LLB, HR 1

COMMUNITY PARALEGAL TRAINING MANUAL
LLB.
Human Rights
What are human rights?

Human rights,
Universal rights held to belong to individuals by virtue of their being human, encompassing civil, political,
economic, social, and cultural rights and freedoms, and based on the notion of personal human dignity and
worth. Conceptually derived from the theory of natural law and originating in Greco-Roman doctrines, the
idea of human rights appears in some early Christian writers' works and is reflected in the Magna Carta
(1215). The concept winds as a philosophical thread through 17th- and 18th-century European and
American thought, including the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the French Declaration of the
Rights of Man and Citizen(1789). The United Nation's Commission on Human Rights, with Eleanor
Roosevelt as chair, created the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), which reasserted the
concept of human rights after the horrors of World War II. Organizations such as International and Human
Rights Watch promote human rights and denounce human-rights abuses. In addition, such abuses around
the world are monitored and documented by independent investigators ("special rapporteurs") appointed
by the UN Human Rights Council, which, in turn, rebukes cited nations for their human-rights failures. The
council replaced the UN Human Rights Commission in Europe, the supranational European Court of Human
Rights, established under the Council of Europe, and is intended to protect individual human rights from
government abuse.
 Human rights are the norms that help to protect all people everywhere from severe political, legal
and social abuses. Examples of human rights are the right to freedom of religion, the right to fair
trial when charged with a crime, the right not to be tortured and the right to engage in a political
activity.
 These rights exist in morality and in law at the national and international levels.
 Historical sources: The Medina charter (622), Magna Carta ( 1215), The English Bill of Rights
(1689)The French declaration of the rights of man (1789), The bill of rights in the United States
constitution (1791).
 The main sources of the contemporary conception of human rights are the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (United nations, 1948) and the many other documents and treaties that followed in
international organizations such as the United Nations, The council of Europe, the Organization of
American States and the African Union.
How can human rights exist?

 The most obvious way in which human rights exist is as norms of national and international law
created by enactments and judicial decisions ( Right to life as explained in the Shehla Zia case, in
Pakistan )
 At the international level, human right norms exist because of treaties that have turned them into
international law. For example, the human rights not to be held in slavery or servitude in article 4
of the European convention and in Article 8 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights exist because these treaties establish it.
 At the national level, human rights norms exist because they have through legislative enactment,
judicial decisions or custom become part of a country’s law. The human rights against slavery exist
in the U.S because the 13th amendment to the U.S Constitution prohibits slavery.
 People are born with rights which are inherent in human beings as they are given by God. The U.S
Declaration of Independence (1776) claims that people are “endowed by their creator” with
natural rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. On this view, god the, supreme lawmaker,
enacted some basic human rights.
 Human rights could also exist independently of legal enactment by being party of actual human
moralities e.g. prohibition of intentional murder of an innocent. ( this basic norm is shared by all)
Which Rights are human rights?
 Civil and political rights;
Freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of association with others including the right to form and join
trade unions for the protection of his interests. The right to participate freely in the government of his
country. Right to equal access to the public service of the country, right to access to public property
and services in equality.
Exceptions
However, some rights are subject to restrictions, e.g. freedom of movement can be restricted by public
and private property rights, restraining orders related to domestic violence and legal punishments.
Further, rights may be suspended during times of public emergency or natural disasters (hurricane or
earthquake) which threaten the life of nations but not the right to life, the prohibition of torture, the
prohibition of slavery and the freedom of thought and expression.
 Rights of Women, Minorities and groups;
Domestic violence, reproductive choice, trafficking of women and girls for sex work and protecting
rights of minorities may reduce ethnic conflict.
United Nations through specialized treaties has addressed the above issues. ie. The International
Convention on the elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (1965); Convention on the
Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979); the Convention on the Rights of
the Child (1989), and the Convention on the rights of Persons with disabilities (2007)
 Minority groups are often targets of violence and human rights norms call upon governments to
refrain from such violence and to provide protection against it. The Genocide Convention (group
right) was one of the first human rights treaties after World War 2
 Environmental Rights
Rights of animals and to an environment that is healthy and safe; expensive and difficult in poorer
countries. (Industrial waste / pollution, plastic and other non- bio degradable material disposals
etc.)
Social rights
Often alleged to be statements of desirable goals but not really rights. Countries may be required to act
in certain ways, set specific bench marks and time tables, establish agencies to work on the goals provide
them with budget and use expert assistance from international agencies. To facilitate the monitoring of
the compliance the country may be required to collect data continuously concerning the realization of
the goal, make periodic reports and allow its citizens to complain to the monitoring body about failures
to pursue the goals energetically.
 Education, food, clothing, housing and employment, right to participate in cultural life and
scientific progress.
Objections to social rights;
 They do not serve truly fundamental interests ( e.g. right to form trade unions, special protection
for mothers and children, adequate food, clothing and housing and health services)
 They are too burdensome on governments and taxpayers ( rights are not magical sources of
supply)
 They are not feasible in less developed countries or burdened societies (lack of resources)
 The breach of them cannot be judged in a court of law.
 They are progressive, meaning that they will take significant time to implement.
 Vague, meaning they cannot be quantitatively measured and whether they are adequately
provided or not is difficult to judge.
International Human Rights Law and Organizations

 United Nations Human Rights Treaties; (Formal agreement between states) these treaties
transform lists of human rights into legally binding state obligations. E.g. genocide convention,
1948. The convention defines genocide and makes it a crime under international law. It also
requires ratifying states to elect legislation prohibiting genocide. ICCPR (International convention
on civil and political rights), ICESC, (International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights).
 Other Human Rights agencies within the United Nations ; The Commission for Human Rights, The
Human Rights Council, The Security Council.
 Regional Systems; The European System, The Inter –American system, The African System, The
Arab League.
 The International Criminal Court (ICC); Transitional justice system to prevent impunity for human
rights crimes, genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity after countries throw 1off
oppressive regimes or emerge from civil war.
 Promotion of Human Rights by States; Once a treaty is established, states help give it life by
creating domestic legislation to implement it.
 Non -governmental Human Rights by States; (e.g. Human Rights Watch) NGOs allow for
collaborations between local and global efforts for human rights by translating complex
international issues into activities to be undertaken by concerned citizens in their own community.
The functions of International non- governmental organizations include investigating complaints,
advocacy with governments and international governmental organizations, and policy making.
Local activities include, fund raising, lobbying, general education, fact finding.
The term “human rights” has two parts. The first part – the word “human” – means that all people
are entitled to these rights. The second part – the word “rights” – means that these are
entitlements that can be enforced by law.
Human rights reflect underlying values in societies. Although the codification of the rights into
legal standards is relatively recent, the values have far deeper roots. The set of rights currently
embodied in international human rights law reflects what was agreed by governments at a
particular moment in human history. However, human rights are not static. Rather they are
constantly changing and developing. Human rights usually emerge as a result of popular struggles
against injustice. Hence the struggles against slavery, for woman's rights and against colonialism
succeeded in creating new rights that are almost universally acknowledged today. But they did so
against fierce resistance from entrenched and powerful interests.
Implicit in the idea of rights is that they are accompanied by certain responsibilities. Both
individuals and governments have certain duties and obligations to respect, protect and promote
the rights of others. Human rights are not absolute and may often come into conflict with each
other. Some of the most complicated issues in human rights are to do with resolving disputes
between conflicting rights. However, although some rights may take priority over others in
certain situations, the entire set of internationally respected rights is indivisible. Although many
people and institutions try to promote some rights at the expense of others (often civil and
political rights rather than economic or social rights), this entire body of rights should be seen as
a whole.
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS (MODULE 21)

Human rights are universal and inalienable:

Human rights are founded on respect for the dignity and worth of each and every person. They
are the rights of all people. Human rights should not be taken away, except in specific situations
such as when someone breaks the law, and only then according to due process.
Human rights are equal and non-discriminatory:

Human rights prohibit discrimination on the basis of any human characteristic. The principle of
non- discrimination applies to everyone in relation to all human rights and freedoms. It is
complemented by the principle of equality, meaning that all human beings are born free and
equal in dignity and rights.
Human rights are both rights and obligations: Human rights belong to everyone and are the
responsibility of everyone. Every person in relation to another and every group in relation to
another has a relationship of rights and obligations. States assume particular obligations and
duties under international law to respect, to protect and to promote human rights.
From this core of existential human rights stem various rights to freedom and equality, political
rights, economic rights, social and cultural rights, collective rights, procedural rights and specific
rights for disadvantaged and vulnerable groups. Here are some examples:
First- generation human rights

Civil rights and liberties:
Right to privacy, freedom of movement, opinion, conscience, religious worship, of association
and assembly; right to life, personal integrity
Rights of equality:
Equality before and under the law, protection against discrimination on grounds of sex, age, race,
skin colour, religion, ethnic and social origin or genetic features, political opinion, disability or
sexual orientation
Political rights:
Right to vote, equal access to authorities, freedom of political parties, right of
petition
Second- generation human rights

Economic rights:
Right to property, freedom to conduct business, freedom of establishment, freedom to provide
services or trade-union freedom, right to work, right to free choice of employment and to just and
favourable conditions of work
Social and cultural rights:

Right to an adequate standard of living, food, water, housing, clothing, health, education, social
security
Collective rights:
Right of self-determination of peoples, right to development and a healthy
environment
Procedural rights:
Right of equal access to justice and a fair trial, particularly in criminal
proceedings
Specific rights for disadvantaged groups:
Children, the elderly, persons with disabilities, foreigners, refugees, minorities, indigenous
peoples and other disadvantaged groups
Third-generation human rights
Third-generation human rights are those rights that go beyond the mere civil and social, as
expressed in many progressive documents of international law, including the 1972 Stockholm
Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, the 1992 Rio
Declaration on Environment and Development, and other pieces of generally aspirational "soft
law". Because of the present-day tilting toward national sovereignty and the preponderance of
would-be offender nations, these rights have been hard to enact in legally binding documents.
The term "third-generation human rights" remains largely unofficial, just as the also-used moniker
of "green" rights, and thus houses an extremely broad spectrum of rights, including:
 Group and collective rights

 Right to self-determination
 Right to economic and social development
 Right to a healthy environment
 Right to natural resources
 Right to communicate and communication rights
 Right to participation in cultural heritage
 Rights to intergenerational equity and sustainability
Basic Principles of the Human Rights Framework

The human rights framework protects civil, political, economic, social and cultural
rights. But no matter what kind of right is at stake, there are basic principles that are
always part of human rights standards and implementation. These principles
include:
Universality
means that human rights apply equally for all people, while nevertheless taking
account of certain cultural differences. The equality, interdependence and
indivisibility of human rights mean that the right of a people to self- determination
as well as economic, social and cultural rights are just as important as civil and
political rights and that all human rights are mutually dependent. Without the
right to housing, i.e. a decent 'roof over one's head', the right to privacy or the
protection of domiciliary rights against random police searches mean little.
Effectively guaranteeing the right to education is essential for the meaningful
exercise of the right to vote and to freedom of opinion and information and many
other human rights. If people are starving and living in dire poverty, they are also
largely barred from enjoying other human rights. Human rights must be afforded
to everyone, without exception. The entire premise of the framework is that
people are entitled to these rights simply by virtue of being human.
Accountability
Governments must create accountability mechanisms for the enforcement of rights.
It is not enough that rights are recognized in domestic law or in policy rhetoric,
there must actually be effective measures put in place so that the government can
be held accountable if those rights standards are not met.
Indivisibility
Human rights are indivisible and interdependent, which means that in order to
guarantee civil and political rights, a government must also ensure economic, social
and cultural rights (and vice versa). The indivisibility principle recognizes that if a
government violates rights such as health, it necessarily affects people’s ability to
exercise other rights such as the right to life.
Transparency
Transparency means that governments must be open about all information and
decision-making processes related to rights. People must be able to know and
understand how major decisions affecting rights are made and how public
institutions, such as hospitals and schools, which are needed to protect rights, are
managed and run.
Participation
People have a right to participate in how decisions are made regarding protection of
their rights. This includes but is not limited to having input on government decisions
about rights. To ensure human rights, governments must engage and support the
participation of civil society on these issues.
Non-Discrimination
Human rights must be guaranteed without discrimination of any kind. This includes
not only purposeful discrimination, but also protection from policies and practices
which may have a discriminatory effect.
The entry of women into the human rights arena led to questioning the traditional
interpretations of these human rights principles. Women exposed the male bias
embedded in these standards, and demonstrated the need to expand international
human rights law to reveal how it rests upon a false division of the world into public
and private realms. Women challenged some of the basic human rights practices,
and they explored mechanisms to make the state, as well as non-state actors, more
accountable for human rights violations against women. Their challenges have
helped redefine the practice of human rights and introduced key new concepts.
RIGHTS (MODULE 21)
2. History of Human Rights

Most of the world's major philosophies, religions and cultures have recognized human rights
concepts in one form or another for centuries. These are what make up our human rights story.
Some of the formal agreements that were forged among peoples are listed below. These examples
are not a complete list. There will be others that relate specifically to the countries and
communities within which human rights educators work.
c. 1750 BC: The Code of Hammurabi, Babylonia, drafted by the first king of the Babylonian
Empire, is one of the first known written codes of law in recorded history. It included the idea of
the presumption of innocence and suggested that the accused and accuser should be given the
opportunity to provide evidence.
c. 1200–100 BC: The Old Testament, also called the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, is an account of
God's dealings with the Hebrews. Along with the Ten Commandments, Old Testament laws
include respect for life and property rights (for example, the obligation not to kill), the asylum
tradition of synagogues and the principle of the presumption of innocence.
c. 551–479 BC: The teachings of Confucius include the twin principles of “[wh]at one does not
wish for oneself, one ought not to do to anyone else; what one recognizes as desirable for oneself,
one ought to be willing to grant to others”.
c. 40–100 AD: The New Testament provides an account of the life and teachings of Jesus and his
apostles. Central principles include forgiveness, equality before God and compassion.
c. 644–645 AD: The Qur'an is the Muslim holy book and is considered to be the word of God as
revealed to the prophet Muhammad by the Angel Gabriel over a 23-year period. It shares many
stories with the Bible, including Noah's Ark and Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. It
includes the principles of privacy, freedom, dignity and equality.
1215: The Magna Carta is the “charter of liberties” signed by John I of England after pressure
from his nobles and the clergy. It introduced the concepts of habeas corpus (due process of law)
and “no taxation without representation”, which became a central component of the Constitution
of the United States.
1400s: The Code of Netzahualcoyotl, a respected and influential king of Texcoco (now Mexico),
brought the rule of law, scholarship and artistry to his kingdom. He established a code of law,
based on a division of power and administered through councils of finance, war, justice and
culture.
1648: The Treaty of Westphalia was the agreement that ended the Thirty and Eighty Years Wars
between Protestants and Catholics. It gave rise to the modern notion of national sovereignty by
allowing rulers to determine the religion of their realms. It also gave some freedom of worship to
religious minorities. The Peace of Westphalia recognized the full territorial sovereignty of the member
states of the empire. They were empowered to contract treaties with one another and with foreign powers,
provided that the emperor and the empire suffered no prejudice The Treaty of Westphalia is regarded as a
key step in the development of tolerance and secularization across the world. It also strengthened nations
since they could now enter into foreign alliances and decide important matters, such as peace and war.
1689: The English Bill of Rights was passed by the Parliament following the overthrow of the
monarchist, James II. It prevented royalty from suspending laws or levying taxes without
parliamentary consent and from interfering with elections. It also guaranteed the right to freedom
of speech within the Parliament.
1776: The United States Declaration of Independence was adopted after the beginning of the
American Revolution. The Declaration became a central statement of human rights to “life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness”.
1789: The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was part of the transition from an
absolute monarchy to a more democratic form of government. It listed the natural rights of
“liberty, property, security and the rights to resist oppression”. It also replaced aristocratic
privilege with the principle of equality before the law.
1863: The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, Abraham
Lincoln, declaring the freedom of
slaves.
1893: New Zealand became the first nation to grant women the right to
vote.
1919: The League of Nations Covenant, drawn up in the aftermath of World War I, sought to
prevent conflicts and to promote international cooperation. League members agreed not to go to
war until all possible means of peaceful settlement had been explored. This was weakened by the
absence of the United States and the withdrawal of Japan, Italy and Germany.
The Socialist view of human rights embodied in the constitutions of Socialist people's
democracies of the 20th century was completely opposed to the civil-political human rights
philosophy and stressed the real equality of all people as well as their economic, social and
cultural rights to work, education, health, social security and an adequate standard of living. The
cold war era was also dominated by an irreconcilable ideological controversy between these two
so-called first and second generations of rights or negative and positive rights.
At the same time, a 'third generation' of collective human rights took shape in the course of
decolonization in Africa and Asia, centered on the right of the peoples of the South to political
and economic self-determination, equality and development.
With the cessation of the Cold War, (The Cold War was the geopolitical, ideological, and economic
struggle between two world superpowers, the USA and the USSR that started in 1947 at the end of the
Second World War and lasted until the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 26, 1991. During 1989
and 1990, the Berlin Wall came down, borders opened, and free elections ousted Communist regimes
everywhere in Eastern Europe. In late 1991 the Soviet Union itself dissolved into its component republics.
With stunning speed, the Iron Curtain was lifted and the Cold War came to an end. ) the ideological
debate about different 'generations' of human rights was also formally ended. Despite the mounting
North-South conflict, the heads of state and government of more than 170 states reached
agreement at the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993 on the principles of the
universality, indivisibility, interdependence and equality of all human rights.
Universality means that human rights apply equally for all people particularly in the North and
South, while nevertheless taking account of certain cultural differences. The equality,
interdependence and indivisibility of human rights mean that the right of a people to self-
determination as well as economic, social and cultural rights are just as important as civil and
political rights and that all human rights are mutually dependent. Without the right to housing, i.e.
a decent 'roof over one's head', the right to privacy or the protection of domiciliary rights against
random police searches mean little. Effectively guaranteeing the right to education is essential for
the meaningful exercise of the right to vote and to freedom of opinion and information and many
other human rights. If people are starving and living in dire poverty, they are also largely barred
from enjoying other human rights.
3. Human rights: duties and obligations of the State.

The obligation to protect, promote and ensure the enjoyment of human rights is the prime
responsibility of States, thereby conferring on States responsibility for the human rights of
individuals. Many human rights are owed by States to all people within their territories, while
certain human rights are owed by a State to particular groups of people: for example, the right to
vote in elections is only owed to citizens of a State. State responsibilities include the obligation to
take pro-active measures to ensure that human rights are protected by providing effective
remedies for persons whose rights are violated, as well as measures against violating the rights of
persons within its territory.
Under international law, the enjoyment of certain rights can be restricted in specific
circumstances. For example, if an individual is found guilty of a crime after a fair trial, the State
may lawfully restrict a person's freedom of movement by imprisonment. Restrictions on civil and
political rights may only be imposed if the limitation is determined by law but only for the
purposes of securing due recognition of the rights of others and of meeting the just requirements
of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society. Economic, social and
cultural rights may be limited by law, but only insofar as the limitation is compatible with the
nature of the rights and solely to promote the general welfare in a democratic society.
In a legitimate and declared state of emergency, states can take measures which limit or suspend
(or “derogate” from) the enjoyment of certain rights. Such derogations are permitted only to the
extent necessary for the situation and may never involve discrimination based on race, colour,
sex, language, religion or social origin. Any derogation must be reported to the Secretary-
General of the United Nations. However, in accordance with article 4, paragraph 3 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), certain human rights – non-
derogable rights – may never be suspended or restricted even in situations of war and armed
conflict. These include the right to life, freedom from torture, freedom from enslavement or
servitude and freedom of thought, conscience and religion. In addition, in times of armed conflict
where humanitarian law applies, human rights law continues to afford protection.
4. Sources of international human rights law
The United Nations was founded in San Francisco in 1945 in response to the Second World War
and the Nazi Holocaust. It currently has 193 member states. Pakistan became a member of the
United Nations on 30 September 1947. The three most important tasks and aims of the United
Nations are peace and international security, development and human rights.
The formal expression of inherent human rights is through international human rights law. A
series of international human rights treaties and other instruments have emerged since 1945
conferring legal form on inherent human rights. The creation of the United Nations provided an
ideal forum for the development and adoption of international human rights instruments. Other
instruments have been adopted at a regional level reflecting the particular human rights concerns
of the region. Most States have also adopted constitutions and other laws which formally protect
basic human rights. Often the language used by States is drawn directly from the international
human rights instruments. International human rights law consists mainly of treaties and customs
as well as declarations, guidelines and principles.

