Civil Rights

Human rights have traditionally been divided into different categories. Civil rights, together with political rights, constitute the category of rights known and referred to as first-generation rights. The traditional and historical classification is as follows: Civil rights are primarily designed to protect the individual against state interference, and are immediately applicable. They include the protection of life and security (i.e. the right to life, prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment or punishment, etc.); the prohibition of discrimination on any ground (such as race, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status); the protection of liberty (i.e., prohibition of arbitrary arrest and detention); and a set of freedoms (such as freedom of movement, of marriage, of religion, of peaceful assembly, of association, etc.). Civil rights can therefore be seen as the protections and privileges (rights and freedoms) that protect individuals from the state, thus ensuring their personal liberty.

Though distinct, civil rights and political rights are closely linked; the protection and fulfillment of one depends to a large extent on the fulfillment and protection of the other. Moreover, the distinction between civil and political rights is not always so obvious or clear; sometimes the two overlap.

All human rights are indivisible, interdependent and interrelated: the fulfillment and protection of civil and political rights depend on, and are required for, other categories of human rights.

In international human rights law, civil rights are essentially protected by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which was drafted in 1966 and entered into force in 1976. Adherence to the Covenant is monitored by the Human Rights Committee. Over time, additional protocols and instruments were created which also aim to protect civil rights.

All States Parties to the Covenant are required to submit regular reports to the Committee on how they are implementing civil and political rights. Such information is provided by self-reporting and, thus, can be limited. The reports provided are examined by the Committee which is composed of independent experts appointed by the United Nations. The Committee then addresses its concerns and recommendations in the form of "concluding observations." In the First Optional Protocol to the Covenant, the Committee was given jurisdiction to examine individual complaints; this is not yet the case with the Committee established to monitor economic, social and cultural rights [1].

1. For further information, please refer to the web site of the OHCHR, http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/index.htm.