liberty.
5.
Deprivation of liberty involves more severe restriction of motion within a narrower
space than mere interference with liberty of movement under article 12.2 Examples of
* Adopted by the Committee at its 112th session (7–31 October 2014).
1
2
854/1999, Wackenheim v. France, para. 6.3.
263/1987, González del Río v. Peru, para. 5.1; 833/1998, Karker v. France, para. 8.5.
GE.14-24451 (E)