Treaties
A treaty is an agreement by States to be bound by particular rules. International treaties have

different designations such as covenants, charters, protocols, conventions, accords and
agreements. A treaty is legally binding on those States which have consented to be bound by the
provisions of the treaty – in other words are party to the treaty.
A State can become a party to a treaty by ratification, accession or succession.
Every treaty and every international agreement entered into by any Member of the United
Nations ... shall as soon as possible be registered with the Secretariat and published by it." (Article
102 of the Charter of the United Nations).
Ratification is a State's formal expression of consent to be bound by a treaty. Ratification defines the
international act whereby a state indicates its consent to be bound to a treaty if the parties intended to
show their consent by such an act. In the case of bilateral treaties, ratification is usually accomplished by
exchanging the requisite instruments, while in the case of multilateral treaties the usual procedure is for
the depositary to collect the ratifications of all states, keeping all parties informed of the situation. The
institution of ratification grants states the necessary time-frame to seek the required approval for the
treaty on the domestic level and to enact the necessary legislation to give domestic effect to that treaty.
(In international law, a depositary is a government or organization to which a multilateral treaty is
entrusted, which may be a State or an international organization such as the United Nation).
Accession" is the act whereby a state accepts the offer or the opportunity to become a party to
a treaty already negotiated and signed by other states. It has the same legal effect as
ratification. Accession usually occurs after the treaty has entered into force.
A State may, in ratifying a treaty, enter reservations to that treaty, indicating that, while it
consents to be bound by most of the provisions, it does not agree to be bound by certain specific
provisions. However, a reservation may not defeat the object and purpose of the treaty. Further,
even if a State is not a party to a treaty or if it has entered reservations thereto, that State may still
be bound by those treaty provisions which have become part of customary international law or
constitute peremptory rules of international law, such as the prohibition against torture.
Custom
Customary international law (or simply “custom”) is the term used to describe a general and
consistent practice followed by States deriving from a sense of legal obligation. Thus, for
example, while the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is not in itself a binding treaty, some
of its provisions have the character of customary international law.
Declarations, resolutions etc. adopted by UN

organs
General norms of international law principles and practices that most States would agree are often
stated in declarations, proclamations, standard rules, guidelines, recommendations and
principles. While no binding legal effect on States ensures they nevertheless represent a broad
consensus on the part of the international community and, therefore, have a strong and undeniable
moral force on the practice of States in their conduct of international relations. The value of such
instruments rests on their recognition and acceptance by a large number of States, and, even
without binding legal effect, they may be seen as declaratory of broadly accepted principles
within the international community.

International Humanitarian Law

International Charter of Human Rights ; Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), 1948.
The Charter of the United Nations does not define human rights in detail. This was done
initially in a legally non-binding form in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR) of 1948. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights consists of a Preamble and
30 articles, setting out the human rights and fundamental freedoms to which all men and
women are entitled, without distinction of any kind. Instead of a universal human rights
convention, embodying the interdependence and indivisibility of all human rights, the UN
General Assembly agreed in
1966 on the adoption of two international covenants with different duties for the states
and different monitoring mechanisms.
•International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), 1966, embodies the
Western, civil and political vision of human rights and after its entry into force in 1976 led
to the appointment of the Human Rights Committee as a supervisory body made up of
independent experts.
•International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), 1966,

reflects the Socialist concept of human rights and initially entrusted supervision to one of
the main political bodies of the United Nations, the Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC), made up of government representatives. Since 1985, supervision has been
entrusted to an independent Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The
Universal Declaration and the two international covenants together make up the
International Charter of Human Rights.
Signature: means that a State agrees to the text of a treaty,

Ratification: means a State consent to be bound by a treaty following Signature,
Accession: means a State agrees to be bound by a treaty without going through the
process of Signature and Ratification (e.g. if a State was not involved in the original
treaty negotiations).
Other major UN Conventions are included in the table below.
5. Treaties ratified by Pakistan
Date of Ratification (r),
Treaty Signature
Treaty Name Accession (a), or
Name Date
Succession (s)
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel
17 Apr
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or CAT 23 Jun 2010 (r)
2008
Punishment
Optional Protocol of the Convention against
CAT -OP
Torture
International Covenant on Civil and 17 Apr
ICCPR 23 Jun 2010 (r)
Political Rights 2008
Second Optional Protocol to ICCPR on the ICCPR-
abolition of the death penalty OP2-DP
Convention on the Elimination of All
CEDAW 12 Mar 1996 (a)
Forms of Discrimination against Women
International Convention on the Elimination 19 Sep
CERD 21 Sep 1966 (r)
of All Forms of Racial Discrimination 1966
International Covenant on Economic, Social 03 Nov
ICESCR 17 Apr 2008 (r)
and Cultural Rights 2004
20 Sep
Convention on the Rights of the Child CRC 12 Nov 1990 (r)
1990
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the
CRC-OP- 26 Sep
Rights of the Child on the sale of children, 05 Jul 2011 (r)
SC 2001
child prostitution and child pornography
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the
CRC-OP- 26 Sep
Rights of the Child on the involvement of
AC 2001
children in armed conflict
Convention on the Rights of Persons with 25 Sep
CRPD 05 Jul 2011 (r)
Disabilities 2008
Convention for the Protection of All
CED
Persons from Enforced Disappearance
International Convention on the Protection
of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and CMW
Members of Their Families
6. Human Rights Monitoring
 States'
responsibilities
As a rule, treaties under international law are concluded among states and contain mutual rights
and duties that are binding under international law and are overseen by the states parties
themselves as a matter of principle. This generally also holds true for human rights treaties,
although the beneficiaries, i.e. the rights holders are in this case not states but individuals.
Governments are not only responsible for ensuring that human rights are respected and ensured
on their sovereign territory but that other states parties do this as well through appropriate
monitoring measures. However, this monitoring by certain states is not enough. Many countries
do not welcome such criticism by other States, and consider it inadmissible interference in
internal affairs.
 International
monitoring
Governments consequently mandate international bodies to supervise human rights such as

political bodies. These are made up of government representatives. The most well-known is the
United Nations Human Rights Council, which replaced the former Commission on Human
Rights in
2006. It consists of 47 states elected by the General Assembly, convenes several times a year in
Geneva and assesses the human rights situation in all nations of the world. The most important
method it has at its disposal is the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which entails all states
being subjected to a periodic review by their peers, that is, other government representatives. Not
surprisingly, these monitoring procedures are not free of political motives.
 To minimise the politicisation of human rights, the political bodies partly assign
independent experts who contribute to an objective appraisal of human rights through
fact-finding and similar monitoring measures. The Human Rights Council of the United
Nations, for example, appoints special procedures for specific countries or themes, that is,
special rapporteurs, special representatives, working groups, other independent experts
and an advisory board.
 Country-specific special rapporteurs to several countries (such as North Korea,

Burma/Myanmar, Burundi, Sudan and Israel) are tasked with reviewing the overall
situation in these countries and reporting to the Human Rights Council.
 Thematic special rapporteurs and working groups are assigned to assess and report on
compliance with individual human rights (such as freedom of opinion, religious freedom,
the rights to food, education or health) or specific violations of human rights (such as
torture, enforced disappearance, poverty, summary executions, violence against women or
arbitrary detention) in all countries in the world. Their reports are discussed in the Human
Rights Council with the governments concerned and provide the basis for the Universal
Periodic Review.
 Reports by non-governmental organisations, such as Amnesty International, Human

Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) or the International League of
Human Rights also play an important role for the monitoring and assessment of human
rights.
 Regional organisations also entrust independent supervisory bodies with suitable fact-
finding competencies, such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the
European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), the Organisation for
Security and Cooperation
INTERNATI
in Europe (OSCE) Representative on Freedom of the Media or the OSCE High Commissioner
on National Minorities. The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN
High Commissioner for Human Rights also can be considered as independent experts, although
they are part of the secretariat of the respective intergovernmental organisations.
International monitoring by human rights treaty

bodies
While the expert bodies cited so far are assigned on the basis of the statutes of the respective
international organisations by the responsible political bodies and are generally in charge of all
member states of these organisations, there are also expert bodies that have been set up under
human rights treaties by the respective signatory states to supervise compliance with specific
treaty duties. Such treaty bodies have been set up for the nine core conventions of the United
Nations, for example.
The most well-known treaty bodies are the Human Rights Committee entrusted to monitor the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Committee on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights set up by ECOSOC in 1985 to supervise the Covenants.
The other core UN treaties are monitored by similar independent expert bodies, such as the
Racial Discrimination Committee, the Committee on Discrimination against women or the
Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Various monitoring procedures are available, such as examining state reports, inter-State
complaints and individual complaints. The committees against torture, enforced disappearance
and discrimination against women can also conduct inquiries.
Although these treaty bodies have quasi- judicial status, their decisions and recommendations
are not binding under international law.
7. International enforcement of Human

Rights
Regional human rights

courts
Binding decisions under international law, particularly on complaints by victims of human

rights violations against the states in question, can only be taken by regional human rights
courts. To date, these courts have only been set up in pursuance of the three main regional
human rights conventions in Europe, America and Africa.
International Criminal
Court
The United Nations has, however, set up a number of ad-hoc criminal tribunals (for the former
Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone or Cambodia) as well as a permanent International
Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. These also consist of independent, permanently
appointed judges and their task is to call to account and pass judgment on those who have
committed the most serious crimes under international law, such as war crimes, genocide and
crimes against humanity. Crimes against humanity are the most grievous and systematic
violations of human rights.
Theory of Rights
Negative and positive Rights
Under the theory of positive and negative rights, a negative right is a right not to be subjected to
an action of another person or group—a government, for example—usually in the form of abuse
or coercion. As such, negative rights exist unless someone acts to negate them. A positive right
is a right to be subjected to an action of another person or group. In other words, for a positive
right to be exercised, someone else's actions must be added to the equation. In theory, a negative
right forbids others from acting against the right holder, while a positive right obligates others to
act with respect to the right holder.
Rights considered negative rights may include civil and political rights such as freedom of
speech, life, private property, freedom from violent crime, freedom of religion, habeas corpus, a
fair trial, freedom from slavery.
Rights considered positive rights, may include other civil and political rights such as police
protection of person and property and the right to counsel, as well as economic, social and
cultural rights such as food, housing, public education, employment, national security, military,
health care, social security, internet access, and a minimum standard of living. In the "three
generations" account of human rights, negative rights are often associated with the first
generation of rights, while positive rights are associated with the second and third generations.
The Rule of Law is one of the most fundamental aspects of modern legal systems. Simply said,
the rule says, 'howsoever high you may be; the Law is above you'. It specifies that the Law is
supreme and that no human being is higher than the authority of Law.
Most constitutions, such as the English Constitution, the American Constitution and India and
Pakistan guarantee to follow the Rule of Law and hence authorities are bound to follow it
strictly. Administrative Law is largely based on this Rule.
[Administrative law is the body of law that governs the activities of administrative agencies of
government. Government agency action can include rulemaking, adjudication, or the
enforcement of a specific regulatory agenda. Administrative law is considered a branch of public
law. As a body of law, administrative law deals with the decision-making of administrative units
of government (for example, tribunals, boards or commissions) that are part of a national
regulatory scheme in such areas as police law, international trade, manufacturing, the
environment, taxation, broadcasting, immigration and transport. Administrative law expanded
greatly during the twentieth century, as legislative bodies worldwide created more government
agencies to regulate the social, economic and political spheres of human interaction].
The concept was introduced by Chief Justice Sir Edward Coke during the James I rule. Sir Coke
said that the King is under God and the Law and that the Law is supreme over executive.
The term 'Rule of Law' was derived from the French phrase la principe de legalite (the principle
of legality).
Dicey's Rule of Law
A V Dicey stated three principles to the term 'Rule of Law'.
1. Supremacy of Law 2. Equality before Law 3. Predominance of Legal spirit
 The Rule of Law impacted the Administrative Law of England while the Doctrine of Separation of
Powers impacted the Administrative Law of the United States.
Supremacy of Law
 'Supremacy of Law' is the central and most characteristic feature of Common Law.
 Law is the absolute supreme and predominant as opposed to influence of arbitrary power or
discretionary power.
 English men are ruled by the Rule of Law and law alone.
 A man can be punished by rule of law, and by nothing else.
 Government is a subject of the Rule of Law, rather than the law being a subject of the
Government.
Equality before Law
 There must be equality before law or equal subjection of all classes to the ordinary law.
 All people should be subject to one and the same law.
 There is no need for extraordinary tribunals or special courts to deal with cases of Government
and its servants.
 Of course, Dicey accepted that administrative authorities are exercising 'judicial' functions
though they are not 'courts'.
Predominance of Legal spirit
 Rights (such as right to personal liberty, freedom from arrest etc.) are the result of judicial
decisions in England.
 The rights are a result of court judgments rather than from being enshrined in the Constitution.
 The Constitution is a consequence (and not the source) of the rights of the individuals.
 Thus, Courts are the guarantors of the liberty
 Rights would be secured more adequately if they were enforceable in courts rather than just
being written in the Constitutional document.
 Mere incorporation in a written constitution is of no use in the absence of effective remedies of
protection and enforcement.
Modern Concept of Rule of Law
 Today, 'Rule of Law' is seen more as a concept of rights of citizens.

 Accepted in almost all countries outside the Communist.
Doctrine of Separation of Powers
Means that one person or body of persons should not exercise all the three forms of power of the
governance; Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. i.e. there should not be concentration of
powers in the hands of any particular institution or agency of the Government.
 The Legislature should be concerned with the making law but not in its implementation /
administering it
 The Administration (Executive) should not control the legislature nor should it over take the
justice system because doing so it might lead to arbitrary and unreliable justice.
 The Judiciary should be independent of Executive and Legislation
The Doctrine says that, in a free democracy, these three functions are separated and exercised by
three separate organs of the Government.
 It was, however, Montesquieu who systematically developed the theory of separation of

powers in the 18th century. France at that time was under the despotic rule of the
Bourbon monarchy. Louis XIV boasted, "I am the state." All powers were concentrated
in the hands of the king. This spelled the doom of the liberty of the individual.
 Montesquieu who was a champion of the dignity and liberty of the individual raised his
voice against the despotic rule of the king. He realized that it was in the nature of
authority to abuse itself. "Constant experience shows us that every man invested with
power is apt to abuse it, and to carry his authority until he is confronted with limits." This
made him believe that moderation in exercise of governmental authority is the essence of
good government. He, therefore, advocated separation of powers coupled with a device
of checks and balances.
 In the Spirit of Laws published in 1748, he observed, "When the legislative and executive
powers are united in the same person or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no
liberty. The same monarch or senate would enact tyrannical laws and execute them in a
tyrannical manner." He argued that there would be no liberty if judiciary was not
separated from legislative and executive powers.
 In his opinion, if judiciary were combined with legislative power, the life and liberty of
individuals would be vulnerable to arbitrary control. If it is combined with executive
powers, judges would be oppressive and violent. He warned that there would be end of
everything if the same person or body exercised all the three powers.
 While advocating that these three powers should be exercised by different organs of the
government, he favored these organs checking and balancing one another. He believed
that 'separation of powers' and 'check and balance' among the three organs of government
would best safeguard the liberty of the individual.
 The British jurist Blackstone argued in the same vain that there would be no public
liberty if the right of making and enforcing law was vested in the same man or in the
same body of men. Madison, the American statesman and constitutional expert, observed
that the accumulation of legislative, executive and judicial powers in the same hands
would lead to tyranny.
The Effect of Montesquieu Theory:
 The theory of separation of powers has become the order of the day. Montesquieu theory
had great impact on the American constitution and revolutionary France. The French
constitution of 1791 made the executive, the legislature and the judiciary independent of
one another. The framers of the American constitution took sufficient care to ensure that
powers were separated and that there was in place check and balance.
 As Finer observes, the American constitution "was consciously and elaborately made an
essay in the separation of powers and is today the most important polity in the world
which operates on that principle." In the United States of America, the three organs of
government have been made largely independent of one another. The President is not
accountable to the Congress. But neither he nor his secretaries (ministers) are present in
the Congress members to influence its deliberation and decisions.
 Similarly, the President and Congress have little control over the functioning of the
judiciary which enjoys considerable independence. However, there is, to quote Madison,
some amount of "connecting blending" among these three organs of government. The
President not only sends legislative proposals to the Congress. He has also the power to
veto a bill approved by the Congress. Similarly, the international agreements signed by
the President need to be ratified by Senate.
 Further, while the Congress has the power to make law, it is the Supreme Court which
has the power to determine whether this law is in conformity with the constitution. Thus,
there is an effective mechanism of 'check and balance' which makes power limited
controlled and diffused. The framers of the American constitution, by resorting to the
device of check and balance, have substantially modified Montesquieu theory of
separation of powers. Today, there is hardly any democracy which has not adopted the
theory of separation of powers.
The Social Contract Theory
In both moral and political philosophy, the social contract or political contract is a theory or
model, originating during the Age of Enlightenment, that typically addresses the questions of
the origin of society and the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual. Social
contract arguments typically posit that individuals have consented, either explicitly or tacitly, to
surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the ruler or magistrate (or to
the decision of a majority), in exchange for protection of their remaining rights. The question of
the relation between natural and legal rights, therefore, is often an aspect of social contract
theory. The term takes its name from The Social Contract (Du contrat social ou Principes du
droit politique) a 1762 book by Jean-Jacques Rousseau which discussed this concept.
Thomas Hobbes (1651), Samuel Pufendorf (1673), John Locke (1689), Jean-Jacques Rousseau
(1762), and Immanuel Kant (1797) are among the most prominent of 17th- and 18th-century
theorists of social contract and natural rights. Each solved the problem of political authority in a
different way. Grotius suggested that individual human beings had natural rights; Hobbes
asserted that humans consent to give up their rights in favor of the absolute authority of
government (whether monarchial or parliamentary).
Locke believed that natural rights were inalienable, and that the rule of God therefore
superseded government authority; and Rousseau believed that democracy (self-rule) was the
best way of ensuring the general welfare while maintaining individual freedom under the rule
of law. The Lockean concept of the social contract was invoked in the United States Declaration
of Independence.
Natural and legal Rights

Natural and legal rights are two types of rights. Legal rights are those bestowed onto a person by a
given legal system (i.e., rights that can be modified, repealed, and restrained by human laws). Natural
rights are those that are not dependent on the laws or customs of any particular culture or government,
and therefore universal and inalienable (i.e., rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human
laws). These are Fundamental human rights based on universal natural law, as opposed to those
based on man-made positive law. Although there is no unanimity as to which right is natural and
which is not, the widely held view is that nature endows every human (without any distinction of
time or space, and without any regard to age, gender, nationality, or race) with certain inalienable
rights (such as the right to 'life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness') which cannot be abrogated or
interfered with by any government. And that, whether or not these rights are enshrined in a
national legal code, no government is lawful if it fails to upholds them.
The concept of natural law is closely related to the concept of natural rights. During the Age of
Enlightenment, the concept of natural laws was used to challenge the divine right of kings, and became
an alternative justification for the establishment of a social contract, positive law, and government – and
thus legal rights – in the form of classical republicanism.
The idea of human rights is also closely related to that of natural rights: some acknowledge no
difference between the two, regarding them as synonymous, while others choose to keep the
terms separate to eliminate association with some features traditionally associated with natural
rights. Natural rights, in particular, are considered beyond the authority of any government or
international body to dismiss. The 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
is an important legal instrument enshrining one conception of natural rights into international
soft law.
The proposition that animals have natural rights is one that gained the interest of philosophers
and legal scholars in the 20th century and into the 21st.
(Age of Enlightenment)
European politics, philosophy, science and communications were radically reoriented during the
course of the “long 18th century” (1685-1815) as part of a movement referred to by its
participants as the Age of Reason, or simply the Enlightenment. Enlightenment thinkers in
Britain, in France and throughout Europe questioned traditional authority and embraced the
notion that humanity could be improved through rational change. The Enlightenment produced
numerous books, essays, inventions, scientific discoveries, laws, wars and revolutions. The
American and French Revolutions were directly inspired by Enlightenment ideals and
respectively marked the peak of its influence and the beginning of its decline].
League of Nations
Following the catastrophic loss of life in the First World War, the Paris Peace Conference
established the League of Nations to maintain harmony between countries. This organization
resolved some territorial disputes and created international structures for areas such as postal
mail, aviation, and opium control, some of which would later be absorbed into the UN.
Reason for failure
 However, the League lacked representation for colonial peoples (then, half the world's
population) and significant participation from several major powers, including the US, USSR,
Germany, and Japan;
 it failed to act against the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, the Second Italo-Ethiopian
War in 1935, the Japanese invasion of China in 1937, and German expansions under Adolf Hitler
that culminated in the Second World War.
United Nations
 The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization to promote international
co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was
established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such
conflict.
 The Charter of the United Nations (also known as the UN Charter) of 1945 is the
foundational treaty of the United Nations, an intergovernmental organization. It was
signed at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco,
United States, on 26 June 1945, by 50 of the 51 original member countries (Poland, the
other original member, which was not represented at the conference, signed it two
months later). It entered into force on 24 October 1945, after being ratified by the original
five permanent members of the Security Council—the Republic of China (later replaced
by the People's Republic of China), France, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (later
replaced by the Russian Federation), the United Kingdom, and the United States—and a
majority of the other signatories.
 At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; there are now 193. The headquarters of the
United Nations is in Manhattan, New York City, and experiences extraterritoriality. Further main
offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna.
Charter Provisions
Preamble
World War II poster from the United States on the UNITED NATIONS – PREAMBLE TO THE CHARTER OF
THE UNITED NATIONS
The Preamble to the treaty reads as follows:
We the peoples of the United Nations determined
 to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought
untold sorrow to mankind, and
 to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in
the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and
 to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties
and other sources of international law can be maintained, and
 to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
And for these ends
 to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and
 to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and
 to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall
not be used, save in the common interest, and
 to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement
of all peoples,
Have resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish these aims

