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Importance Of Civil And Political Rights
Civil and Political Rights are considered as the most important and lasting achievement of various democratic revolutions and movements. These rights are primarily concerned with the recognition of individuals dignity, his or her right to live his or her life according to own choice while enjoying equality and liberty in the state and society. The very philosophy of Human Rights is based on the idea that all human beings are born equal and free. While this vision has been amply provided in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights imposes binding obligations on state in the form of treaty. State parties undertake to ensure the equal rights of men and women to the enjoyment of rights. It also enjoints states to make that principle a reality.
Civil and Political rights provide for the protection of the right to life and dignified existence of individuals. These, therefore stipulate that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, that no one shall be held in slavery, that slavery and slave trade shall be prohibited and that no one shall be held in bondage or required to perform forced or compulsory labor, that no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention, that all persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity.
Liberty of movement and freedom to choose a residence, right to freedom of thoughts, conscience and religion and freedom of expression recognize that each individual has been endowed by nature of rationality and thinking faculty which cannot be restricted by the state arbitrarily. With respect to the area of an individual existence, the right to privacy protects one’s identity, integrity and intimacy. Identity includes ones name, gender, appearance, feeling, honor and reputation.
The rationalism of the Enlightenment, as Manfred Nawak points out, stipulates individual’s spiritual existence, that is one’s belief in spiritual ideas and convictions, the communication of spiritual subject matters to fellow citizens, and the freedom to defend one’s thoughts and ideas in public, either individually or in community with others. The political freedoms of thought, conscience, religion, belief, expression, media, art, information, associations, assembly and trade unions etc., stem from this vision of rationality. Nawak further suggests that the right to take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives, is the most direct expression of political [democratic] freedom, distinguished from the concept of liberal or socialist freedom. Since democracy usually functions by means of representative participation, the most important political rights violating these rights put forward various explanations for that. They are held accountable by the International community and U.N. monitoring bodies. In extreme cases of violations collective actions have also been initiated against some states. In addition recognition of civil and political rights by the International Community has also encouraged human rights activists and movements to mobilize public opinion for there promotion and protection. As is well known now a large number of Non-governmental Organizations and other bodies are actively engaged in generating awareness about rights and putting the states in dock for there violation. Of course, individual themselves also need to be aware and concerned about their rights and participate in the movement for there promotion and protection.
Limitations On The Exercise Of Rights
The Covenant also places certain limitations on the exercise of the rights recognized by it. These limitations are primarily in the interest of public safety, public order and morals, national security, or for the protection of human rights of others. Article 29 [2] of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in broad general terms makes the following limitations respecting the exercise of the rights set forth in the Declaration. It states that: ” 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.”
In time of public emergency which threatens the life of the national and the existence of which is officially proclaimed, the States Parties to the ICCPR may suspend implementation of certain rights mentioned under ICCPR. Such limitations must however, be provided by domestic law and must be necessary that is proportional, reasonable and non-arbitrary. Limitation clauses provide states with an opportunity to balance universal human rights with national peculiarities and cultural and religious values but states are under an obligations to prove to the international community that there restrictions are necessary and reasonable.
In addition to limitation clauses, states also have other means to escape their obligations to respect civil and political rights – i.e. Emergency Situations.
In time of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation [for example war, internal armed conflicts, terrorism, natural disasters] they are authorized by Article 4 of the ICCPR to take temporary measures derogating from most of their obligations. At the time of ratification or accession they may also enter reservations, even to the extent of fully excluding the application of certain rights. In practice states tend to make use of these powers to suspend or violate rights quite frequently, but the Human Rights Committee and regional human rights bodies stress their authority to monitor reservations and emergency powers of states.
While the state is permitted temporarily to deny civil and political rights in situations of emergency it [the state] is not permitted, under any circumstances to violate or derogate from the right to life, freedom from slavery and slave trade, freedom from civil prison, right against ex post facto criminal law, right to recognition as a person before law, and the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. The state, thus, is not allowed to violate these rights under any conditions, even those of emergencies. These seven rights are considered the minimum basic fundamental rights which should remain guaranteed to the individual at all times and can not be abridged, reduced or denied under any circumstances.
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