CCPR
UNITED
NATIONS
International covenant
on civil and
political rights
Distr.
GENERAL
CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add. 13
26 May 2004
Original: ENGLISH
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE
Eightieth session
General Comment No. 31 [80]
The Nature of the General Legal Obligation Imposed on States Parties to the Covenant
Adopted on 29 March 2004 (2187th meeting)
1.
This General Comment replaces General Comment No 3, reflecting and developing its
principles. The general non-discrimination provisions of article 2, paragraph 1, have been
addressed in General Comment 18 and General Comment 28, and this General Comment should
be read together with them.
2.
While article 2 is couched in terms of the obligations of State Parties towards individuals
as the right-holders under the Covenant, every State Party has a legal interest in the performance
by every other State Party of its obligations. This follows from the fact that the ‘rules
concerning the basic rights of the human person’ are erga omnes obligations and that, as
indicated in the fourth preambular paragraph of the Covenant, there is a United Nations Charter
obligation to promote universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental
freedoms. Furthermore, the contractual dimension of the treaty involves any State Party to a
treaty being obligated to every other State Party to comply with its undertakings under the
treaty. In this connection, the Committee reminds States Parties of the desirability of making the
declaration contemplated in article 41. It further reminds those States Parties already having
made the declaration of the potential value of availing themselves of the procedure under that
article. However, the mere fact that a formal interstate mechanism for complaints to the Human
Rights Committee exists in respect of States Parties that have made the declaration under article
GE.04-41956