Accordingly, our respective Governments, through representatives assembled in the city of San
Francisco, who have exhibited their full powers found to be in good and due form, have agreed to the
present Charter of the United Nations and do hereby establish an international organization to be
known as the United Nations.
Although the Preamble is an integral part of the Charter, it does not set out any of the rights or
obligations of member states; its purpose is to serve as an interpretative guide for the provisions
of the Charter through the highlighting of some of the core motives of the founders of the
organization.
 The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member
states. Its objectives include maintaining international peace and security, promoting
human rights, fostering social and economic development, protecting the environment,
and providing humanitarian aid in cases of famine, natural disaster, and armed conflict.
 The United Nations Charter was drafted at a conference in April–June 1945; this charter
took effect 24 October 1945, and the UN began operation.
 The UN's mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades by the
Cold War between the US and Soviet Union and their respective allies. The organization
participated in major actions in Korea and the Congo, as well as approving the creation of
the state of Israel in 1947.
 The organization's membership grew significantly following widespread decolonization

in the 1960s, and by the 1970s its budget for economic and social development programs
far outstripped its spending on peacekeeping. After the end of the Cold War, the UN took
on major military and peacekeeping missions across the world with varying degrees of
success.
 The UN has six principal organs: the General Assembly (the main deliberative assembly);
the Security Council (for deciding certain resolutions for peace and security); the
 Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) (for promoting international economic and
social co-operation and development);
 the Secretariat (for providing studies, information, and facilities needed by the UN); the
 International Court of Justice (the primary judicial organ); and the
 United Nations Trusteeship Council (inactive since 1994).
 UN System agencies include the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization, the
World Food Programme, UNESCO, and UNICEF. The UN's most prominent officer is
the Secretary-General, an office held by South Korean Ban Ki-moon since 2007. Non-
governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with ECOSOC and other
agencies to participate in the UN's work.
 The organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, and a number of its officers and
agencies have also been awarded the prize. Other evaluations of the UN's effectiveness
have been mixed. Some commentators believe the organization to be an important force
for peace and human development, while others have called the organization ineffective,
corrupt, or biased.
Principal organs of the United Nations

International Court of
UN General Assembly UN Secretariat
Justice
— Deliberative assembly of all — Administrative organ of
— Universal court for
UN member states — the UN —
international law —
 May resolve non-  Supports the other  Decides disputes

compulsory UN bodies between states
recommendations to administratively that recognize its
states or suggestions to (for example, in the jurisdiction;
the Security Council organization of  Issues legal
(UNSC); conferences, the opinions;
writing of reports  Renders
 Decides on the and studies and the judgement by
admission of new preparation of the relative majority.
members, following budget); Its fifteen judges
proposal by the UNSC;  Its chairperson – the are elected by the
 Adopts the budget; UN Secretary UN General
 Elects the non- General – is elected Assembly for
permanent members of by the General nine-year terms.
the UNSC; all members Assembly for a
of ECOSOC; the UN five-year mandate
Secretary General and is the UN's
(following his/her foremost
proposal by the UNSC); representative.
and the fifteen judges of
the International Court of
Justice (ICJ). Each
country has one vote.
UN Economic and Social

UN Security Council
Council
— For international
— For global economical
security issues —
and social affairs —
 Responsible for  Responsible for

the maintenance co-operation
of international between states as
peace and regards economic
security; and social matters;
 May adopt  Co-ordinates co-
compulsory operation between
resolutions; the UN's numerous
 Has fifteen specialized
members: five agencies;
permanent  Has 54 members,
members with elected by the
veto power and General Assembly
ten elected to serve staggered
members. three-year
Membership
With the addition of South Sudan 14 July 2011 there are 193 United Nations member states,
including all undisputed independent states apart from Vatican City. The UN Charter outlines the
rules for membership:
1. Membership in the United Nations is open to all other peace-loving states that
accept the obligations contained in the present Charter and, in the judgment of the
Organization, are able and willing to carry out these obligations.
2. The admission of any such state to membership in the United Nations will be
effected by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the
Security Council. Chapter II, Article 4
Peacekeeping and security
 The UN, after approval by the Security Council, sends peacekeepers to regions where
armed conflict has recently ceased or paused to enforce the terms of peace agreements
and to discourage combatants from resuming hostilities. Since the UN does not maintain
its own military, peacekeeping forces are voluntarily provided by member states. These
soldiers are sometimes nicknamed "Blue Helmets" for their distinctive gear. The
peacekeeping force as a whole received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988.
 In September 2013, the UN had peacekeeping soldiers deployed on 15 missions. The

largest was the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), which included 20,688 uniformed personnel. The
smallest, United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP),
included 42 uniformed personnel responsible for monitoring the ceasefire in Jammu and
Kashmir. UN peacekeepers with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization
(UNTSO) have been stationed in the Middle East since 1948, the longest-running active
peacekeeping mission.
Human Rights
One of the UN's primary purposes is "promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and
for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion", and
member states pledge to undertake "joint and separate action" to protect these rights.
 In 1948, the General Assembly adopted a Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

drafted by a committee headed by Franklin D. Roosevelt's widow, Eleanor, and including
the French lawyer René Cassin. The document proclaims basic civil, political, and
economic rights common to all human beings, though its effectiveness towards achieving
these ends has been disputed since its drafting.
 The Declaration serves as a "common standard of achievement for all peoples and all
nations" rather than a legally binding document, but it has become the basis of two
binding treaties, the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
 In practice, the UN is unable to take significant action against human rights abuses
without a Security Council resolution, though it does substantial work in investigating
and reporting abuses.
 In 1979, the General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women, followed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child
in 1989.
 The United Nations Commission on Human Rights was formed in 1993 to oversee
human rights issues for the UN, following the recommendation of that year's World
Conference on Human Rights.
 In 2006, it was replaced by a Human Rights Council consisting of 47 nations.
 Also in 2006, the General Assembly passed a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples, and in 2011 it passed its first resolution recognizing the rights of LGBT people.
 Other UN bodies responsible for women's rights issues include United Nations
Commission on the Status of Women, a commission of ECOSOC founded in 1946; the
United Nations Development Fund for Women, created in 1976; and the United Nations
International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women, founded in
1979.
 The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, one of three bodies with a
mandate to oversee issues related to indigenous peoples, held its first session in 2002.
Economic development and humanitarian assistance
Millennium Development Goals

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development
 Another primary purpose of the UN is "to achieve international co-operation in solving

international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character" .
Numerous bodies have been created to work towards this goal, primarily under the
authority of the General Assembly and ECOSOC. In 2000, the 192 United Nations
member states agreed to achieve eight Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
 The UN Development Programme (UNDP), an organization for grant-based technical

assistance founded in 1945, is one of the leading bodies in the field of international
development. The organization also publishes the UN Human Development Index, a
comparative measure ranking countries by poverty, literacy, education, life expectancy,
and other factors. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), also founded in 1945,
promotes agricultural development and food security. UNICEF (the United Nations
Children's Fund) was created in 1946 to aid European children after the Second World
War and expanded its mission to provide aid around the world and to uphold the
Convention on the Rights of the Child.
 The World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are independent,
specialized agencies and observers within the UN framework, according to a 1947
agreement. They were initially formed separately from the UN through the Bretton
Woods Agreement in 1944. The World Bank provides loans for international
development, while the IMF promotes international economic co-operation and gives
emergency loans to indebted countries.
 The World Health Organization (WHO), which focuses on international health issues and
disease eradication, is another of the UN's largest agencies. In 1980, the agency
announced that the eradication of smallpox had been completed. In subsequent decades,
WHO largely eradicated polio, river blindness, and leprosy. The Joint United Nations
Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), begun in 1996, co-ordinates the organization's
response to the AIDS epidemic. The UN Population Fund, which also dedicates part of its
resources to combating HIV, is the world's largest source of funding for reproductive
health and family planning service.
 Along with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the UN often takes
a leading role in coordinating emergency relief. The World Food Programme (WFP),
created in 1961, provides food aid in response to famine, natural disasters, and armed
conflict. The organization reports that it feeds an average of 90 million people in 80
nations each year. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), established in 1950, works to protect the rights of refugees, asylum seekers,
and stateless people. UNHCR and WFP programs are funded by voluntary contributions
from governments, corporations, and individuals, though the UNHCR's administrative
costs are paid for by the UN's primary budget.
Top 17 contributors to the UN budget for 2016
Member state Contribution

(% of UN budget)
United States 22.000
Japan 9.680
China 7.921
Germany 6.389
France 4.859
United Kingdom 4.463
Brazil 3.823
Italy 3.748
Russia 3.088
Canada 2.921
Spain 2.443
Australia 2.337
South Korea 2.039
Netherlands 1.482
Mexico 1.435
Saudi Arabia 1.146
Switzerland 1.140
Other member states 19.086
Funding
The UN is financed from assessed and voluntary contributions from member states. The General
Assembly approves the regular budget and determines the assessment for each member and
determines the assessment for each member. This is broadly based on the relative capacity of
each country to pay, as measured by its gross national income (GNI) The Assembly has
established the principle that the UN should not be unduly dependent on any one member to
finance its operations.
Fundamental Rights are enshrined in the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Chapter 1
of the Constitution contains articles about the fundamental rights. Articles 8 to 28 of the
constitution deals with the all fundamental rights provided to the citizens of Pakistan. Followings
are the fundamental rights guaranteed to the citizens of Pakistan under constitution.
 No person shall be deprived of life or liberty, save in accordance with law (article 9)
 Safeguard as to arrest and detention. All arrested person must be informed of grounds of their
arrest, they have right to consult and defended by lawyer of their choice.
 Right of fair trial under article 10A
 Slavery, forced labor is prohibited and no child under age of 14 year be employed in factory and
mines.
 There shall be protection against retrospective punishment
 There shall be protection against double punishment and self-incrimination.
 Freedom of movement to everyone
 Freedom of assembly for all citizens
 Freedom of association for all citizens
 There shall be freedom of trade, business and profession for all citizens.
 Freedom of speech for all citizens
 All citizens shall have right to have access to information in all matters of public importance
under article 19A.
 Freedom to profess religion and to manage religious institution in country
 Safeguard against the taxation for the purposes of any particular religion.
 Safeguard as to educational institutes in respect of religion etc.
 All citizens have right to acquire, hold and dispose of property in any part of Pakistan.
 Protection of property rights of owners.
 All citizens are equal and there shall be no discrimination.
 Free and compulsory education to all children of age 5 to 16 by Government
 No discrimination in respect of access to public places.
 Safeguard against discrimination in services.
 All citizens have right to preserve their particular language, script and culture
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (abbreviated)

Article 1 Right to Equality
Article 2 Freedom from Discrimination
Article 3 Right to Life, Liberty, Personal Security
Article 4 Freedom from Slavery
Article 5 Freedom from Torture and Degrading Treatment
Article 6 Right to Recognition as a Person before the Law
Article 7 Right to Equality before the Law
Article 8 Right to Remedy by Competent Tribunal
Article 9 Freedom from Arbitrary Arrest and Exile
Article 10 Right to Fair Public Hearing
Article 11 Right to be Considered Innocent until Proven Guilty
Article 12 Freedom from Interference with Privacy, Family, Home and Correspondence
Article 13 Right to Free Movement in and out of the Country
Article 14 Right to Asylum in other Countries from Persecution
Article 15 Right to a Nationality and the Freedom to Change It

Article 16 Right to Marriage and Family
Article 17 Right to Own Property
Article 18 Freedom of Belief and Religion
Article 19 Freedom of Opinion and Information
Article 20 Right of Peaceful Assembly and Association
Article 21 Right to Participate in Government and in Free Elections
Article 22 Right to Social Security
Article 23 Right to Desirable Work and to Join Trade Unions
Article 24 Right to Rest and Leisure
Article 25 Right to Adequate Living Standard
Article 26 Right to Education
Article 27 Right to Participate in the Cultural Life of Community
Article 28 Right to a Social Order that Articulates this Document
Article 29 Community Duties Essential to Free and Full Development
Article 30 Freedom from State or Personal Interference in the above Rights
United Nations Declaration of Human Rights

Preamble
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all
members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have
outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall
enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the
highest aspiration of the common people,
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to

rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of
law,
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,
Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in
fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights
of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life
in larger freedom,
Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United
Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental
freedoms,
Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for
the full realization of this pledge,
Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL

DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples
and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this
Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for
these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their
universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States
themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.
Article 1.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason
and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without
distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion,
national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made
on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to
which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other
limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 4.
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all
their forms.
Article 5.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6.
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Article 7.
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the
law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this
Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8.
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts
violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10.
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial
tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against
him.
Article 11.
(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved
guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his
defense.
(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did
not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was
committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time
the penal offence was committed.
Article 12.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or
correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the
protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 13.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each
state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
Article 14.
(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-
political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 15.
(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his
nationality.
Article 16.
(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have
the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during
marriage and at its dissolution.
(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection
by society and the State.
Article 17.
(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 18.
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes
freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others
and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and
observance.
Article 19.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold
opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any
media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 20.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article 21.
(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through
freely chosen representatives.
(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be
expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and
shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
Article 22.
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization,
through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization
and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his
dignity and the free development of his personality.
Article 23.
(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable
conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself
and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other
means of social protection.
(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 24.
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and
periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25.
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of
himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary
social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability,
widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether
born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
Article 26.
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and
fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional
education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to
all on the basis of merit.
(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the
strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote
understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall
further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
Article 27
(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the
arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any
scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
Article 28.
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth
in this Declaration can be fully realized.
Article 29.
(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his
personality is possible.
(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations
as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the
rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and
the general welfare in a democratic society.
(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and
principles of the United Nations.
Article 30.
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any
right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights
and freedoms set forth herein.
International Covenant on Civil and Political

Rights
Parties and signatories of the ICCPR
State party
Signatory that has not ratified
State party that attempted to withdraw
Non-state party, non-signatory
Type United Nations General Assembly Resolution
Drafted 1954
Signed 16 December 1966
Location United Nations Headquarters, New York
Effective 23 March 1976
Signatories 74
Parties 169
Depositary Secretary General of the United Nations
Languages French, English, Russian, Chinese, Spanish
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is a multilateral treaty
adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 16 December 1966, and in force from 23
March 1976. It commits its parties to respect the civil and political rights of individuals,
including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, electoral
rights and rights to due process and a fair trial. As of April 2014, the Covenant has 74 signatories
and 168 parties.
The ICCPR is part of the International Bill of Human Rights, along with the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
The ICCPR is monitored by the United Nations Human Rights Committee (a separate
body to the United Nations Human Rights Council), which reviews regular reports of
States parties on how the rights are being implemented. States must report initially
one year after acceding to the Covenant and then whenever the Committee requests
(usually every four years). The Committee normally meets in Geneva and normally
holds three sessions per year.
Summary
The Covenant follows the structure of the UDHR and ICESCR, with a preamble and fifty-three
articles, divided into six parts.
Part 1 (Article 1) recognizes the right of all peoples to self-determination, including the right to
"freely determine their political status" pursue their economic, social and cultural goals, and
manage and dispose of their own resources/ property. It recognises a negative right of a people
not to be deprived of its means of subsistence, and imposes an obligation on those parties still
responsible for non-self-governing and trust territories (colonies) to encourage and respect their
self-determination.
Part 2 (Articles 2 – 5) obliges parties to legislate where necessary to give effect to the rights
recognised in the Covenant, and to provide an effective legal remedy for any violation of those
rights. It also requires the rights be recognised "without distinction of any kind, such as race,
colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth
or other status, “and to ensure that they are enjoyed equally by women. The rights can only be
limited "in time of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation," and even then no
derogation is permitted from the rights to life, freedom from torture and slavery, the freedom
from retrospective law, the right to personhood, and freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
Part 3 (Articles 6 – 27) lists the rights themselves. These include rights to:
 physical integrity, in the form of the right to life and freedom from torture and slavery (Articles
6, 7, and 8);
 liberty and security of the person, in the form of freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention
and the right to habeas corpus (Articles 9 – 11);
 procedural fairness in law, in the form of rights to due process, a fair and impartial trial, the
presumption of innocence, and recognition as a person before the law (Articles 14, 15, and 16);
 individual liberty, in the form of the freedoms of movement, thought, conscience and religion,
speech, association and assembly, family rights, the right to a nationality, and the right to
privacy (Articles 12, 13, 17 – 24);
 prohibition of any propaganda for war as well as any advocacy of national or religious hatred
that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence by law (Article 20);
 political participation, including the right to the right to vote (Article 25);
 Non-discrimination, minority rights and equality before the law (Articles 26 and 27).
Many of these rights include specific actions which must be undertaken to realize them.
Part 4 (Articles 28 – 45) governs the establishment and operation of the Human Rights
Committee and the reporting and monitoring of the Covenant. It also allows parties to recognise
the competence of the Committee to resolve disputes between parties on the implementation of
the Covenant (Articles 41 and 42).
Part 5 (Articles 46 – 47) clarifies that the Covenant shall not be interpreted as interfering with
the operation of the United Nations or "the inherent right of all peoples to enjoy and utilize fully
and freely their natural wealth and resources".
Part 6 (Articles 48 – 53) governs ratification, entry into force, and amendment of the Covenant.
Pakistan, has made several reservations to the articles in the Convention; "the provisions of
Articles 3, 6, 7, 18 and 19 shall be so applied to the extent that they are not repugnant to the
Provisions of the Constitution of Pakistan and the Sharia laws", "the provisions of Article 12
shall be so applied as to be in conformity with the Provisions of the Constitution of Pakistan",
"With respect to Article 13, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan reserves its right
to apply its law relating to foreigners", "the provisions of Article 25 shall be so applied to the
extent that they are not repugnant to the Provisions of the Constitution of Pakistan" and the
Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan "does not recognize the competence of the
Committee provided for in Article 40 of the Covenant".
The First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is
an international treaty establishing an individual complaint mechanism for the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). It was adopted by the UN General Assembly on
16 December 1966, and entered into force on 23 March 1976. As of September 2013, it had 35
signatories and 115 states parties. One of the ratifying states—Jamaica—has denounced the
convention.
The Optional Protocol establishes an individual complaints mechanism for the ICCPR similar to
those of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and
Article 14 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Parties
agree to recognize the competence of the UN Human Rights Committee to consider complaints
from individuals who claim their rights under the Covenant have been violated. Complainants
must have exhausted all domestic remedies, and anonymous complaints are not permitted. The
Committee must bring complaints to the attention of the relevant party, which must respond
within six months. Following consideration, the Committee must forward its conclusions to the
party and the complainant.
While not expressly provided for in the Protocol, the HRC regards the recognition of its
competence to hear complaints as imposing an obligation not to hinder access to the Committee
and to prevent any retaliation against complainants. It regards its findings as authoritative
determinations of obligations under the Covenant, and their adoption as being required in order
to provide an "effective remedy" under Article 2 of the ICCPR.
The Optional Protocol required ten ratifications to come into force.
Legal Definition of protocol
 an original draft, minute, or record of a document or transaction

 a preliminary memorandum often formulated and signed by diplomatic
negotiators as a basis for a final convention or treaty : the records or minutes of a
diplomatic conference or congress that show officially the agreements arrived at
by the negotiators
Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political

Rights, aiming at the abolition
of the death penalty
Adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 44/128 of 15 December 1989
The States Parties to the present Protocol,
Believing that abolition of the death penalty contributes to enhancement of human dignity and
progressive development of human rights,
Recalling article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on 10 December

1948, and article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted on 16
December 1966,
Noting that article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights refers to
abolition of the death penalty in terms that strongly suggest that abolition is desirable,
Convinced that all measures of abolition of the death penalty should be considered as progress in
the enjoyment of the right to life,
Desirous to undertake hereby an international commitment to abolish the death penalty,
Have agreed as follows:

