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. 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,
religion and freedom from medical or scientific experimentation without consent.
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 by law of any
propaganda for war as well as any advocacy of national or religious hatred that constitutes
incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence (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 recognize 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.
Rights to physical integrity Article 6 of the Covenant recognises the individual's "inherent right to life" and requires it to be protected by law. It is a "supreme right" from which no derogation can be permitted, and must be interpreted widely. It therefore requires parties to take positive measures to reduce
infant mortality and increase
life expectancy, as well as forbidding arbitrary killings by security forces. and forbids it to be used on children and pregnant women or in a manner contrary to the
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The UN Human Rights Committee interprets the Article as "strongly suggest[ing] that abolition is desirable", As with Article 6, it cannot be derogated from under any circumstances. In response to
Nazi human experimentation during WW2 this article explicitly includes a prohibition on medical and scientific experimentation without consent. The article also prohibits
forced labour, with exceptions for criminal punishment, military service and civil obligations.
Liberty and security of person Article 9 recognises the rights to liberty and security of the person. It prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention, requires any deprivation of liberty to be according to law, and obliges parties to allow those deprived of their liberty to challenge their imprisonment through the courts. These provisions apply not just to those imprisoned as part of the criminal process, but also to those detained due to mental illness, drug addiction, or for educational or immigration purposes.
Articles 9.3 and 9.4 impose procedural safeguards around arrest, requiring anyone arrested to be promptly informed of the charges against them, and to be brought promptly before a judge. It also restricts the use of pre-trial detention, requiring that it not be 'the general rule'. This applies not just to prisoners, but also to those detained for immigration purposes or psychiatric care. The right complements the Article 7 prohibition on torture and cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment. It requires prisons to be focused on reform and rehabilitation rather than punishment.
Article 11 prohibits the use of imprisonment as a punishment for breach of contract.
Procedural fairness and rights of the accused Article 14 recognizes and protects a right to justice and a fair trial.
Article 14.1 establishes the ground rules: everyone must be equal before the courts, and any hearing must take place in
open court before a competent, independent and impartial tribunal, with any judgment or ruling made public. Closed hearings are only permitted for reasons of privacy, justice, or national security, and judgments may only be suppressed in divorce cases or to protect the interests of children.
Article 14.3 mandates that litigants must be informed promptly and in detail in a language which they understand. and forbids
double jeopardy. It requires that those convicted of a crime be allowed to appeal to a higher tribunal, and requires victims of a
Miscarriage of justice to be compensated. It establishes rights to a
speedy trial, to
counsel, against
self-incrimination, and for the accused to be present and
call and examine witnesses.
Article 15 prohibits prosecutions under
ex post facto law and the imposition of
retrospective criminal penalties, and requires the imposition of the lesser penalty where criminal sentences have changed between the offence and conviction. One exception is criminal proceedings held for violations of
peremptory norms () under
customary international law, such as genocide, slavery, torture, and wars of aggression.
Article 16 requires states to
recognize everyone as a person before the law.
Individual liberties Article 12 guarantees
freedom of movement, including the right of persons to choose their residence, to leave and return to a country. These rights apply to legal aliens as well as citizens of a state, and can be restricted only where necessary to protect national security, public order or health, and the rights and freedoms of others. The article also recognises a right of people to enter their own country: the
right of return. The
Human Rights Committee interprets this right broadly as applying not just to citizens, but also to those stripped of or denied their nationality.
Article 17 mandates the
right of privacy. This provision, specifically article 17(1), protects private adult consensual sexual activity, thereby nullifying prohibitions on homosexual behaviour, however, the wording of this covenant's marriage right (Article 23) excludes the extrapolation of a same-sex marriage right from this provision. Article 17 also protects people against unlawful attacks to their honor and reputation. Article 17 (2) grants the protection of the law against such attacks.
Article 19 mandates
freedom of expression.
Article 20 mandates sanctions against inciting war and hatred.
Article 21 mandates
freedom of assembly and
22 mandates
freedom of association. These provisions guarantee the right to freedom of association, the right to trade unions and also defines the
International Labour Organization.
Article 23 mandates the right of marriage. The wording of this provision neither requires nor prohibits
same-sex marriage.
Article 24 mandates special protection, the right to a name, and the right to a nationality for every child.
Article 27 mandates the rights of
ethnic,
religious and
linguistic minority to enjoy their own culture, to profess their own religion, and
to use their own language.
Political rights Article 2 and Article 3 provides an accessory non-discrimination principle. Accessory in the way that it cannot be used independently and can only be relied upon in relation to another right protected by the ICCPR. In contrast,
Article 26 contains a revolutionary norm by providing an autonomous equality principle which is not dependent upon another right under the convention being infringed. This has the effect of widening the scope of the non-discrimination principle beyond the scope of ICCPR. ==Optional protocols==