International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is the primary international legal instrument on civil and political rights.  

 Australia became a signatory to the ICCPR in 1972 and ratified it in 1980.  The ICCPR has not been formally incorporated into Australia’s domestic law.  However, the ICCPR is attached as a schedule to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 (Cth).  

This schedule empowers the Australian Human Rights Commission to investigate alleged violation of rights covered in the ICCPR, though the Commission’s findings are not binding. 

 The Human Rights Committee (CCPR) is the treaty body which monitors ICCPR.  The Committee meets three times a year to monitor and provide recommendations (known as “Concluding Observations”) on how State parties are implementing the provisions of ICCPR.  

The Human Rights Committee also produce General Comments on interpretations of the Convention.  The Committee is made up of 18 independent experts who are elected for a term of four years.  Committee members serve in their personal capacity and do not represent their country. 

Main Provisions of ICCPR

The substantive rights contained in the ICCPR include the right to:

equality before the law;

not be arbitrarily deprived of life;

liberty and freedom of movement;

a fair trial, including criminal rights such as the presumption of innocence and the right to appeal a conviction;

freedom from torture and other ill-treatment;

privacy;

freedom of thought, conscience, and religion;

freedom of opinion and expression; and

freedom of assembly and association.

The ICCPR also recognises the right of self determination.

Human Rights Committee’s Concluding Observations on Australia

In May 2009, the Human Rights Committee issued its Concluding Observations on Australia.  While the Committee welcomed the formal Apology to the Stolen Generations, the Committee expressed the following concerns:

Indigenous peoples are not sufficiently consulted in decision-making processes, particularly given the absence of a national indigenous representative body;

the Northern Territory Emergency Response measures that were adopted, particularly the negative impact of those measures on the rights of Indigenous peoples, the suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, and the lack of adequate consultation with affected people;

the lack of adequate reparation, including compensation, for victims of the Stolen Generations policies;

despite recent reforms, the high continued high cost, complexity and burdens of proof for claims under native title legislation;

the high levels of domestic violence against Aboriginal women;

the situation of homeless Indigenous peoples; and

the lack of adequate services to ensure equality in access to justice for Indigenous people.

A copy of the full Concluding Observations is available at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/co/CCPR-C-AUS-CO-5.doc. 

Australia’s next periodic report to the Committee is due by 1 April 2013.

General Comments

The Human Rights Committee publishes its interpretation of the content of provisions of the ICCPR in the form of General Comments.  The Committee has issued the following General Comments that are of particular relevance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples:

 •  General Comment No 23: The rights of minorities (Art 27)

 This General Recommendation discusses the rights of persons belonging to ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their own religion, or to use their own language, both as individuals and as groups,. Distinction is highlighted by the Committee between the rights protected under article 27 and the right to self-determination.

 •   General Comment No 12: The right to self-determination of peoples (Art. 1)

This General Recommendation highlights the importance of realization of self-determination rights as an essential condition for the effective guarantee and observance of individual human rights and for the promotion and strengthening of those rights.

Copies of the General Comments are available through the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) website here.

Individual complaints mechanism

Any individual who claims that her or his rights have under the ICCPR have been violated may make an individual complaint to the Human Rights Committee. 

Australia has declared under the first Optional Protocol to the Convention that it recognises the competence of the Committee to receive and consider complaints from individuals or groups within its jurisdiction.

Get Active

If you'd like to make a complaint under the ICCPR, or find out more information on how to make a complaint please go to the Treaty Body Reporting part of our website. (hyperlink to this)

Related Links

Click here for a copy of the ICCPR

Click here for a copy of the First Optional Protocol to the ICCPR

Click here for a copy of the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR

Click here for further information about the Human Rights Committee