Article 1
1. No one within the jurisdiction of a State Party to the present Protocol shall be executed.
2. Each State Party shall take all necessary measures to abolish the death penalty within its
jurisdiction.
Article 2
1. No reservation is admissible to the present Protocol, except for a reservation made at the time
of ratification or accession that provides for the application of the death penalty in time of war
pursuant to a conviction for a most serious crime of a military nature committed during wartime.
2. The State Party making such a reservation shall at the time of ratification or accession
communicate to the Secretary-General of the United Nations the relevant provisions of its
national legislation applicable during wartime.
3. The State Party having made such a reservation shall notify the Secretary-General of the
United Nations of any beginning or ending of a state of war applicable to its territory.
Article 3
The States Parties to the present Protocol shall include in the reports they submit to the Human
Rights Committee, in accordance with article 40 of the Covenant, information on the measures
that they have adopted to give effect to the present Protocol.
Article 4
With respect to the States Parties to the Covenant that have made a declaration under article 41,
the competence of the Human Rights Committee to receive and consider communications when
a State Party claims that another State Party is not fulfilling its obligations shall extend to the
provisions of the present Protocol, unless the State Party concerned has made a statement to the
contrary at the moment of ratification or accession.
Article 5
With respect to the States Parties to the first Optional Protocol to the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights adopted on 16 December 1966, the competence of the Human
Rights Committee to receive and consider communications from individuals subject to its
jurisdiction shall extend to the provisions of the present Protocol, unless the State Party
concerned has made a statement to the contrary at the moment of ratification or accession .
Article 6
1. The provisions of the present Protocol shall apply as additional provisions to the Covenant.
2. Without prejudice to the possibility of a reservation under article 2 of the present Protocol, the
right guaranteed in article 1, paragraph 1, of the present Protocol shall not be subject to any
derogation under article 4 of the Covenant.
Article 7
1. The present Protocol is open for signature by any State that has signed the Covenant.
2. The present Protocol is subject to ratification by any State that has ratified the Covenant or
acceded to it. Instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the
United Nations.
3. The present Protocol shall be open to accession by any State that has ratified the Covenant or
acceded to it.
4. Accession shall be effected by the deposit of an instrument of accession with the Secretary-
General of the United Nations.
5. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall inform all States that have signed the
present Protocol or acceded to it of the deposit of each instrument of ratification or accession.
Article 8
1. The present Protocol shall enter into force three months after the date of the deposit with the
Secretary-General of the United Nations of the tenth instrument of ratification or accession.
2. For each State ratifying the present Protocol or acceding to it after the deposit of the tenth
instrument of ratification or accession, the present Protocol shall enter into force three months
after the date of the deposit of its own instrument of ratification or accession.
Article 9
The provisions of the present Protocol shall extend to all parts of federal States without any
limitations or exceptions.
Article 10
The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall inform all States referred to in article 48,
paragraph 1, of the Covenant of the following particulars:
(a) Reservations, communications and notifications under article 2 of the present Protocol;
(b) Statements made under articles 4 or 5 of the present Protocol;
(c) Signatures, ratifications and accessions under article 7 of the present Protocol:
(d) The date of the entry into force of the present Protocol under article 8 thereof.
Article 11
1. The present Protocol, of which the Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish
texts are equally authentic, shall be deposited in the archives of the United Nations.
2. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall transmit certified copies of the present
Protocol to all States referred to in article 48 of the Covenant.
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) is a

multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 16 December 1966, and
in force from 3 January 1976. It commits its parties to work toward the granting of economic,
social, and cultural rights (ESCR) to the Non-Self-Governing and Trust Territories and
individuals, including labour rights and the right to health, the right to education, and the right to
an adequate standard of living. As of 2015, the Covenant has 164 parties. A further six countries,
including the United States, have signed but not ratified the Covenant.
The ICESCR is part of the International Bill of Human Rights, along with the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR), including the latter's first and second Optional Protocols.
The Covenant is monitored by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Summary
The Covenant follows the structure of the UDHR and the ICCPR, with a preamble and thirty-one
articles, divided into five parts.
Part 1 (Article 1) recognises the right of all peoples to self-determination, including the right to
"freely determine their political status”, pursue their economic, social and cultural goals, and
manage and dispose of their own resources. It recognises a negative right of a people not to be
deprived of its means of subsistence, and imposes an obligation on those parties still responsible
for non-self-governing and trust territories (colonies) to encourage and respect their self-
determination.
Part 2 (Articles 2–5) establishes the principle of "progressive realisation". It also requires the
rights be recognised "without discrimination of any kind as to race, colour, sex, language,
religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status”. The
rights can only be limited by law, in a manner compatible with the nature of the rights, and only
for the purpose of "promoting the general welfare in a democratic society".
Part 3 (Articles 6–15) lists the rights themselves. These include rights to
 work, under "just and favourable conditions”, with the right to form and join trade unions
(Articles 6, 7, and 8);
 social security, including social insurance (Article 9);
 family life, including paid parental leave and the protection of children (Article 10);
 an adequate standard of living, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and the
"continuous improvement of living conditions" (Article 11);
 health, specifically "the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health" (Article 12);
 education, including free universal primary education, generally available secondary education
and equally accessible higher education. This should be directed to "the full development of the
human personality and the sense of its dignity”, and enable all persons to participate effectively
in society (Articles 13 and 14);
 participation in cultural life (Article 15).
Many of these rights include specific actions (positive rights) which must be undertaken to
realize them.
Part 4 (Articles 16–25) governs reporting and monitoring of the Covenant and the steps taken by
the parties to implement it. It also allows the monitoring body – originally the United Nations
Economic and Social Council – now the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights –
see below – to make general recommendations to the UN General Assembly on appropriate
measures to realize the rights (Article 21)
Part 5 (Articles 26–31) governs ratification (formal acceptance), entry into force, and
amendment of the Covenant.
Minority rights
Minority rights are the normal individual rights as applied to members of racial, ethnic, class,
religious, linguistic or gender and sexual minorities; and also the collective rights accorded to
minority groups. Minority rights may also apply simply to individual rights of anyone who is not
part of a majority decision.
Civil rights movements often seek to ensure that individual rights are not denied on the basis of
membership in a minority group, such as global women's rights and global LGBT rights
movements, or the various racial minority rights movements around the world (such as the Civil
Rights Movement in the United States).
International law
Minority rights, as applying to ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples,
are an integral part of international human rights law. Like children's rights, women's rights and
refugee rights, minority rights are a legal framework designed to ensure that a specific group
which is in a vulnerable, disadvantaged or marginalized position in society, is able to achieve
equality and is protected from persecution. The first postwar international treaty to protect
minorities, designed to protect them from the greatest threat to their existence, was the
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Subsequent human rights standards that codify minority rights include the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 27), the United Nations Declaration on the Rights
of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, two Council of
Europe treaties (the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages), and the Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Copenhagen Document of 1990.
Minority rights cover protection of existence, protection from discrimination and persecution,
protection and promotion of identity, and participation in political life. For the rights of LGBT
people, the Yogyakarta Principles have been approved by the United Nations Human Rights
Council. For the rights of persons with disabilities, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities has been adopted by United Nations General Assembly.
To protect minority rights, many countries have specific laws and/or commissions or
ombudsman institutions (for example the Hungarian Parliamentary Commissioner for National
and Ethnic Minorities Rights).
While initially, the United Nations treated indigenous peoples as a sub-category of minorities,
there is an expanding body of international law specifically devoted to them, in particular
Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization and the UN Declaration on the Rights
of Indigenous Peoples (adopted 14 September 2007).
The Civil Rights Act, 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the nation's premier civil rights legislation. The Act outlawed
discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, required equal access
to public places and employment, and enforced desegregation of schools and the right to vote.
It did not end discrimination, but it did open the door to further progress.
Although the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments outlawed slavery, provided for equal
protection under the law, guaranteed citizenship, and protected the right to vote, individual
states continued to allow unfair treatment of minorities and passed Jim Crow laws allowing
segregation of public facilities. These were upheld by the Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson
(1895), which found state laws requiring racial segregation that were "separate but equal" to be
constitutional. This finding help continue legalized discrimination well into the 20th century.
Following World War II, pressures to recognize challenge, and change inequalities for minorities
grew. One of the most notable challenges to the status quo was the 1954 landmark Supreme
Court case Brown v. Board of Education (see pg.147) of Topeka, Kansas which questioned the
notion of "separate but equal" in public education. The Court found that "separate educational
facilities are inherently unequal" and a violation of the 14th Amendment. This decision
polarized Americans, fostered debate, and served as a catalyst to encourage federal action to
protect civil rights.
Each year, from 1945 until 1957, Congress considered and failed to pass a civil rights bill.
Congress finally passed limited Civil Rights Acts in 1957 and 1960, but they offered only
moderate gains. As a result of the 1957 Act, the United States Commission on Civil Rights was
formed to investigate report on, and make recommendations to the President concerning civil
rights issues. Sit-ins, boycotts, Freedom Rides, the founding of organizations such as the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC), local demands for inclusion in the political process, all were in response to
the increase in legislative activity through the 1950s and early 1960s.
1963 was a crucial year for the Civil Rights Movement. Social pressures continued to build with
events such as the Birmingham Campaign, televised clashes between peaceful protesters and
authorities, the murders of civil rights workers Medgar Evers and William L. Moore, the March
on Washington, and the deaths of four young girls in the bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street
Baptist Church. There was no turning back. Civil rights were firmly on the national agenda and
the federal government was forced to respond.
President John F. Kennedy addresses the nation on civil rights,

June 11, 1963 in response to the report of the United States Commission on Civil Rights,
President John F. Kennedy proposed, in a nationally televised address, a Civil Rights Act of 1963.
A week after his speech, Kennedy submitted a bill to Congress addressing civil rights (H.R.
7152). He urged African American leaders to use caution when demonstrating since new
violence might alarm potential supporters. Kennedy met with businessmen, religious leaders,
labor officials, and other groups such as CORE and NAACP, while also maneuvering behind the
scenes to build bipartisan support and negotiate compromises over controversial topics.
Following Kennedy's assassination in November 1963, both Martin Luther King, Jr. and newly
inaugurated President Lyndon B. Johnson continued to press for passage of the bill – as King
noted in a January 1964 newspaper column, legislation "will feel the intense focus of Negro
interest...It became the order of the day at the great March on Washington last summer. The
Negro and his white compatriots for self-respect and human dignity will not be denied."
The House of Representatives debated H.R. 7152 for nine days, rejecting nearly 100
amendments designed to weaken the bill. It passed the House on February 10, 1964 after 70
days of public hearings, appearances by 275 witnesses, and 5,792 pages of published
testimony.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the 1964 Civil Rights

Act, July 2, 1964.
Cecil Stoughton, White House Press Office
The real battle was waiting in the Senate, however, where concerns focused on the bill's
expansion of federal powers and its potential to anger constituents who might retaliate in the
voting booth. Opponents launched the longest filibuster in American history, which lasted 57
days and brought the Senate to a virtual standstill.
Senate minority leader Everett Dirksen nurtured the bill through compromise discussions and
ended the filibuster. Dirksen's compromise bill passed the Senate after 83 days of debate that
filled 3,000 pages in the Congressional Record. The House moved quickly to approve the Senate
bill.
Within hours of its passage on July 2, 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson, with Martin Luther
King, Jr., Dorothy Height, Roy Wilkins, John Lewis, and other civil rights leaders in attendance,
signed the bill into law, declaring once and for all that discrimination for any reason on the basis
of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin was illegal in the United States of America.
 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark United States
Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools
for black and white students to be unconstitutional.
The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored
segregation
 Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United
States. Enacted after the Reconstruction period, these laws continued in force until 1965. They
mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities in the states of the former
Confederate States of America, starting in 1890 with a "separate but equal" status for African
Americans. Facilities for African Americans were consistently inferior and underfunded
compared to those available to European Americans; sometimes they did not exist at all. This
body of law institutionalized a number of economic, educational, and social disadvantages.
South Africa
Birth of Apartheid
Racial segregation and white supremacy had become central aspects of South African policy
long before apartheid began. The controversial 1913 Land Act, passed three years after South
Africa gained its independence, marked the beginning of territorial segregation by forcing black
Africans to live in reserves and making it illegal for them to work as sharecroppers. Opponents
of the Land Act formed the South African National Native Congress, which would become the
African National Congress (ANC).
ANC leader Nelson Mandela, released from prison in February 1990, worked closely with
President F.W. de Klerk's government to draw up a new constitution for South Africa. After both
sides made concessions, they reached agreement in 1993, and would share the Nobel Peace Prize
that year for their efforts.
The Great Depression and World War II brought increasing economic woes to South Africa, and
convinced the government to strengthen its policies of racial segregation. In 1948, the Afrikaner
National Party won the general election under the slogan “apartheid” (literally “separateness”).
Their goal was not only to separate South Africa’s white minority from its non-white majority,
but also to separate non-whites from each other, and to divide black South Africans along tribal
lines in order to decrease their political power.
Apartheid Becomes Law
By 1950, the government had banned marriages between whites and people of other races, and
prohibited sexual relations between black and white South Africans. The Population Registration
Act of 1950 provided the basic framework for apartheid by classifying all South Africans by
race, including Bantu (black Africans), Coloured (mixed race) and white. A fourth category,
Asian (meaning Indian and Pakistani) was later added. In some cases, the legislation split
families; parents could be classified as white, while their children were classified as colored.
A series of Land Acts set aside more than 80 percent of the country’s land for the white minority,
and “pass laws” required non-whites to carry documents authorizing their presence in restricted
areas. In order to limit contact between the races, the government established separate public
facilities for whites and non-whites, limited the activity of nonwhite labor unions and denied
non-white participation in national government.
Apartheid and Separate Development
Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, who became prime minister in 1958, would refine apartheid policy
further into a system he referred to as “separate development.” The Promotion of Bantu Self-
Government Act of 1959 created 10 Bantu homelands known as Bantustans. Separating black
South Africans from each other enabled the government to claim there was no black
majority, and reduced the possibility that blacks would unify into one nationalist
organization. Every black South African was designated as a citizen as one of the Bantustans, a
system that supposedly gave them full political rights, but effectively removed them from the
nation’s political body.
In one of the most devastating aspects of apartheid, the government forcibly removed black
South Africans from rural areas designated as “white” to the homelands, and sold their land at
low prices to white farmers. From 1961 to 1994, more than 3.5 million people were forcibly
removed from their homes and deposited in the Bantustans, where they were plunged into
poverty and hopelessness.
Opposition to Apartheid
Resistance to apartheid within South Africa took many forms over the years, from non-violent
demonstrations, protests and strikes to political action and eventually to armed resistance.
Together with the South Indian National Congress, the ANC organized a mass meeting in 1952,
during which attendees burned their pass books. A group calling itself the Congress of the People
adopted a Freedom Charter in 1955 asserting that “South Africa belongs to all who live in it,
black or white.” The government broke up the meeting and arrested 150 people, charging them
with high treason.
In 1960, at the black township of Sharpesville, the police opened fire on a group of unarmed
blacks associated with the Pan-African Congress (PAC), an offshoot of the ANC. The group had
arrived at the police station without passes, inviting arrest as an act of resistance. At least 67
blacks were killed and more than 180 wounded. Sharpesville convinced many anti-apartheid
leaders that they could not achieve their objectives by peaceful means, and both the PAC and
ANC established military wings, neither of which ever posed a serious military threat to the
state. By 1961, most resistance leaders had been captured and sentenced to long prison terms or
executed. Nelson Mandela, a founder of Umkhonto we Sizwe (“Spear of the Nation”), the
military wing of the ANC, was incarcerated from 1963 to 1990; his imprisonment would draw
international attention and help garner support for the anti-apartheid cause.
Apartheid Comes to an End
In 1976, when thousands of black children in Soweto, a black township outside Johannesburg,
demonstrated against the Afrikaans language requirement for black African students, the police
opened fire with tear gas and bullets. The protests and government crackdowns that followed,
combined with a national economic recession, drew more international attention to South Africa
and shattered all illusions that apartheid had brought peace or prosperity to the nation. The
United Nations General Assembly had denounced apartheid in 1973, and in 1976 the UN
Security Council voted to impose a mandatory embargo on the sale of arms to South Africa. In
1985, the United Kingdom and United States imposed economic sanctions on the country.
Under pressure from the international community, the National Party government of Pieter Botha
sought to institute some reforms, including abolition of the pass laws and the ban on interracial
sex and marriage. The reforms fell short of any substantive change, however, and by 1989 Botha
was pressured to step aside in favor of F.W. de Klerk. De Klerk’s government subsequently
repealed the Population Registration Act, as well as most of the other legislation that formed
legal basis for apartheid. A new constitution, which enfranchised blacks and other racial groups,
took effect in 1994, and elections that year led to a coalition government with a nonwhite
majority, marking the official end of the apartheid system.
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of

Racial Discrimination (ICERD)
21 December 1995 (entry into force 04 January 1969)
Text of Treaty
German / French / Italian / English
The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination commits
contracting states to take all appropriate steps to shape a policy against racism and of
understanding and sympathy among all races.
Ratification
177 contracting states (as at 20 May 2014; current count)
Defining Racial Discrimination
The convention assumes a broad definition of racial discrimination as «any distinction,

exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin
which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise,
on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social,
cultural or any other field of public life».
Obligations of Contracting States
The contracting states are especially obliged to condemn any act of propaganda and all
organizations that rest upon theories of superiority of one race or of a group of persons of a
different skin colour or ethnicity that aim to justify promote any sort of racial hatred or racial
discrimination. The contracting states shall make the propagation of such bodies of thought as
well as any arousal of racial discrimination and violence against a race or a group of persons of a
different skin colour or ethnicity a punishable offense.
Monitoring Process
Contracting states are obliged to give periodical account of designed measures to the Committee
on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The first report is released one year upon the entry
into force of the Convention. A report follows every two years there following. The Committee
can demand further information from the state parties (Art. 9).
Individual Complaint Process
Additionally, the possibilities of inter-state complaints and - if the contracting state in question
has acknowledged the jurisdiction of the Committee - of individual complaints to the Committee
exist. At present, 55 states have accepted the individual complaint process of Article 14 (as at
May 2014).
As the complaining authority, an individual must already have exhausted domestic legal means.
The Committee conveys the received message in response to the written statement to the
contracting state, without disclosing the identity of the person in question. The final decision is a
set of recommendations and proposals (Art. 14 Para. 7 lit. b ICERD). The Committee sends this
document to the contracting state and individual in question. The decisions of the Committee are
not legally binding but they have authoritative character. They have an effect on the sense of
justice and courts of law will incorporate them into their decision-making processes.
o Article 14 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial

Discrimination
Information at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
The Holocaust
The Holocaust was a genocide in which some six million European Jews were killed by Adolf
Hitler's Nazi Germany, and the World War II collaborators with the Nazis. The victims included
1.5 million children, and represented about two-thirds of the nine million Jews who had resided
in Europe. A broader definition of the Holocaust includes non-Jewish victims of the Nazi
campaign of mass murder, based on biological factors, such as the Romani, and the Aktion T4
patients who were mentally and physically disabled.
.
The Genocide Convention
In 1948, the U.N. approved its Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide (CPPCG), which defined genocide as any of a number of acts “committed with intent
to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” This included
killing or causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, inflicting conditions of
life intended to bring about the group’s demise, imposing measures intended to prevent births
(i.e. forced sterilization) or forcibly removing the group’s children. Genocide’s “intent to
destroy” separates it from other crimes of humanity such as ethnic cleansing, which aims at
forcibly expelling a group from a geographic area (by killing, forced deportation and other
methods).
In 1945, the term genocide was included in the charter of the International Military Tribunal set
up by the victorious Allied powers in Nuremburg, Germany. The tribunal indicted and tried top
Nazi officials for “crimes against humanity,” which included persecution on racial, religious or
political grounds as well as inhumane acts committed against civilians (including genocide).
After the Nuremburg trials revealed the horrible extent of Nazi crimes, the U.N. General
Assembly passed a resolution in 1946 making the crime of genocide punishable under
international law.
The convention entered into force in 1951 and has since been ratified by more than 130
countries. Though the United States was one of the convention’s original signatories, the U.S.
Senate did not ratify it until 1988, when President Ronald Reagan signed it over strong
opposition by those who felt it would limit U.S. sovereignty.
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
Approved and proposed for signature and ratification or accession by General Assembly
resolution 260 A (III) of 9 December 1948
Entry into force: 12 January 1951, in accordance with article XIII
The Contracting Parties,
Having considered the declaration made by the General Assembly of the United Nations in its
resolution 96 (I) dated 11 December 1946 that genocide is a crime under international law,
contrary to the spirit and aims of the United Nations and condemned by the civilized world,
Recognizing that at all periods of history genocide has inflicted great losses on humanity, and
Being convinced that, in order to liberate mankind from such an odious scourge, international co-
operation is required,
Hereby agree as hereinafter provided :
Article I
The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of
war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish.
Article II
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to
destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical
destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Article III
The following acts shall be punishable:

(a) Genocide;
(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
(d) Attempt to commit genocide;
(e) Complicity in genocide.
Article IV
Persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in article III shall be punished,
whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.
Article V
The Contracting Parties undertake to enact, in accordance with their respective Constitutions, the
necessary legislation to give effect to the provisions of the present Convention, and, in particular,
to provide effective penalties for persons guilty of genocide or any of the other acts enumerated
in article III.
Article VI
Persons charged with genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in article III shall be tried by
a competent tribunal of the State in the territory of which the act was committed, or by such
international penal tribunal as may have jurisdiction with respect to those Contracting Parties
which shall have accepted its jurisdiction.
Article VII
Genocide and the other acts enumerated in article III shall not be considered as political crimes
for the purpose of extradition.
The Contracting Parties pledge themselves in such cases to grant extradition in accordance with
their laws and treaties in force.
Article VIII
Any Contracting Party may call upon the competent organs of the United Nations to take such
action under the Charter of the United Nations as they consider appropriate for the prevention
and suppression of acts of genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in article III.
Article IX
Disputes between the Contracting Parties relating to the interpretation, application or fulfilment
of the present Convention, including those relating to the responsibility of a State for genocide or
for any of the other acts enumerated in article III, shall be submitted to the International Court of
Justice at the request of any of the parties to the dispute.
Article X
The present Convention, of which the Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are
equally authentic, shall bear the date of 9 December 1948.
Article XI
The present Convention shall be open until 31 December 1949 for signature on behalf of any
Member of the United Nations and of any non-member State to which an invitation to sign has
been addressed by the General Assembly.
The present Convention shall be ratified, and the instruments of ratification shall be deposited
with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
After 1 January 1950, the present Convention may be acceded to on behalf of any Member of the
United Nations and of any non-member State which has received an invitation as aforesaid.
Instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Article XII
Any Contracting Party may at any time, by notification addressed to the Secretary-General of the
United Nations, extend the application of the present Convention to all or any of the territories
for the conduct of whose foreign relations that Contracting Party is responsible.
Article XIII
On the day when the first twenty instruments of ratification or accession have been deposited, the
Secretary-General shall draw up a procès-verbal and transmit a copy thereof to each Member of
the United Nations and to each of the non-member States contemplated in article XI.
The present Convention shall come into force on the ninetieth day following the date of deposit
of the twentieth instrument of ratification or accession.
Any ratification or accession effected subsequent to the latter date shall become effective on the
ninetieth day following the deposit of the instrument of ratification or accession.
Article XIV
The present Convention shall remain in effect for a period of ten years as from the date of its
coming into force.
It shall thereafter remain in force for successive periods of five years for such Contracting Parties
as have not denounced it at least six months before the expiration of the current period.
Denunciation shall be effected by a written notification addressed to the Secretary-General of the

United Nations.
Article XV
If, as a result of denunciations, the number of Parties to the present Convention should become
less than sixteen, the Convention shall cease to be in force as from the date on which the last of
these denunciations shall become effective.
Article XVI
A request for the revision of the present Convention may be made at any time by any
Contracting Party by means of a notification in writing addressed to the Secretary-General.
The General Assembly shall decide upon the steps, if any, to be taken in respect of such request.
Article XVII
The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall notify all Members of the United Nations and
the non-member States contemplated in article XI of the following:
(a) Signatures, ratifications and accessions received in accordance with article XI;
(b) Notifications received in accordance with article XII;
(c) The date upon which the present Convention comes into force in accordance with article
XIII;
(d) Denunciations received in accordance with article XIV;
(e) The abrogation of the Convention in accordance with article XV;
(f) Notifications received in accordance with article XVI.
Article XVIII
The original of the present Convention shall be deposited in the archives of the United Nations.
A certified copy of the Convention shall be transmitted to each Member of the United Nations
and to each of the non-member States contemplated in article XI.
Article XIX The present Convention shall be registered by the Secretary-General of the United
Nations on the date of its coming into force.
Arabic | Chinese | French | Russian | Spanish Related information

Text in PDF FormatCommittee against
Torture (CAT)
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel,
Status of
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment ratification,
Reservations and
declarations
Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by See also
General Assembly resolution 39/46 of 10 December 1984
The core
entry into force 26 June 1987, in accordance with article 27 (1) international human
The States Parties to this Convention, rights instruments
Considering that, in accordance with the principles proclaimed in the Charter Universal human
of the United Nations, recognition of the equal and inalienable rights of all rights instruments
members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and
peace in the world, Charter of the
United Nations
Recognizing that those rights derive from the inherent dignity of the human
person, The International
Bill of Human
Considering the obligation of States under the Charter, in particular Article Rights
55, to promote universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and
fundamental freedoms, Universal
Declaration of
Having regard to article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Human Rights 1948
article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of
which provide that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman Links
or degrading treatment or punishment,
Human rights
Having regard also to the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from conferences
Being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment, adopted by the General Assembly on 9 December Human rights
1975, bodies
Desiring to make more effective the struggle against torture and other cruel, Publications
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment throughout the world,
The 20th
PART I Anniversary of the
OHCHR
Article 1
1. For the purposes of this Convention, the term "torture" means any act by
which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally VDPA booklet
inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third (20th anniversary
person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third edition - PDF)
person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating
or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination
of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation
of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person
acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising
only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.
2. This article is without prejudice to any international instrument or national
legislation which does or may contain provisions of wider application.
Article 2
1. Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or
other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its
jurisdiction.
2. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a
threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency,
may be invoked as a justification of torture.
3. An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked
as a justification of torture.
Article 3
1. No State Party shall expel, return ("refouler") or extradite a person to
another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would
be in danger of being subjected to torture.
2. For the purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the
competent authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations
including, where applicable, the existence in the State concerned of a
consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights.
Article 4
1. Each State Party shall ensure that all acts of torture are offences under its
criminal law. The same shall apply to an attempt to commit torture and to an act
by any person which constitutes complicity or participation in torture. 2. Each
State Party shall make these offences punishable by appropriate penalties which
take into account their grave nature.
Article 5
1. Each State Party shall take such measures as may be necessary to establish its
jurisdiction over the offences referred to in article 4 in the following cases:
(a) When the offences are committed in any territory under its jurisdiction or
on board a ship or aircraft registered in that State;
(b) When the alleged offender is a national of that State;

(c) When the victim is a national of that State if that State considers it
appropriate.
2. Each State Party shall likewise take such measures as may be necessary to
establish its jurisdiction over such offences in cases where the alleged
offender is present in any territory under its jurisdiction and it does not
extradite him pursuant to article 8 to any of the States mentioned in
paragraph I of this article.
3. This Convention does not exclude any criminal jurisdiction exercised in
accordance with internal law.
Article 6
1. Upon being satisfied, after an examination of information available to it,
that the circumstances so warrant, any State Party in whose territory a person
alleged to have committed any offence referred to in article 4 is present shall
take him into custody or take other legal measures to ensure his presence.
The custody and other legal measures shall be as provided in the law of that
State but may be continued only for such time as is necessary to enable any
criminal or extradition proceedings to be instituted.
2. Such State shall immediately make a preliminary inquiry into the facts.
3. Any person in custody pursuant to paragraph I of this article shall be
assisted in communicating immediately with the nearest appropriate
representative of the State of which he is a national, or, if he is a stateless
person, with the representative of the State where he usually resides.
4. When a State, pursuant to this article, has taken a person into custody, it
shall immediately notify the States referred to in article 5, paragraph 1, of
the fact that such person is in custody and of the circumstances which
warrant his detention. The State which makes the preliminary inquiry
contemplated in paragraph 2 of this article shall promptly report its findings
to the said States and shall indicate whether it intends to exercise
jurisdiction.
Article 7
1. The State Party in the territory under whose jurisdiction a person alleged
to have committed any offence referred to in article 4 is found shall in the
cases contemplated in article 5, if it does not extradite him, submit the case
to its competent authorities for the purpose of prosecution.
2. These authorities shall take their decision in the same manner as in the
case of any ordinary offence of a serious nature under the law of that State.
In the cases referred to in article 5, paragraph 2, the standards of evidence
required for prosecution and conviction shall in no way be less stringent than
those which apply in the cases referred to in article 5, paragraph 1.
3. Any person regarding whom proceedings are brought in connection with

any of the offences referred to in article 4 shall be guaranteed fair treatment
at all stages of the proceedings.
Article 8
1. The offences referred to in article 4 shall be deemed to be included as
extraditable offences in any extradition treaty existing between States
Parties. States Parties undertake to include such offences as extraditable
offences in every extradition treaty to be concluded between them.
2. If a State Party which makes extradition conditional on the existence of a
treaty receives a request for extradition from another State Party with which
it has no extradition treaty, it may consider this Convention as the legal basis
for extradition in respect of such offences. Extradition shall be subject to the
other conditions provided by the law of the requested State.
3. States Parties which do not make extradition conditional on the existence
of a treaty shall recognize such offences as extraditable offences between
themselves subject to the conditions provided by the law of the requested
State.
4. Such offences shall be treated, for the purpose of extradition between
States Parties, as if they had been committed not only in the place in which
they occurred but also in the territories of the States required to establish
their jurisdiction in accordance with article 5, paragraph 1.
Article 9
1. States Parties shall afford one another the greatest measure of assistance
in connection with criminal proceedings brought in respect of any of the
offences referred to in article 4, including the supply of all evidence at their
disposal necessary for the proceedings.
2. States Parties shall carry out their obligations under paragraph I of this
article in conformity with any treaties on mutual judicial assistance that may
exist between them.
Article 10
1. Each State Party shall ensure that education and information regarding the
prohibition against torture are fully included in the training of law
enforcement personnel, civil or military, medical personnel, public officials
and other persons who may be involved in the custody, interrogation or
treatment of any individual subjected to any form of arrest, detention or
imprisonment.
2. Each State Party shall include this prohibition in the rules or instructions
issued in regard to the duties and functions of any such person.
Article 11
Each State Party shall keep under systematic review interrogation rules,
instructions, methods and practices as well as arrangements for the custody and
treatment of persons subjected to any form of arrest, detention or imprisonment
in any territory under its jurisdiction, with a view to preventing any cases of
torture.
Article 12
Each State Party shall ensure that its competent authorities proceed to a prompt
and impartial investigation, wherever there is reasonable ground to believe that
an act of torture has been committed in any territory under its jurisdiction.
Article 13
Each State Party shall ensure that any individual who alleges he has been
subjected to torture in any territory under its jurisdiction has the right to complain
to, and to have his case promptly and impartially examined by, its competent
authorities. Steps shall be taken to ensure that the complainant and witnesses are
protected against all ill-treatment or intimidation as a consequence of his
complaint or any evidence given.
Article 14
1. Each State Party shall ensure in its legal system that the victim of an act of
torture obtains redress and has an enforceable right to fair and adequate
compensation, including the means for as full rehabilitation as possible. In
the event of the death of the victim as a result of an act of torture, his
dependants shall be entitled to compensation.
2. Nothing in this article shall affect any right of the victim or other persons
to compensation which may exist under national law.
Article 15
Each State Party shall ensure that any statement which is established to have been
made as a result of torture shall not be invoked as evidence in any proceedings,
except against a person accused of torture as evidence that the statement was
made.
Article 16
1. Each State Party shall undertake to prevent in any territory under its
jurisdiction other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment which do not amount to torture as defined in article I, when such
acts are committed by or at the instigation of or with the consent or
acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official
capacity. In particular, the obligations contained in articles 10, 11, 12 and 13
shall apply with the substitution for references to torture of references to
other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
2. The provisions of this Convention are without prejudice to the provisions

of any other international instrument or national law which prohibits cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment or which relates to
extradition or expulsion.
PART II
Article 17
1. There shall be established a Committee against Torture (hereinafter
referred to as the Committee) which shall carry out the functions hereinafter
provided. The Committee shall consist of ten experts of high moral standing
and recognized competence in the field of human rights, who shall serve in
their personal capacity. The experts shall be elected by the States Parties,
consideration being given to equitable geographical distribution and to the
usefulness of the participation of some persons having legal experience.
2. The members of the Committee shall be elected by secret ballot from a list
of persons nominated by States Parties. Each State Party may nominate one
person from among its own nationals. States Parties shall bear in mind the
usefulness of nominating persons who are also members of the Human
Rights Committee established under the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights and who are willing to serve on the Committee against
Torture.
3. Elections of the members of the Committee shall be held at biennial
meetings of States Parties convened by the Secretary-General of the United
Nations. At those meetings, for which two thirds of the States Parties shall
constitute a quorum, the persons elected to the Committee shall be those
who obtain the largest number of votes and an absolute majority of the votes
of the representatives of States Parties present and voting.
4. The initial election shall be held no later than six months after the date of
the entry into force of this Convention. At. Ieast four months before the date
of each election, the Secretary-General of the United Nations shall address a
letter to the States Parties inviting them to submit their nominations within
three months. The Secretary-General shall prepare a list in alphabetical order
of all persons thus nominated, indicating the States Parties which have
nominated them, and shall submit it to the States Parties.
5. The members of the Committee shall be elected for a term of four years.
They shall be eligible for re-election if renominated. However, the term of
five of the members elected at the first election shall expire at the end of two
years; immediately after the first election the names of these five members
shall be chosen by lot by the chairman of the meeting referred to in
paragraph 3 of this article.
6. If a member of the Committee dies or resigns or for any other cause can
no longer perform his Committee duties, the State Party which nominated
him shall appoint another expert from among its nationals to serve for the
remainder of his term, subject to the approval of the majority of the States
Parties. The approval shall be considered given unless half or more of the
States Parties respond negatively within six weeks after having been
informed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations of the proposed
appointment.
7. States Parties shall be responsible for the expenses of the members of the
Committee while they are in performance of Committee duties.
Article 18
1. The Committee shall elect its officers for a term of two years. They may
be re-elected.
2. The Committee shall establish its own rules of procedure, but these rules
shall provide, inter alia, that:
(a) Six members shall constitute a quorum;
(b) Decisions of the Committee shall be made by a majority vote of the
members present.
3. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall provide the necessary
staff and facilities for the effective performance of the functions of the
Committee under this Convention.
4. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall convene the initial
meeting of the Committee. After its initial meeting, the Committee shall
meet at such times as shall be provided in its rules of procedure.
5. The States Parties shall be responsible for expenses incurred in connection
with the holding of meetings of the States Parties and of the Committee,
including reimbursement to the United Nations for any expenses, such as the
cost of staff and facilities, incurred by the United Nations pursuant to
paragraph 3 of this article.
Article 19
1. The States Parties shall submit to the Committee, through the Secretary-
General of the United Nations, reports on the measures they have taken to
give effect to their undertakings under this Convention, within one year after
the entry into force of the Convention for the State Party concerned.
Thereafter the States Parties shall submit supplementary reports every four
years on any new measures taken and such other reports as the Committee
may request.
2. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall transmit the reports to
all States Parties.
3. Each report shall be considered by the Committee which may make such
general comments on the report as it may consider appropriate and shall
forward these to the State Party concerned. That State Party may respond
with any observations it chooses to the Committee.

4. The Committee may, at its discretion, decide to include any comments
made by it in accordance with paragraph 3 of this article, together with the
observations thereon received from the State Party concerned, in its annual
report made in accordance with article 24. If so requested by the State Party
concerned, the Committee may also include a copy of the report submitted
under paragraph I of this article.
Article 20
1. If the Committee receives reliable information which appears to it to
contain well-founded indications that torture is being systematically
practised in the territory of a State Party, the Committee shall invite that
State Party to co-operate in the examination of the information and to this
end to submit observations with regard to the information concerned.
2. Taking into account any observations which may have been submitted by
the State Party concerned, as well as any other relevant information
available to it, the Committee may, if it decides that this is warranted,
designate one or more of its members to make a confidential inquiry and to
report to the Committee urgently.
3. If an inquiry is made in accordance with paragraph 2 of this article, the
Committee shall seek the co-operation of the State Party concerned. In
agreement with that State Party, such an inquiry may include a visit to its
territory.
4. After examining the findings of its member or members submitted in
accordance with paragraph 2 of this article, the Commission shall transmit
these findings to the State Party concerned together with any comments or
suggestions which seem appropriate in view of the situation.
5. All the proceedings of the Committee referred to in paragraphs I to 4 of th
is article s hall be con fidential , and at all stages of the proceedings the co-
operation of the State Party shall be sought. After such proceedings have
been completed with regard to an inquiry made in accordance with
paragraph 2, the Committee may, after consultations with the State Party
concerned, decide to include a summary account of the results of the
proceedings in its annual report made in accordance with article 24.
Article 21
1. A State Party to this Convention may at any time declare under this article that
it recognizes the competence of the Committee to receive and consider
communications to the effect that a State Party claims that another State Party is
not fulfilling its obligations under this Convention. Such communications may be
received and considered according to the procedures laid down in this article only
if submitted by a State Party which has made a declaration recognizing in regard to
itself the competence of the Committee. No communication shall be dealt with by
the Committee under this article if it concerns a State Party which has not made
such a declaration. Communications received under this article shall be dealt with
in accordance with the following procedure;
(a) If a State Party considers that another State Party is not giving effect to
the provisions ofthis Convention, it may, by written communication, bring
the matter to the attention of that State Party. Within three months after the
receipt of the communication the receiving State shall afford the State which
sent the communication an explanation or any other statement in writing
clarifying the matter, which should include, to the extent possible and
pertinent, reference to domestic procedures and remedies taken, pending or
available in the matter;
(b) If the matter is not adjusted to the satisfaction of both States Parties
concerned within six months after the receipt by the receiving State of the
initial communication, either State shall have the right to refer the matter to
the Committee, by notice given to the Committee and to the other State;
(c) The Committee shall deal with a matter referred to it under this article
only after it has ascertained that all domestic remedies have been invoked
and exhausted in the matter, in conformity with the generally recognized
principles of international law. This shall not be the rule where the
application of the remedies is unreasonably prolonged or is unlikely to bring
effective relief to the person who is the victim of the violation of this
Convention;
(d) The Committee shall hold closed meetings when examining
communications under this article; (e) Subject to the provisions of
subparagraph
(e), the Committee shall make available its good offices to the States Parties
concerned with a view to a friendly solution of the matter on the basis of
respect for the obligations provided for in this Convention. For this purpose,
the Committee may, when appropriate, set up an ad hoc conciliation
commission;
(f) In any matter referred to it under this article, the Committee may call
upon the States Parties concerned, referred to in subparagraph (b), to supply
any relevant information;
(g) The States Parties concerned, referred to in subparagraph (b), shall have
the right to be represented when the matter is being considered by the
Committee and to make submissions orally and/or in writing;
(h) The Committee shall, within twelve months after the date of receipt of
notice under subparagraph (b), submit a report:
(i) If a solution within the terms of subparagraph (e) is reached, the
Committee shall confine its report to a brief statement of the facts and of the
solution reached;
(ii) If a solution within the terms of subparagraph (e) is not reached, the
Committee shall confine its report to a brief statement of the facts; the
written submissions and record of the oral submissions made by the States
Parties concerned shall be attached to the report.
In every matter, the report shall be communicated to the States Parties
concerned.
2. The provisions of this article shall come into force when five States
Parties to this Convention have made declarations under paragraph 1 of this
article. Such declarations shall be deposited by the States Parties with the
Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall transmit copies thereof
to the other States Parties. A declaration may be withdrawn at any time by
notification to the Secretary-General. Such a withdrawal shall not prejudice
the consideration of any matter which is the subject of a communication
already transmitted under this article; no further communication by any State
Party shall be received under this article after the notification of withdrawal
of the declaration has been received by the Secretary-General, unless the
State Party concerned has made a new declaration.
Article 22
1. A State Party to this Convention may at any time declare under this article
that it recognizes the competence of the Committee to receive and consider
communications from or on behalf of individuals subject to its jurisdiction
who claim to be victims of a violation by a State Party of the provisions of
the Convention. No communication shall be received by the Committee if it
concerns a State Party which has not made such a declaration.
2. The Committee shall consider inadmissible any communication under this
article which is anonymous or which it considers to be an abuse of the right
of submission of such communications or to be incompatible with the
provisions of this Convention.
3. Subject to the provisions of paragraph 2, the Committee shall bring any
communications submitted to it under this article to the attention of the State
Party to this Convention which has made a declaration under paragraph I
and is alleged to be violating any provisions of the Convention. Within six
months, the receiving State shall submit to the Committee written
explanations or statements clarifying the matter and the remedy, if any, that
may have been taken by that State.
4. The Committee shall consider communications received under this article
in the light of all information made available to it by or on behalf of the
individual and by the State Party concerned. 5. The Committee shall not
consider any communications from an individual under this article unless it
has ascertained that:
(a) The same matter has not been, and is not being, examined under another
procedure of international investigation or settlement;
(b) The individual has exhausted all available domestic remedies; this shall
not be the rule where the application of the remedies is unreasonably
prolonged or is unlikely to bring effective reliefto the person who is the
victim of the violation of this Convention.
6. The Committee shall hold closed meetings when examining
communications under this article.
7. The Committee shall forward its views to the State Party concerned and to
the individual.
8. The provisions of this article shall come into force when five States
Parties to this Convention have made declarations under paragraph 1 of this
article. Such declarations shall be deposited by the States Parties with the
Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall transmit copies thereof
to the other States Parties. A declaration may be withdrawn at any time by
notification to the Secretary-General. Such a withdrawal shall not prejudice
the consideration of any matter which is the subject of a communication
already transmitted under this article; no further communication by or on
behalf of an individual shall be received under this article after the
notification of withdrawal of the declaration has been received by the
SecretaryGeneral, unless the State Party has made a new declaration.
Article 23
The members of the Committee and of the ad hoc conciliation commissions which
may be appointed under article 21, paragraph I (e), shall be entitled to the
facilities, privileges and immunities of experts on mission for the United Nations as
laid down in the relevant sections of the Convention on the Privileges and
Immunities of the United Nations.
Article 24
The Committee shall submit an annual report on its activities under this
Convention to the States Parties and to the General Assembly of the United
Nations.
PART III
Article 25
1. This Convention is open for signature by all States. 2. This Convention is subject
to ratification. Instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Secretary-
General of the United Nations.
Article 26
This Convention is open to accession by all States. Accession shall be effected by
the deposit of an instrument of accession with the SecretaryGeneral of the United
Nations.
Article 27
1. This Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the date of
the deposit with the Secretary-General of the United Nations of the twentieth
instrument of ratification or accession.
2. For each State ratifying this Convention or acceding to it after the deposit
of the twentieth instrument of ratification or accession, the Convention shall
enter into force onthe thirtieth day after the date of the deposit of its own
instrument of ratification or accession.
Article 28
1. Each State may, at the time of signature or ratification of this Convention
or accession thereto, declare that it does not recognize the competence of the
Committee provided for in article 20.
2. Any State Party having made a reservation in accordance with paragraph I
of this article may, at any time, withdraw this reservation by notification to
the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Article 29
1 . Any State Party to this Convention may propose an amendment and file it
with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The SecretaryGeneral
shall thereupon communicate the proposed amendment to the States Parties
with a request that they notify him whether they favour a conference of
States Parties for the purpose of considering an d voting upon the proposal.
In the event that within four months from the date of such communication at
least one third of the States Parties favours such a conference, the
SecretaryGeneral shall convene the conference under the auspices of the
United Nations. Any amendment adopted by a majority of the States Parties
present and voting at the conference shall be submitted by the Secretary-
General to all the States Parties for acceptance.
2. An amendment adopted in accordance with paragraph I of this article shall
enter into force when two thirds of the States Parties to this Convention have
notified the Secretary-General of the United Nations that they have accepted
it in accordance with their respective constitutional processes.
3. When amendments enter into force, they shall be binding on those States
Parties which have accepted them, other States Parties still being bound by
the provisions of this Convention and any earlier amendments which they
have accepted.
Article 30
1. Any dispute between two or more States Parties concerning the
interpretation or application of this Convention which cannot be settled
through negotiation shall, at the request of one of them, be submitted to
arbitration. If within six months from thc date of the request for arbitration
the Parties are unable to agree on the organization of the arbitration, any one
of those Parties may refer the dispute to the International Court of Justice by
request in conformity with the Statute of the Court.
2. Each State may, at the time of signature or ratification of this Con vention
or accession thereto, declare that it does not consider itself bound by
paragraph I of this article. The other States Parties shall not be bound by
paragraph I of this article with respect to any State Party having made such a
reservation.
3. Any State Party having made a reservation in accordance with paragraph
2 of this article may at any time withdraw this reservation by notification to
the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Article 31
1. A State Party may denounce this Convention by written notification to the
Secretary-General of the United Nations. Denunciation becomes effective
one year after the date of receipt of- the notification by the Secretary-
General .
2. Such a denunciation shall not have the effect of releasing the State Party
from its obligations under this Convention in regard to any act or omission
which occurs prior to the date at which the denunciation becomes effective,
nor shall denunciation prejudice in any way the continued consideration of
any matter which is already under consideration by the Committee prior to
the date at which the denunciation becomes effective.
3. Following the date at which the denunciation of a State Party becomes
effective, the Committee shall not commence consideration of any new
matter regarding that State.
Article 32
The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall inform all States Members of
the United Nations and all States which have signed this Convention or acceded to
it of the following:
(a) Signatures, ratifications and accessions under articles 25 and 26;

(b) The date of entry into force of this Convention under article 27 and the
date of the entry into force of any amendments under article 29;
(c) Denunciations under article 31.
Article 33
1. This Convention, of which the Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian
and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall be deposited with the
Secretary-General of the United Nations.
2. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall transmit certified
copies of this Convention to all States.
Summary
The Convention follows the structure of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (UDHR), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (ICESCR), with a preamble and 33 articles, divided into three parts:
Part I (Articles 1–16) contains a definition of torture (Article 1), and commits
parties to taking effective measures to prevent any act of torture in any territory
under their jurisdiction (Article 2). These include ensuring that torture is a
criminal offense under a party's municipal law (Article 4), establishing
jurisdiction over acts of torture committed by or against a party's nationals
(Article 5), ensuring that torture is an extraditable offense (Article 8), and
establishing universal jurisdiction to try cases of torture where an alleged
torturer cannot be extradited (Article 5). Parties must promptly investigate any
allegation of torture (Articles 12 and 13), and victims of torture, or their
dependents in case victims died as a result of torture, must have an
enforceable right to compensation (Article 14). Parties must also ban the use
of evidence produced by torture in their courts (Article 15), and are barred
from deporting, extraditing, or refouling people where there are substantial
grounds for believing they will be tortured (Article 3). Parties are required to
train and educate their public servants and private citizens involved in
the custody, interrogation, or treatment of any individual subjected to any form
of arrest, detention, or imprisonment, regarding the prohibition against torture
(Article 10). Parties also must keep interrogation rules, instructions, methods,
and practices under systematic review regarding individuals who are under
custody or physical control in any territory under their jurisdiction, in order to
prevent all acts of torture (Article 11). Parties are also obliged to prevent all acts
of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment in any territory under
their jurisdiction, and to investigate any allegation of such treatment. (Article
16).
Part II (Articles 17–24) governs reporting and monitoring of the Convention and
the steps taken by the parties to implement it. It establishes the Committee
against Torture (Article 17), and empowers it to investigate allegations of
systematic torture (Article 20). It also establishes an optional dispute-resolution
mechanism between parties (Article 21) and allows parties to recognize the
competence of the Committee to hear complaints from individuals about
violations of the Convention by a party (Article 22).
Part III (Articles 25–33) governs ratification, entry into force, and amendment of
the Convention. It also includes an optional arbitration mechanism for disputes
between parties (Article 30).
While Pakistan is a signatory to the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT) and has also ratified it in
2010, a proposed law to criminalize torture in the country could not be enacted so far.
Rights of the child
There are following four major forms of child abuse:

1. Physical Abuse
2. Emotional Abuse
3. Sexual Abuse
4. Neglect
Physical abuse
This involves hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning,
suffocating, or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be
caused when a parent or care giver fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately causes hurt
to a child.
Emotional abuse
The emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse
effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to children that they
are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of
another person. It may include not giving the child opportunities to express their views,
deliberately silencing them or 'making fun' of what they say or how they communicate. It
may feature age developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children.
These may include interactions that are beyond the child's developmental capability, as
well as overprotection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the child
participating in normal social interaction. It may involve seeing or hearing the ill-
treatment of another. It may involve serious bullying (including cyber bullying), causing
children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of

children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child,
though it may occur alone.
Sexual abuse
This involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities,
not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what
is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including assault by penetration
(for example, rape or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing,
rubbing and touching outside of clothing. They may also include non-contact activities,
such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual images, watching
sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or
grooming a child in preparation for abuse (including via the internet). Sexual abuse is not
solely perpetrated by adult males. Women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can
other children.
Neglect
It is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely
to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur
during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect
may involve a parent or care giver failing to:
• provide adequate food and clothing, shelter including exclusion from home or
abandonment:
• to protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger:
• ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate care-givers: or
• ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment
What should juveniles do on arrest?

1. Juveniles should ask the police to contact their parents.
2. If the juveniles are going to be asked questions or charged they should request that their
parents and lawyers are present.
3. Juveniles should refuse to make any statements to the police unless their parents are present.
4. Juveniles should not fight with, or shout at the police because this may result in more charges
being brought against them. They may also spend more time being held by the police.
5. If the charges are serious, juveniles should refuse to make any statements or answer any
questions unless their parents and lawyers are present.
6. If juveniles or their families cannot afford lawyers they should consult a legal aid officer.
7. After being arrested juveniles should ask to be released into the custody of their parents, an
official or be put in a place of safety to await their trial. If the police refuse this, juveniles must
await their court appearance and then ask the Magistrate to release them so that they can wait
for trial in one of the ways described above.
8. Juveniles who are mistreated or abused by the police should inform their parents, their lawyers,
or the Magistrate if they appear in court. If they are not brought to court but visited by a district
doctor they should inform the doctor. It is important to obtain help from a lawyer as soon as
possible.
Protection of the Rights of Minor Party to litigation in Court

Every suit by a minor must be instituted through his next friend. If suit is instituted without
next friend, the Court may make such order in the matter as it thinks fit. If the person
against whom the case is filed is minor defendant, the Court shall appoint a proper person
to be guardian for the suit for such minor. Such guardian shall have no interest in the
matters in controversy in the suit adverse to that of the minor.
Where there is no other person fit and willing to act as guardian, the Court may appoint any
of its officers to be such guardian. The guardian is charged with the custody of the ward
and must care for his support, health and education and such other matters as required
under the relevant law (Section 24).
The next friend or guardian of the child for a suit cannot receive any money or other
movable property on behalf of a minor. Furthermore, without the leave of the Court, no
next friend or guardian can enter into any agreement or compromise on behalf of a minor
with reference to the suit, in which he acts as next friend or guardian and such agreement
or compromise without leave of the Court shall be voidable.
Civil Procedure Code (CPC), Order XXXII

A minor on attaining majority may, apply that a suit instituted in his name by his next
friend be dismissed on the ground that it was unreasonable or improper:
 For continued failure to perform the duties of his trust;
 for incapacity to perform the duties of his trust; and for ill-treatment, or neglect to
take proper care, of his ward.
Pakistan Penal Code

Protection of Children in Conflict with Law
Age of criminal liability

The minimum age for criminal responsibility is seven years, although children between
seven and twelve can only be held criminally responsible, if the court determines they were
mature enough to understand the consequences of their actions.
Prohibition of exposure and abandonment of child under twelve years
Exposure and abandonment of child under twelve years by parent or person responsible
for the care of the child is an offence (Section 328)
Prohibition of Corporal Punishment

The law prohibits corporal punishment to children in all settings, except where the parents,
teachers and other guardians to use corporal punishment as a means to discipline and
correct the behavior of children under 12 years of age, though the punishment is required
to be moderate and reasonable.
Pre - birth protection of child

The execution of a pregnant woman in Qisas is deferred up to a period of two years after
the birth of the child (Section 314(3), PPC).
Intentional miscarriage
The acts of Isqat-i-Hamal (causing woman with child whose organs have not been formed,
to miscarriage) and Isqat-i-Janin (causing woman with child some of whose limbs or organs
have been formed to miscarriage), are criminalized.
Concealment of a child’s birth

The law also criminalizes the concealment of birth by secret disposal of dead body of a
child. (Section 329 PPC).
Pakistan Prison Rules, 1978

Protection of under trial and convict juvenile
Following special measures for the protection and reforms of the under trial and convicted
juvenile and youthful offender (Rule 280):
 Medical examination at the time of admission;

 Juveniles admission in the Borstal Institution and Juvenile Prison (Rules 282 – 304 )
with appropriate residential, educational and vocational training facilities.; supply
of blanket in severe cold weather (Rule 132(ii)); accommodation of male juveniles
separate from adult males (Rule 184); women prisoners are kept completely apart
from male prisoners; prohibition on wearing of fetters (Rule 301(v)); confinement
of juvenile inmates in cells both by day and night, in preference to any other class of
prisoners (Rules 236(a)
 In the event of a child being born in a prison, notice of the birth shall be sent to the
municipal authorities (Rule 325).
 The notice of the date of release of every juvenile prisoner is given one month
before such date, be sent to his relatives to receive him at prison on release. (Rule
138(i).
Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000

A child cannot be charged with or tried for an offence together with an adult.
The children arrested for a non-bailable offence must be produced before the
juvenile court within 24 hours of arrest.
A child arrested for a bailable offence should be released on bail, with or without
surety, unless there are “reasonable grounds” for believing that a release would “bring him
into association with any criminal or expose the child to any danger”
To protect the privacy of accused children, the Court does not allow anyone during
proceedings of the case except the members and officers of the juvenile court, parties to the
case and persons directly concerned with the proceedings, and the child’s guardian to be
present during hearings.
The juvenile can neither be awarded death penalty or rigorous imprisonment

The child cannot be handcuffed and/or put in fetters or given any corporal punishment at
any time in custody, except when there is a danger of the child escaping (Section 12).
An accused child has the right to be represented at the state’s expense by a lawyer
with at least five years’ experience in the relevant provincial bar (Section 3). However, no
province has passed a budgetary allocation in this regard as yet. However, Punjab and KPK
have notified five and seven panels of lawyers respectively for the purpose.
The Juvenile Justice System Act (JJSA) 2018

Has introduced several new laws that were previously missing from the Juvenile Justice
Ordinance 2000.
Some of the rights that are being protected by JJSA are;
The right to have legal aid, the right to be informed about arrest,, the right to be released on
bail, the right to be dealt with by a senior police officer, the right to be tried separately from
an adult co –accused, the right to privacy in judicial proceeding.
Pakistan Bait-ul-Maal Act-1991

The law provides that the money in the Bait-ul-Mal shall be utilized for the residential
accommodation and necessary facilities to the persons including orphans, throughout the
country, having accommodation of 100 Orphan Children (4-6 Years of ages) in

each. (Section 4(a) read with (b)).
Convention on the Rights of the Child
Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly
resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989
entry into force 2 September 1990, in accordance with article 49
Preamble
The States Parties to the present Convention,
Considering that, in accordance with the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United
Nations, recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all
members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Bearing in mind that the peoples of the United Nations have, in the Charter, reaffirmed their faith
in fundamental human rights and in the dignity and worth of the human person, and have
determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
Recognizing that the United Nations has, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in
the International Covenants on Human Rights, proclaimed and agreed that everyone is entitled to
all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour,
sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or
other status,
Recalling that, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations has proclaimed
that childhood is entitled to special care and assistance,
Convinced that the family, as the fundamental group of society and the natural environment for
the growth and well-being of all its members and particularly children, should be afforded the
necessary protection and assistance so that it can fully assume its responsibilities within the
community,
Recognizing that the child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality,
should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding,
Considering that the child should be fully prepared to live an individual life in society, and
brought up in the spirit of the ideals proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, and in
particular in the spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity,
Bearing in mind that the need to extend particular care to the child has been stated in the Geneva
Declaration of the Rights of the Child of 1924 and in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child
adopted by the General Assembly on 20 November 1959 and recognized in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (in
particular in articles 23 and 24), in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (in particular in article 10) and in the statutes and relevant instruments of specialized
agencies and international organizations concerned with the welfare of children,
Bearing in mind that, as indicated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, "the child, by
reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including
appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth",
Recalling the provisions of the Declaration on Social and Legal Principles relating to the
Protection and Welfare of Children, with Special Reference to Foster Placement and Adoption
Nationally and Internationally; the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the
Administration of Juvenile Justice (The Beijing Rules); and the Declaration on the Protection of
Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict, Recognizing that, in all countries in the
world, there are children living in exceptionally difficult conditions, and that such children need
special consideration,
Taking due account of the importance of the traditions and cultural values of each people for the
protection and harmonious development of the child, Recognizing the importance of
international co-operation for improving the living conditions of children in every country, in
particular in the developing countries,

Summary of United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
The Convention on the Rights of the Child | Keeping the promise to the world's children
1. A child means every human being under the age of eighteen years, unless, under
the applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.
2. Every child has the inherent right to life.
3. Every child shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a
nationality, and the right to know and be cared for by his parents.
4. Every child has the right to preservation of his or her identity.
5. Every child who is separated from his parents has the right to maintain personal
relations and direct contact with both parents on a regular basis, except if it is
contrary to the child's best interests.
6. Every child has the right to leave any country, including their own.
7. Every child has the right to express his/her own views freely.
8. Every child has the right to freedom of expression.
9. Every child has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
10. Every child has the right to freedom of association and to freedom of peaceful
assembly.
11. Every child has the right to privacy.
12. Every child has the right to protection of the law in case of interference or attacks
on said privacy.
13. Every child has the right to access information and material from a diversity of
national and international sources, especially those aimed at the promotion of
his/her social, spiritual and moral will-being and physical and mental health.
14. Children of working parents have the right to benefit from child-care services and
facilities for which they are eligible.
15. Every child has the right to protection from all forms of abuse, physically or
mentally.
16. Every child temporarily or permanently deprived of his/her own family
environment has the right to special protection and assistance provided by the
state.
17. Every child who is seeking refugee status has the right to receive appropriate
protection and humanitarian assistance.
18. Every mentally or physically disabled child has the right to enjoy a full and decent
life, in conditions which ensure dignity and promote self-reliance.
19. Every child has the right to the highest attainable standard of health and to
facilities for the treatment of illness and the rehabilitation of health.
20. Every child who has been "placed" by the competent authorities for the purposes
of care has the right to a periodic review of the treatment provided the child and
all other circumstances relevant to his/her placement.
21. Every child has the right to benefit from social security, including social insurance.
22. Every child has the right to a standard of living adequate for the child's physical,
mental, spiritual, moral and social development.
23. Every child has the right to education.
24. Every child has the right to enjoy his/her own culture, to profess and practice
his/her own religion and to use his/her own language.
25. Every child has the to engage in play, recreational activities, and to participate
freely in cultural life and the arts.
26. Every child has the right to be protected from economic exploitation.
27. Every child has the right to be protected from the illicit use of narcotic drugs, and
from being used in the illicit production and trafficking of such substances.
28. Every child has the right to be protected from all forms of sexual exploitation and
sexual abuse.
29. Every child alleged as or accused of having infringed the penal law has the right to
be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
30. Every child has the right to prompt access to legal and other assistance.
31. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment will be imposed for offenses
committed by persons below 18 years of age.
32. Every child has the right to protection during times of war.
Women’s rights
Pakistan loses two spots on Global Gender Gap Index, slides into
ranks of worst four countries
Amin AhmedPublished March 31, 2021
Pakistan has shown a dismal performance when it comes to gender parity,

according to the 'Global Gender Gap Report 2021' published by the World
Economic Forum. — File photo
Pakistan has shown a dismal performance when it comes to gender

parity, according to the 'Global Gender Gap Report 2021' published by
the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, slipping two spots since last
year to rank 153rd out of 156 countries on the index.
The report found that Pakistan's gender gap had widened by 0.7 percentage
points, to 55.6 per cent, making it one of the worst countries for gender parity.
Only Iraq, Yemen and Afghanistan fared worse.
The scorecard for the country places Pakistan at 152 in economic participation
and opportunity, 144 in educational attainment, 153 in health and survival,
and 98 in political empowerment.
In the South Asian region, Pakistan ranked seventh among eight countries,
Afghanistan being the lowest. In its overall observation, the report commented
that "progress has stagnated", observing that the estimated time to close the
gender gap has now increased to 136.5 years.
It also pointed out that the Covid-19 pandemic may have widened the existing
disparities.
Global Gender Index rankings by region, 2021. — Photo courtesy: WEF report
Pakistan featured among the bottom 10 countries in two of the four sub-
indexes — economic participation and opportunity and health and survival —
according to the report.
The country closed just 31.6pc of its gender gap in economic participation and
opportunity.
Worsening with time
Pakistan's rankings have worsened over time, with data collected showing that
in 2006, the country ranked 112 in economic participation and opportunity,
110 in education attainment, 112 in health and survival, and 37 in political
empowerment.
"Few women participate in the labour force (22.6pc) and even fewer are in
managerial positions (4.9pc). This means that only 26.7pc and 5.2pc,
respectively, of these gaps have been closed so far, translating into very large
income disparities between women and men: on average, a Pakistani woman's
income is 16.3pc of a man's," the report stated.
However, improvement has been seen with more women taking on

professional and technical roles — 25.3pc, up from 23.4pc in the previous
edition of the index.
It pointed out that women do not have equal access to justice, ownership of
land, and non-financial assets or inheritance rights.
When it comes to education, gender gaps as large as 13pc or more exist

across all levels. According to the report, "these gaps are the widest at lower
education levels (84.1pc primary enrolment gap closed) and are somewhat
narrower for higher education levels (84.7pc gap closed in secondary
enrolment and 87.1pc closed in tertiary enrolment).
"Further, only 46.5pc of women are literate, 61.6pc attend primary school,
34.2pc attend high school and 8.3pc are enrolled in tertiary education
courses."
Pakistan has closed 94.4pc of its health and survival gender gap, the report
stated, adding that the gap on this sub-index was negatively impacted by wide
sex ratio at birth (92pc) due to gender-based sex-selective practices. Around
85pc of women have suffered intimate partner violence, it further said.
Pakistan's rank is relatively higher for political empowerment, the report said,
observing however that only 15.4pc of this gap has been closed to date. "With
just 4.7 years (in the last 50) with a woman as head of state, Pakistan is one of
the top 33 countries in the world on this indicator. However, women's
representation among parliamentarians (20.2pc) and ministers (10.7pc)
remains low."
Regional performance
The South Asian region is the second-lowest performer on the index, after
Middle East and North Africa, with 62.3pc of its overall gender gap closed.
Progress has been too slow in the recent past, and this year has actually
reversed, the report said.
"Within the region, a wide gulf separates the best-performing country,

Bangladesh, which has closed 71.9pc of its gender gap so far, from
Afghanistan, which has only closed 44.4pc of its gap. India is the third-worst
performer in the region, having closed 62.5pc of its gap.
"Only Bhutan and Nepal have demonstrated small but positive progress
towards gender parity this year, while all other countries in this region have
registered either slightly reduced or stagnant performances," the report
stated.
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
PAKISTAN
Read more
TO BE A WOMAN IN PAKISTAN
Pakistan ranks 151 out of 153 on global gender parity index: World Economic
Forum report
Pakistan has highest gender wage gap in world
Gender Based Violence

By the end of this chapter the participants should be able to:
 List and explain the different crimes against women and children which include: female
infanticide, rape, domestic violence, sexual harassment, forced prostitution, trafficking,
honour killing, marriage to the Quran, giving away girls in marriage for the purpose of
settling disputes (badl-e-sulah, vani, sawara) the false implication of adultery and
fornication against women, forced and child marriages, acid crimes, and depriving a
woman of her share in inheritance. In addition, mental, psychological and emotional
violence also contributes to gender based violence.
 Identify the laws that are enacted for the protection of women for the redress of
Gender Based Violence (GBV) is violence that is directed against a person on the basis
of gender. It is prevalent across the world and violates the rights and fundamental
freedom of victims. Such violence can have a devastating effect on the lives of victims,
their families and communities.
The Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan has also protected the universal values of
equality and adapted it in the preamble of the Constitution in the form of fundamental rights. The
Constitution of Pakistan (25A) recognizes the equality of men and women..
Pakistan is also a signatory to a number of International conventions, such as, The Convention
on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) that pertain to the
protecion of women against violence therefore, it is now not only a national obligation but an
intenational obligation to to the larger comity of nations.
Women in Pakistan make up 48.76 percent of the population according to the 2017 population
census.
According to the 'Global Gender Gap Report 2021' published by the World Economic Forum
(WEF), Pakistan ranked 153rd out of 156 countries on the gender parity index.
Pakistan ranked seventh among eight countries in South Asia, only better than Afghanistan.
The situation remains dismal if not hopeless.
The World Economic Forum; The World Economic Forum is an international non-governmental
and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24
January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab).
Releases its Global Gender Gap Index every year, measuring the extent of gender-based gaps
among four key dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment,
Health and Survival, and Power Empowerment.
The 2020 edition of the Global Gender Gap Index studied and ranked 153 countries around the
world. Countries are ranked from 0-1, with 1 having the highest gender equality and 0 having the
least amount of gender equality. The analyses of each country are intended to serve as a basis for
designing effective measures for reducing gender gaps
Unfortunately, six of these ten countries have reduced their gender equality scores from the 2019
edition of the index. Only Pakistan, Chad, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon have seen small
improvements in their scores. Economic opportunities are still extremely limited for women in
Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq, which have the four worst gender gaps for economic Participation
and Opportunity
The ten countries with the largest gender gaps are:
1. Yemen (0.494)
2. Iraq (0.530)
3. Pakistan (0.564)
4. Syria (0.567)
5. DR Congo (0.578)
6. Iran (0.584)
7. Chad (0.596)
8. Saudi Arabia (0.599)
9. Lebanon (0.599)
10. Oman (0.602)
It is extremely essential that women should be aware of laws protecting their rights in order to
prevent themselves from injustice so that they can secure themselves. Women should learn the
difference between what the law states and the actual legal practices in Pakistan, and the ways in
which the legal system can protect women and children. They should engage in discussions to
enhance their legal understanding of marriage, divorce, child custody, domestic violence and
rape, ownership, inheritance and the control of assets. As a result, women enhance decision
making powers, take action and advocate for community, nation and most importantly their
families.
Violence against Women:

Violence against women (VAW) shall be understood to encompass, but not be limited to, the
following:
a) Physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family, including battering,
sexual abuse of female children in the household, dowry-related violence, marital rape,
female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women, non-spousal
violence and violence related to exploitation;
b) Physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring within the general community,
including rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational
institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women and forced prostitution;
c) Physical, sexual and psychological violence perpetrated or condoned by the State,
wherever it occurs;
d) The casual treatment or indifference to the issue of violence by existing laws, law
enforcement agents, judicial authorities and society at large;
e) The forbidden nature of the issue of violence by terming it a’ private matter’, as in the
case of domestic violence;
f) Existing customs, traditional practice and norms that further reinforce inequalities;
What is Gender Based Violence?
Violence directed towards a person just because of belonging to one gender or sex. GBV has its roots in
gender inequality and mostly women face GBV due to misuse of power exercised by men.
Issues to access to justice
It is generally believed that women are relatively in a disadvantageous position as far as access
to justice is concerned. It is so because of the following main reasons
Potential causes/contributing factors include:
a. The male desire for supremacy and control

b. Power imbalances between men and women resulting in gender inequalities
c. Women have little or no economic independence and are largely dependent on men
d. Harmful cultural and traditional practices
e. Lack of respect towards women and their rights
f. Unquestioned assumptions about appropriate male and female behavior
g. Tolerance of society towards violence
h. False religious beliefs
i. Poverty
j. Alcohol or drug abuse
k. Loss of male power/role in family and community; seeking to regain and/or
assert power
l. Legal/justice system/laws silently condone violence against women and girls,
m. Insufficient laws against GBV
n. Impunity for perpetrators of sexual violence
o. Lenient sentencing
p. Law enforcement agencies are felt to be biased
q. Focus on physical evidence and testimony to the exclusion types of evidence
r. Authorities blame the victim for what happened
s. Victim will not testify because of fear of reprisal, fear of loss of economic support
t. Little compensation to survivors, and no access to counseling
u. Sparse availability of shelters
v. Lack of Restraining Orders, do not take husbands into custody, or do not monitor or enforce
order when given
Case Study:
Sobia is a 6 year old girl living with her parents and younger brother Waqas who is 4 years of age. The
parents discuss sending Waqas to school. Sobia is in the same room and listening to her parent’s
conversation. She also wants to go to school and asks her parents to get her admitted into a school. The
parents refuse and tell her that girls don't need to be educated as they don't have to earn.
 Has GBV has occurred in this situation?

 Which right(s) is being violated in this case?
 If they were the parents, what would they have done if faced with a situation like this?
 Do people acquire education only to earn?
 Education becomes more important as time goes by. It is important because it develops
people’s potential, lays a good foundation for people to be responsible citizens, and
gives people the skills to be able to compete in the workplace. Society benefits from
educating people. For example, society needs doctors, scientists, teachers, engineers,
lawyers, judges, politicians, academics, social workers and so on. These are assets that
enable society to function properly. Without education, people are less able to take part
in social and political activities.
 In Pakistan, the Constitution states that there will be no discrimination and makes
education to all children of age 5 to 16 compulsory and free. This means that it is Sobia’s
right to go to school and her parents cannot stop her. It also means that parents have a
duty to send their children, both daughter and son, to school and if they cannot afford
to pay school fee, their children should not be turned away.
Domestic Violence
Domestic violence (violence in families) is a very serious problem in Pakistan. Studies show that
domestic violence occurs in families across the population, regardless of race and class. Very
often domestic violence results in serious injury or death. There are a limited number of cases
where women assault men, but in the vast majority of cases men abuse women.
Zahid and Irum are engaged in a regular conversation relating to their income and the expenditures at
home. As the discussion progresses the Zahid gets agitated with Irum for over spending and raises his
voice. Irum also responds in same tone. The discussion turns into an argument and Zahid starts to
verbally abuse Irum. Things don't stop and he gets physical with lrum by pushing her around and hits
her. Irum falls down and breaks her arm. Irum is in pain and cries aloud. Upon hearing her cries, the
neighbor next door decides to intervene and stop the fight before any further damage is caused. He
rings the door bell, and breaks the momentum of the fight. Zahid opens the door and the neighbour asks
for some milk. Zahid gives the milk and walks out of his house, leaving Irum alone.
Irum is distressed after the physical abuse and wants to separate from her husband. She can go to the
police for registration of criminal case against her husband for breaking her arm. Police would take her
to hospital for medical examination and a doctor after examining her will issue a medical legal report.
Based on which police will register an F.I.R against her husband. Irum can file a private complaint in the
court of the area magistrate under section 200 of the code of criminal procedure, if the police do not
cooperate.
She has an option to engage a lawyer to go to the family court and file for khula based on the violent
behavior of her husband. The court will decide the matter after hearing her case.
Rape
What is Rape?
It is the forcible sexual relations with a person against that person's will. Sexual intercourse that is
forced on a person without his or her permission. It may involve physical force or the threat of force. It
may also be done against someone who is unable to give consent, for example, a child or an insane
person.
The offences of zina-bil-jabr (rape) and gang rape are punishable with taz’ir under Pakistan Penal Code
and Criminal Procedure Code
The punishment for gang rape is death. However, where the Court observes that the accused can neither
be acquitted nor the imposition of death penalty is reasonable in the facts and circumstances of the case,
life imprisonment
Brain is given as an alternative to the death penalty.
storming exercise
 Ask the participants what do they mean by the term Domestic Violence?
 Answers may include:
1. Physical violence: punches, kicks, slaps, scratching, biting, choking, beating, pulling hair, pushing, throttling or
pinching. The attacker may also employ different types of weapons such as knives, daggers, guns etc. Objects
such as chairs, cups, glass, bottles, belts and shoes, cooking utensils, broom handles etc. Instruments such as
spades, shovels, hammers, screwdrivers or wire. Attackers may cause burns using substances such as alcohol,
kerosene, acid oil or hot water. Women can be forced to take unnecessary medicines, alcoholic beverages, drugs
or other substances.
Case study:
Maira, a 15-year-old girl was abducted by four men and was later raped by two of them after being
subjected to brutal torture, had to go through a lot of aggravation before police the registered a case
against the suspects.
According to the girl’s father, he shifted his family to the city for better education of his children. His
elder daughter Maira, a student of Government Girls High School was returning home after attending a
local madrassah around 10am, when four suspects bundled her into a car and took her to the forest
where she was subjected to brutal torture and was raped by two of her abductors.
The suspects later left Maira on the road and fled away. She was spotted by police and was dropped
home around 8pm where she told her parents about her ordeal and said crying that she had no other
option but to commit suicide. She said her abductors and rapists were influential people and
apprehended they would escape punishment for their crime.
 A victim of rape is always in need of multiple services due to physical, psychological and
emotions trauma associated with the assault. Legal assistance is not always the priority of the
victims of rape.
 First priority should be provision of medical assistance as it will help the victim in gaining control
over the situation and also facilitate the gathering of the important evidence which will be used
for prosecution in court of law. Similarly, the victim needs counseling services as apart from the
physical injuries the biggest impact of the assault is psychological trauma. Due to the fear, the
victim might not share the details of the incident with anyone. This trauma can lead to long term
personality disorder.
 Interaction with the police is generally a difficult situation in our society. It is important to
involve police in case of rape as soon as possible to have realistic chances of conviction of the
offender. Paralegal should have information related to free legal aid services offered by
government department, nonprofit organizations or lawyers.
 Children especially the girl child easily becomes victim of rape due to their tender age and
innocence. Dealing with a child victim of rape is complicated situation and needs special
consideration and additional care.
 Consent to adultery by a woman of less than 16 years has been disregarded as defense to a charge
of rape.
Sexual Harassment
What is Sexual Harassment?
Sexual harassment includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal,
written communication or physical harassment of a sexual nature in any setting. Sexual harassment can
occur on the street, in the market, in the office or factory, in school or college. The offender can be
direct manager, indirect supervisor, and person passing you on the street, co-worker, shopkeeper,
teacher, peer, or colleague.
Harassment is a common issue faced by the women of Pakistan. They face intimidation in the market
place, in buses, at bus stops and at work place. This issue alone inhibits most of the women to move out
of their houses for education, for availing medical facilities and for earning a livelihood. Parents are
hesitant to send their daughters out of the homes alone because the social environment is not safe. In
Pakistan, through federal and provincial legislations harassment is a crime.
Forms of Sexual harassment:
 Unwanted physical contact

 Unwelcome sexual advances
 Requests for sexual favors by someone in authority
 Verbal harassment of a sexual nature
 Physical acts of sexual assault
 Making conditions of employment dependent on sexual favors
 causing interference with work performance by intimidation
 Creating hostile or offensive work environment
 Official disciplinary action for refusal to comply with such a request.
 Threat to terminate the employment for refusal to comply to such a request
Case study:
Asif works as supervisor in a service delivery organization. He supervises 12 people. Madiha, one of the
services representatives working under Asif, finds a note from Asif. It says, "I would like to have more
than a professional relationship with you, would you become my friend. We can go out for a dinner."
Madiha has no interest and ignores the note from Asif. Asif subsequently ceases all personal
communication with Madiha. He directs verbal communication through co-workers and begins to
critique her work through written memos. He calls staff meetings when she is out of the office, so that
she does not learn of policy and procedural changes. This results in error, for which she receives written
reprimands. She develops migraine headaches and is given 30 days of probation because of insufficient
attendance and poor performance.
 Discuss what Madiha can do in the given situation?

 Madiha is being sexually harassed which
may adversely affect her work performance or may lead to a threatening, hostile and offensive work
environment for her. This means that any of the following conditions would constitute sexual harassment:
1. any sexual advance to her dislike

2. request for sexual favour, and
3. verbal, written or physical expression of sexual nature or humiliating attitude towards
her, and
4. An attempt to punish her, if she refuses to comply with the requests of or favor which is
made a condition for employment
5. Consistently telling her "dirty" jokes or stories where all employees in the work area can
hear them, especially her.
6. Tolerating employees who make sexually suggestive remarks about other employees
within earshot of her.
7. Allowing the use of derogatory terms with a sexual connotation to be used to describe co-
workers.
8. Making frequent physical contact, with her.
If she wishes, she could file a complaint against Asif and that would involve the following steps
under the, ‘The Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010’:
 If she is harassed at the work place she has an option to make an application to Ombudsman or to
the Inquiry Committee of the organization where she is working and every
organization is under an obligation to constitute an enquiry committee under this law.
 Within three days of the receipt of a written complaint, the enquiry committee shall communicate
to the accused, Asif – the charges and statement of allegation leveled against him. The Committee
shall also requires the accused to submit a written defense to the allegations made against within
seven day from the date the charge is sent to him.
 If the accused, Asif does not comply with the directions of the Committee, the Committee shall
proceed with the case without involving him.
 The Committee shall initiate enquiry into the charges against the accused. It may examine the
oral or documentary evidence in support of the charge or in defense of the accused, as the
Committee may consider necessary. Each party is entitled to cross-examine the witnesses against
him/her.
 Inquiry Committee shall have power to regulate its own procedure for conducting inquiry and for
fixing the place and time of its sitting, within the framework of this law and rules to be made for
its implementation.
 The Inquiry Committee is required to ensure the following:
(a) Confidentiality: The entire process of inquiry, statement, record and evidences shall be
kept confidential.
(b) Advice and assistance to each party: The organization shall designate officers for this
purpose;
(c) Right to be represented and be accompanied: Each of the party will be entitled to be
represented or accompanied by a Collective Bargaining Agent representative, a friend or
a colleague.
(d) Neutrality of proceeding: This requires that no adverse action to be taken against the
complainant or the witnesses;
(e) Conducive environment: The inquiry Committee shall ensure that the employer or
accused shall in no case create any hostile environment for the complainant so as to
pressurize the complainant from freely pursuing her complaint; and
(f) Recording of findings: The Inquiry Committee shall give its findings in writing by
recording reasons.
 The Inquiry Committee shall submit its findings and recommendations to the Competent
Authority within thirty days of the initiation of the inquiry. If the Inquiry Committee finds the
accused to be guilty it shall also recommend penalties to be imposed on the accused.
 Minor and major penalties are provided under this law. The minor penalties include censure i.e.,
official disapproval and condemnation of the act of the accused, withholding of the promotion or
increment of the accused for a specific period, stopping the performance progress of the accused
at an efficiency bar in the time-scale for a specific period and compensation to the victim either
out of salary or other source of the accused.
 The major penalties include demotion or downgrading the accused on time-scale, or compulsory
retirement, removal from service, dismissal from service and fine. A portion of the fine can be
used as compensation for the complainant.
 The law provides the following relief to the victim:

1.psycho-social counseling or medical treatment
. 2.additional medical leave
3. The complainant shall also be compensated in case of loss of salary or other damages by the
organization.
 The appeal against the decision of the Inquiry Committee may be made by any of the party to the
Ombudsman. The time limitation for making an appeal is 30 days of the communication of the
written decision of the Inquiry Committee to the parties.
 The appellate authority shall decide the matter within 30 days of the filing of appeal.
 This law is binding on all the employers. Accordingly the employers are required to observe the
following:
 to adopt the Code of Conduct for, ‘The Protection Against Harassment at the Workplace’ as a
part of their management policy;
 form an Inquiry Committee and designate a Competent Authority
 Display copies of the Code in English as well as in language understood by the majority of
employees at conspicuous place in the organization and the work place.
 In case, the employer fails to abide by the provisions of this law relating to the responsibility of
employer, any employee of an organization may file a petition before the District Court.
 If the Court the employer held the employer guilty of violating the provisions of this law, it will
impose penalty of twenty-five thousand rupees to one hundred thousand rupees (Rs.25, 000.00 -
Rs.100, 000.00).
False accusation of adultery against a woman (Qazf)
What is Qazf?
Qazf is the false allegation of Zina (sex outside marriage) against any person, alive or deceased with the
intention to harm the reputation of the other person. Qazf can be committed by written or spoken
words, or by signs or visible representations. The allegation must be proved otherwise the person
making the claim will be liable to punishment.
For example, Amir tells his wife that the child she has given birth to is not his. Amir must have evidence
to support his claim. If he is unable to prove that the child is not his and his wife’s, then Amir will face
punishment for the offence of Qazf.
What can a woman do if a false accusation of adultery is made against her?
 Prior to the Protection of Women ( Criminal Laws Amendment) Act, 2006, the woman had to
lodge a complaint in the court of the false allegations of adultery or fornication ( all sex outside
marriage) against her which could not be proved to be correct. Now, the complainant accusing
the woman has to go to the district or session judge along with the statement of the two
witnesses as opposed to an FIR to the police.
 If the judge finds that the complaint is genuine than only the application is accepted, and
summons are issued for her arrest. The failure to prove the offence of zina will automatically
result in a simultaneous conviction of qazf. It will be at the discretion of the judge to
immediately charge and convict the complaint on the offence of qazf. It will not be dependent
on initiation of new legal proceedings. This is a great relief for women as prior to this law any
women could be accused of adultery and put into prison until the case came to the court. Now,
women can no longer be arrested and imprisoned on mere accusations. The result is that false
accusations of adultery against women have dropped dramatically.
 Punishment of qazf is whipping numbering 80 lashes, and non-admissibility of his evidence in
any court.
exposure to the world of business and their dependence on male

relatives to interpret its fine print for them. Many a woman has thus been
duped into signing away her property, only to realise too late that her
trust has been betrayed. The Supreme Court has in a recent verdict
addressed this loophole by ruling that to deprive an illiterate, purdah-
observing woman of her property without professional or independent
advice provided to her, or without making her understand the
consequences of her action, was not sustainable in law. Consent,
therefore, is not worth the paper it is written on until it is given freely
with full awareness of its implications, which is how it should be. The case
in question involved a gift deed of properties inherited by two sisters,
both illiterate and purdah-observing, prepared fraudulently on blank
paper through misrepresentation by their brother.
Legal protections do not amount to much without the will to apply them in
the true spirit. The Prevention of Anti-Women Practices (Criminal Law
Amendment) Act, 2011 added Section 498A to the Penal Code to criminalise
the act of depriving women of their right to inheritance. Anyone found guilty
of this crime is liable to imprisonment of between five to 10 years and/ or a
Rs1m fine. The apex court’s recent verdict takes into account the lived reality
of many women who sign contracts involving their property. Further, it puts
the onus of proof where it belongs — on the individual who enters into a
transaction with the purdah-observing or illiterate woman; it is for him “to
establish that the said document was executed by her after mindfulness of the
transaction”. However, there are other ways that women are deprived of their
property. These involve the full spectrum of family and communal pressures,
underpinned by archaic notions of honour, to surrender what is theirs, or
should rightfully be theirs, in favour of male relatives. Resistance can invite
physical violence, even a risk to life. For this to change, society needs to
undergo a change in mindset whereby women are not mere appendages to
the men in their family, but complete individuals in their own right.
Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2022

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination

Against Women, 1979.
CEDAW TREATY SUMMARY
CEDAW consists of a preamble and 30 articles. It is a statement of principles, with a basic structure &
process to enable their implementation. The following is a summary of the 30 articles:
Article 1: Defines discrimination against women as any “distinction, exclusion or restriction made on
the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or
exercise by women, irrespective of marital status, on the basis of equality between men and women, of
human rights or fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field.”
Article 2: Mandates that States Parties condemn discrimination in all its forms and ensure a legal
framework including all laws, policies and practices that provides protection against discrimination and
embodies the principle of equality.
Article 3: Requires States Parties to take action in all fields – civil, political, economic, social, and
cultural – to guarantee women’s human rights.
Article 4: Permits States Parties to take “temporary special measures” to accelerate equality.
Article 5: Declares the need to take appropriate measures to modify cultural patterns of conduct, as
well as the need for family education to recognize the social function of motherhood and the common
responsibility for raising children.
Article 6: Obligates States Parties to take measures to suppress the trafficking of women and the
exploitation of prostitution of women.
Article 7: Mandates States Parties end discrimination against women in political and public life and
ensure women’s equal rights to vote, be eligible for election, participate in the formulation of policy, hold
office, and participate in associations and non-governmental organizations.
Article 8: Requires measures allowing women to represent their governments internationally on an

equal basis with men.
Article 9: Mandates that women have equal rights with men to acquire, change, or retain their
nationality and that of their children.
Article 10: Obligates States Parties to end discrimination in education, including in professional and
vocational training, access to curricula and other means of receiving an equal education as well as to
eliminate stereotyped concepts of the roles of men and women.
Article 11: Mandates the end of discrimination in the field of employment, including the right to work,
employment opportunities, equal remuneration, free choice of profession and employment, social
security, and protection
of health including maternal health, and also in regard to discrimination on the grounds of marriage or
maternity.
Article 12: Requires steps to eliminate discrimination in health care, including access to services such as
family planning,
Article 13: Requires that women be ensured the same rights as men in all areas of social and economic
life, such as family benefits, mortgages, bank loans, and participation in recreational activities and
sports.
Article 14: Focuses on the particular problems faced by rural women, including the areas of women’s
participation in development planning, access to adequate health care, credit, education, and adequate
living conditions.
Article 15: Obligates States Parties to take steps to ensure equality before the law and the same legal
capacity to act in such areas as contracts, administration of property, and choice of residence.
Article 16: Requires steps to ensure equality in marriage and family relations including equal rights
with men to freely choose marriage, equal rights and responsibilities toward children, including the right
to freely determine the number and spacing of children and the means to do so, and the same rights to
property.
Article 17: Calls for the establishment of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW) to evaluate progress made in implementation of the Convention.
Article 18: Establishes a schedule for reporting on progress by ratifying countries.
Article 19: Allows the CEDAW Committee procedural rules and sets a two-year term for its officers.
Article 20: Sets annual CEDAW meetings to review States Parties’ reports.
Article 21: Directs the CEDAW Committee to report annually to the General Assembly and to make
suggestions and general recommendations based on the States Parties’ reports.
Article 22: Allows for representation of specialized agencies of the UN and for CEDAW to invite
reports from them.
Articles 23-30: Outlines elements for operations and enforcement of the treaty, permissible
reservations, and how disputes between States Parties can be settled.
The Women Suffrage Timeline

Right to Vote Right to Stand for Election
1965* 1965*
Afghanistan
*Revoked during Taliban rule
*Revoked during Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001.
Afghanistan Notes from 1996 to 2001.
1920 1920
Albania
July 5th, 1962 July 5th, 1962
Algeria
April 14th, 1970 September 5th, 1973
Andora
November 11th, 1975 November 11th, 1975
Angola
Antigua & December 1st, 1951 December 1st, 1951
Barbuda
September 29th, 1947 September 29th, 1947
Argentina
February 2nd, 1921 February 2nd, 1921
Armenia
June 12th, 1902 June 12th, 1902
Australia
Australia June 18th, 1962 June 18th, 1962
(Aboriginal)
December 19th, 1918 December 19th, 1918
Austria
May 19th, 1921 May 19th, 1921
Azerbaijan
February 18th, 1961 February 18th, 1961
The Bahamas
October 24th, 2002 October 24th, 2002
Bahrain
Bangladesh
October 23rd, 1950 October 23rd, 1950
Barbados
Belarus
February 7th, 1921*/March
May 9th, 1919*/March 27th, 1948**
Belgium 27th, 1948**
*”Right to vote in national elections to the widows and

**Right to vote extended to
mothers of servicemen killed in World War I, to the
“all women… with the same
widows and mothers of citizens shot or killed by the
Belgium Notes conditions applied to men” (p.
enemy, and to female political prisoners who had been
34).
held by the enemy” (p. 34).
March 25th, 1954 March 25th, 1954

Belize
1956 1956
Benin
1953 1953
Bhutan
1938*/
July 21, 1952
Bolivia July 21, 1952
*Right to vote extended to “literate women and those

Bolivia Notes with a certain level of income” (p. 41).
Bosnia and January 31st, 1949 January 31st, 1949

Herzegovina
March 1st, 1965 March 1st, 1965
Botswana
July 16th, 1934 July 16th, 1934
Brazil
Men/women not allowed to
Men/women not allowed to vote since 1962.
Brunei stand for election since 1962.

Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
August 17th, 1961 August 17th, 1961
Burundi
Cambodia
October 1946 October 1946
Camerooon
1956 1956
Benin
September 1917*/
July 1920
Canada May 1918**
*”Women who had close male relatives serving in the **Most women won the
military were granted the right to vote at the federal federal vote, but most
Canada Notes
level” (p. 61). Aboriginal women excluded.
Canada 1950* 1950

(Aboriginal)
“Quebec in 1969, became the
Right to vote extended “only if they waived their tax
Canada last province to extend
exemption under the Indian Act. In August 1960, the
(Aboriginal) franchise rights to all native
Notes unqualified extension of federal voting rights…” (p. 69).
Indians at the provincial level”

Cape Verde
Central African 1986 1986
Republic
1958
Chad
May 30th, 1931*/ May 30th, 1931*/
Chile May 15th, 1949** May 15th, 1949**
**Right to vote/stand for

*Right to vote/stand for election in “municipal
election in “legislative and
Chile Notes elections” (p. 77).
provincial elections” (p. 77).
October 1st, 1949

China (People’s October 1st, 1949
(also granted in 1911 after revolution)
Republic)
China (Republic 1947
of)/Taiwan
Colombia
1956 1956
Comoros
Democratic
May 3rd, 1967 April 17th, 1970
Republic of the
Congo (Kinshasa)
Congo Republic December 8th, 1963 December 8th, 1963
(Brazzaville)
Costa Rica
1952 1952
Cote d’Ivoire
Croatia
January 2nd, 1934 January 2nd, 1934
Cuba
Cyprus
1920 1920
Czech Republic
1908 (local authorities)/ 1908 (local authorities)/
Denmark June 5th, 1915 June 5th, 1915
1946 1986
Djibouti
July 1951 July 1951
Dominica
Dominican 1942 1942
Republic
Ecuador* March 3rd, 1929** March 3rd, 1929
**”Between 1929 and 1967,

voting was compulsory for
*First country in South American to grant woman
men and optional for women;
Ecuador Notes suffrage.
in 1967 it became compulsory
for bothe sexes” (p. 115).
June 23rd, 1956 June 23rd, 1956

Egypt
1939 1961
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
April 17th, 1963 May 5th, 1963
Fiji
July 20th, 1906 July 20th, 1906
Finland
April 21st, 1944 April 21st, 1944
France
May 23rd, 1956 May 23rd, 1956
Gabon
1960 1960
Gambia
November 22nd, 1918 November 22nd, 1918
Georgia
Germany
1954 1954
Ghana
January 1st, 1952 January 1st, 1952
Greece
August 1951 August 1951
Grenada
1946 1946
Guatemala
October 2nd, 1958 October 2nd, 1958
Guinea
1977 1977
Guinea-Bissau
1953 1945*
Guyana
Guyana Notes *”Eligible to sit on the British
Guiana Legislation Council”
(p. 163).

Haiti
January 25th, 1955 January 25th, 1955
Honduras
1918 1918
Hungary
June 19th, 1915 June 19th, 1915
Iceland
India
Indonesia
September 1963 September 1963
Iran
1958*/ 1958/
Iraq February 1980 February 1980
*Government “overthrown during the summer of 1958,

before any elections with female participation” (p.
Iraq Notes
188).
June 2nd, 1918 (Women over

June 2nd, 1918 (Women over 30 years of age)/
30 years of age)/
Ireland July 2nd 1928
July 2nd 1928
May 15th, 1948 May 15th, 1948

Israel
February 1st, 1945 February 1st, 1945
Italy
Jamaica
December 12th,
December 12th, 1945*/February 24th, 1947**
Japan 1945*/February 24th, 1947**
**”For the House of

*”For the House of Representatives” (p. 202).
Japan Notes Councillors” (p. 202).
1974* 1974*
Jordan
“Women actually exercised the right to vote and stand
Jordan Notes for election for the first time in 1989” (p. 206).

Kazakhstan
December 12th, 1963* December 12th, 1963*
Kenya
Kenya Notes “The right to vote and stand for office had been given “In 1963, all Kenyans,
to European women in Kenya in 1919; in 1956, those regardless of color and other
previously restricting factors,

rights were extended to African men and women under
were given the right to vote
certain conditions related to educational level and
and stand for election” (p.
property ownership.”
209).

Kiribati
Democratic
July 30th, 1946 July 30th, 1946
People’s Republic
of Korea
July 17th, 1948 July 17th, 1948
Republic of Korea
Kuwait
June 1918 June 1918
Kyrgyzstan
1958 1958
Laos
November 18th, 1918 December 18th, 1918
Latvia
1952 1952
Lebanon
April 30th, 1965 April 30th, 1965
Lesotho
May 7th, 1946 May 7th, 1946
Liberia
1963 1963
Libya
July 1st, 1984 July 1st, 1984
Liechtenstein*
Liechtenstein Last country in Europe to grant women suffrage.
Notes
Lithuania
May 15th, 1919 May 15ht, 1919
Luxembourg
December 31st, 1946 December 31st, 1946
Macedonia
Madagascar
1961 1961
Malawi
August 31st, 1957 August 31st, 1957
Malaysia
1932 1932
Maldives
1956 1956
Mali
Malta
May 1st, 1979 May 1st, 1979
Marshall Islands
May 20th, 1961 May 20th, 1961
Mauritania
1956 1956
Mauritius
February 15th, 1947* October 17th, 1953
Mexico
“Yucatan and San Luis Potosi
“Women were permitted to vote in some local and were the first states to extend
Mexico Notes state elections at an earlier date”. the franchise, in 1922 and
1923, respectively” (p. 255).
Federated States November 3rd, 1979 November 3rd, 1979

of Micronesia
Moldova
Monaco
November 1st, 1924 November 1st, 1924
Mongolia
May 1963 May 1963
Morocco
June 25th, 1975 June 25th, 1975
Mozambique
1935 March 19th, 1946
Myanmar
Namibia
January 3rd, 1968 January 3rd, 1968
Nauru
1951 1951
Nepal
August 9th, 1919 November 29, 1917
Netherlands
September 19th, 1893 October 29th, 1919
New Zealand
April 21st, 1955 April 21st, 1955
Nicaragua
1948 1948
Niger
1958* 1958*
Nigeria
*“Women in Nigeria’s southern region were
enfranchised in stages, beginning in 1950, whereas
women in the northern region (predominantly Muslim)
were not. Southern women voted and contested offices
Nigeria Notes in the 1959 federal elections, but no northern women
were allowed to do so. Northern women finally
received their full electoral franchise (to vote and
contest office) in 1976” (p. 286).
1907* 1907*/1913
Norway
*“Special conditions related to private mans, property,
and income. Those restrictions were removed in 1913”
Norway Notes
(p. 289).
1997 1997
Oman
1947 1947
Pakistan
April 2nd, 1979 April 2nd, 1979
Palau
July 5, 1941/
July 5, 1941*
Panama March 1st, 1946
*“A 1941 electoral law granted a limited franchise to

women (to vote for and be elected to provincial bodies)
if they held a university degree or had completed
Panama Notes vocational raining, a teacher’s college, or secondary
schooling. Full political rights were granted to women
in 1946.” (p. 298)
Papua New February 15th, 1964 February 27th, 1963

Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
May 5th, 1931/
May 5th, 1931* November 16th, 1934/
Portugal
June 2nd, 1976
Portugal Notes *“In 1931, women were given the right to vote and
stand for election, with the restriction that they had to
have completed secondary or higher education (men
only had to know how to read and write). All citizens
who were literate were granted the right to vote and
stand for election in 1934. Some restrictions on women,
however, remained for election to certain local
administrative bodes under a l968 law. Full equality of
the sexes with regard to the franchise and right of
election to all bodies was achieved in 1976″ (p. 312).

1999 1999
Qatar
1929*/ 1929*/
Romania 1946** July 1946**
**”Under the same conditions

*”Restricted electoral rights” (p. 316).
Romania Notes as men” (p. 316).
June 1918 June 1918

Russia
September 25th, 1961 September 25th, 1961*
Rwanda
*”For all offices except that of president of the republic;
Rwanda Notes that restriction was removed in 1978″ (p. 323).
Saint Kitts and 1951 1951

Nevis
1924 1924
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and May 5th, 1951 May 5th, 1951
the Grenadines
October 1990 October 1990
Samoa
April 29th, 1959 September 10th, 1973
San Marino
Sao Tome and July 12th, 1975 July 12th, 1975
Principe
2015 Municipal Elections
2015 Municipal Elections (expected)
Saudia Arabia (expected)

Senegal
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
July 18th, 1947 July 18th, 1947
Singapore
1920 1920
Slovakia
Slovenia
1978 1978
Solomon Islands
1956 1956
Somalia
South Africa May 21, 1930 (“whites”)/ May 21, 1930 (“whites”)/
March 30th, 1984 (“coloreds and Indians”)/ March 30th, 1984 (“coloreds
and Indians”)/
January 14th, 1994 (“blacks”) [p. 351] January 14th, 1994 (“blacks”)
[p. 351]
December 9th, 1931 May 8th, 1931

Spain
Sri Lanka
November 1964 November 1964
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland
1862/ 1862/
1918 “local elections”/ 1918 “local elections”/
Sweden May 1919 “granted”/ May 1919 “granted”/
1921 “in effect” 1921 “in effect”

Switzerland
September 10th, 1949* 1953
Syria
“women who had reached a sixth-grade educational
level; it was then extended to all literate women, and in
Syria Notes 1953 all educational restrictions on voting were lifted
for women” (p. 371).
1924 1924
Tajikistan
1959 1959
Tanzania
Thailand
August 22nd, 1945 August 22nd, 1945
Togo
1960 1960
Tonga
Trinidad and 1946 1946
Tobago
1957 (“municipal elections”)/
June 1st, 1959
Tunisia June 1st, 1959
April 3rd, 1930 December 5th, 1934

Turkey
1927 1927
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
1962 1962
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab 2006 2006

Emirates
February 2nd, 1918 (“over 30
February 2nd, 1918 (“over 30 years of age”)/
years of age”)/
United Kingdom July 2nd, 1928
July 2nd, 1928
United States of 1920 1920

America
Uruguay
1938 1938
Uzbekistan
November 1975 November 1975
Vanutua
No parliament/no political
No parliament/no political parties.
Vatican City parties.

Venezuela
Vietnam
1967 (People’s Democratic
1967 (People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen)/ Republic of Yemen)/
Yemen 1970 (Arab Republic of Yemen) 1970 (Arab Republic of
Yemen)

Yugoslavia
Zambia
Before 1957 (“Only men and European women”)/
After 1957 (“a qualified right to vote was gradually March 1978
Zimbabwe
extended over the years to black women”) [p. 429]
Understanding the Transgender Community

Transgender people come from all walks of life, and HRC Foundation has
estimated that there are more than 2 million of us across the United States. We are
parents, siblings, and kids. We are your coworkers, your neighbors, and your
friends. We are 7-year-old children and 70-year-old grandparents. We are a diverse
community, representing all racial and ethnic backgrounds, as well as all faith
traditions.
The word “transgender” – or trans – is an umbrella term for people whose gender
identity is different from the sex assigned to us at birth. Although the word
“transgender” and our modern definition of it only came into use in the late 20th
century, people who would fit under this definition have existed in every culture
throughout recorded history.
Alongside the increased visibility of trans celebrities like Laverne Cox, Jazz
Jennings or the stars of the hit Netflix series “Pose,” three out of every ten adults
in the U.S. personally knows someone who is trans. As trans people become more
visible, we aim to increase understanding of our community among our friends,

families, and society.
What does it mean to be trans?
The trans community is incredibly diverse. Some trans people identify as trans men
or trans women, while others may describe themselves as non-binary, genderqueer,
gender non-conforming, agender, bigender or other identities that reflect their
personal experience. Some of us take hormones or have surgery as part of our
transition, while others may change our pronouns or appearance. Roughly three-
quarters of trans youth that responded to an HRC Foundation and University of
Connecticut survey identified with terms other than strictly “boy” or “girl.” This
suggests that a larger portion of this generation’s youth are identifying somewhere
on the broad trans spectrum.
What challenges do trans people face?
While trans people are increasingly visible in both popular culture and in daily life,
we still face severe discrimination, stigma and systemic inequality. Some of the
specific issues facing the trans community are:
 Lack of legal protection– Trans people face a legal system that often does
not protect us from discrimination based on our gender identity. Despite a
recent U.S. Supreme Court Decision that makes it clear that trans people are
legally protected from discrimination in the workplace, there is still no
comprehensive federal non-discrimination law that includes gender identity -
which means trans people may still lack recourse if we face discrimination
when we’re seeking housing or dining in a restaurant. Moreover, state
legislatures across the country are debating – and in some cases passing –
legislation specifically designed to prohibit trans people from accessing
public bathrooms that correspond with our gender identity, or creating
exemptions based on religious beliefs that would allow discrimination
against LGBTQ people.
 Poverty– Trans people live in poverty at elevated rates, and for trans people
of color, these rates are even higher. Around 29% of trans adults live in
poverty, as well 39% of Black trans adults, 48% of Latinx trans adults
and 35% of Alaska Native, Asian, Native Americans and Native Hawaiian
or Pacific Islander trans adults.
 Stigma, Harassment and Discrimination – About half a decade ago,
only one-quarter of people in the United States supported trans rights, and
support increased to 62% by the year 2019. Despite this progress, the trans
community still faces considerable stigma due to more than a century of
being characterized as mentally ill, socially deviant and sexually predatory.
While these intolerant views have faded in recent years for lesbians and gay
men, trans people are often still ridiculed by a society that does not
understand us. This stigma plays out in a variety of contexts – from
lawmakers who leverage anti-trans stigma to score cheap political points; to
family, friends or coworkers who reject trans people upon learning about our
trans identities; and to people who harass, bully and commit serious violence
against trans people. This includes stigma that prevents them from accessing
necessary services for their survival and well-being. Only 30% of
women’s shelters are willing to house trans women. While recent legal
progress has been made, 27% of trans people have been fired, not hired or
denied a promotion due to their trans identity. Too often, harassment has led
trans people to avoid exercising their most basic rights to vote. HRC
Foundation’s research shows that 49% of trans adults, and 55% of trans
adults of color said they were unable to vote in at least one election in their
life because of fear of or experiencing discrimination at the polls.
 Violence Against Trans People– Trans people experience violence at rates
far greater than the average person. Over a majority (54%) of trans people
have experienced some form of intimate partner violence, 47% have been
sexually assaulted in their lifetime and nearly one in ten were physically
assaulted in between 2014 and 2015. This type of violence can be fatal. At
least 27 trans and gender non-conforming people have been violently killed
in 2020 thus far, the same number of fatalities observed in 2019.
 Lack of Healthcare Coverage– An HRC Foundation analysis found
that 22% of trans people and 32% of trans people of color have no health
insurance coverage. More than one-quarter (29%) of trans adults have
been refused health care by a doctor or provider because of their gender
identity. This sobering data reveals a healthcare system that fails to meet the
needs of the trans community.
 Identity Documents – The widespread lack of accurate identity documents
among trans people can have an impact on every aspect of their lives,
including access to emergency housing or other public services. Without
identification, one cannot travel, register for school or access many services
that are essential to function in society. Many states do not allow trans
people to update their identification documents to match their gender
identity. Others require evidence of medical transition – which can be
prohibitively expensive and is not something that all trans people want – as
well as fees for processing new identity documents, which may make them
unaffordable for some members of the trans community.
While advocates continue working to remedy these disparities, change cannot

come too soon for trans people. Visibility – especially positive images of trans
people in the media and society – continues to make a critical difference for us; but
visibility is not enough and can come with real risks to our safety, especially for
those of us who are part of other marginalized communities. That is why the
Human Rights Campaign is committed to continuing to support and advocate for
the trans community, so that the trans Americans who are and will become your
friends, neighbors, coworkers and family members have an equal chance to
succeed and thrive.
Trans genders and Their Protection

Under Law in Pakistan.
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Our society tends to accommodate two genders only. Any gender beyond male and female is not
acceptable to many. Trans genders have struggled over the ages to get themselves registered as a
distinct gender. Social, political and legal battles have been borne by trans genders to be recognized
as a separate gender in society. In 2014, the Supreme Court of India delivered a historic decision in
which it acknowledged ‘transgender’ as a distinct gender or ‘third gender’, yet, the third gender has
still not been able to gain much status in society.
Trans genders are part of the most neglected segments of society. Neither the legislature nor society
has had any soft corner for them. Ironically, the third gender is not only being deprived of recognition
and rights within developing societies but also in the more developed ones. Twenty European states
still require gender sterilization!
In Pakistan, we have a different situation. While the third gender remains socially deprived, it has
managed to gain some legislative attention. Allegedly, the 2017 census has not provided the true
number of trans genders in Pakistan. The Khawaja Sara Society claims that there are more than half
a million trans genders in Pakistan but the 2017 census recorded only 10,418.
While there may be huge criticism against our society’s treatment of the third gender, Pakistan
should at least be given credit for being the pioneer in protecting the rights of the third gender
through legislative development. In May 2018, the Parliament of Pakistan passed the Transgender
Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2018. The Bill was a unique piece of legislation and gained
local and international recognition. The Act was celebrated by the transgender community and
labeled a ray of life.
The Act provided trans genders definition and recognition. It provided them with recognition of
inviolable and fundamental rights already available to other citizens of Pakistan. It was a true victory
for them.
Section 3 of the Act gives trans genders an opportunity to select a gender of their choice.
The Act also provides them an opportunity to get themselves registered with the National Database
and Registration Authority (NADRA).
Chapter III of the Act prohibits eight acts of discrimination against the trans community.
Harassment, both within and outside of the home, has been prohibited and penalized. The
Government of Pakistan is responsible for ensuring non-discrimination and prevention of
harassment for the trans community. The Act even requires the government to build separate cells
for trans prisoners.
Inheritance rights of trans genders had been under debate before the Act as there were no
comprehensive procedures within personal laws for a trans gender’s share in a deceased’s estate.
The Act now provides a definite share for trans genders in inheritance.
The Act also guarantees fundamental rights of trans genders already provided to them under
the Constitution of Pakistan. Article 25A of the Constitution ensures the right of education for all
citizens of Pakistan. The Act ensures this right for trans genders, as well as nine other rights
including the right to vote and hold public office.
The best part of the Act is that it also provides for enforcement mechanisms and penalties.
Trans genders are human beings and are not born to beg and the Act upholds this notion.
The Act stipulates a prison sentence of up to six months, or a fine of up to PKR 50,000, or both, for
anyone who forces trans genders into begging.
Pakistan has done a good job regarding the legal provision and protection of the rights of trans
genders. India also passed a law with the same aims and objectives a year later in 2019.
The need of the hour is for the executive to ensure successful execution of the Act and for the
Pakistani society to recognize the existence and rights of trans genders.

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COMMUNITY PARALEGAL TRAINING MANUAL

What are human rights?

How can human rights exist?

Which Rights are human rights?

 Civil and political rights;

 Rights of Women, Minorities and groups;

Objections to social rights;

International Human Rights Law and Organizations

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS (MODULE 21)

Human rights are universal and inalienable:

Human rights are equal and non-discriminatory:

First- generation human rights

Second- generation human rights

Social and cultural rights:

Third-generation human rights

 Group and collective rights

Basic Principles of the Human Rights Framework

2. History of Human Rights

3. Human rights: duties and obligations of the State.

4. Sources of international human rights law

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS (MODULE 21)

A treaty is an agreement by States to be bound by particular rules. International treaties have

A State can become a party to a treaty by ratification, accession or succession.

Declarations, resolutions etc. adopted by UN

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS (MODULE 21)

International Humanitarian Law

•International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), 1966,

Signature: means that a State agrees to the text of a treaty,

6. Human Rights Monitoring

Governments consequently mandate international bodies to supervise human rights such as

 Country-specific special rapporteurs to several countries (such as North Korea,

 Reports by non-governmental organisations, such as Amnesty International, Human

International monitoring by human rights treaty

7. International enforcement of Human

Regional human rights

Binding decisions under international law, particularly on complaints by victims of human

Negative and positive Rights

Dicey's Rule of Law

A V Dicey stated three principles to the term 'Rule of Law'.

1. Supremacy of Law 2. Equality before Law 3. Predominance of Legal spirit

Equality before Law

Predominance of Legal spirit

Modern Concept of Rule of Law

 Today, 'Rule of Law' is seen more as a concept of rights of citizens.

Doctrine of Separation of Powers

 It was, however, Montesquieu who systematically developed the theory of separation of

The Effect of Montesquieu Theory:

The Social Contract Theory

Natural and legal Rights

Reason for failure

The Preamble to the treaty reads as follows:

We the peoples of the United Nations determined

And for these ends

Have resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish these aims

 The organization's membership grew significantly following widespread decolonization

 International Court of Justice (the primary judicial organ); and the

 United Nations Trusteeship Council (inactive since 1994).

Principal organs of the United Nations

 May resolve non-  Supports the other  Decides disputes

country has one vote.