International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
72 Articles

Uncomfortable Conversations in Geneva
The United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) is currently holding its annual session in Geneva to consider the reports submitted by states setting out their adherence to the…

My Agenda as New UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression
This past June, the UN Human Rights Council appointed me special rapporteur on the protection and promotion of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, effective August…

Time to Give the Sleeves From Our Vest and Acknowledge the Extraterritoriality of the Convention Against Torture
As David Luban noted yesterday evening, Charlie Savage of The New York Times reported that the Obama Administration likely plans to continue to espouse Bush-era positions on the…

Sri Lanka before UN Human Rights Committee this week
This week, the UN Human Rights Committee will review Sri Lanka’s fifth periodic report on how it is implementing the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political…

New Submission on US Military Justice Noncompliance with the ICCPR
Three legal experts (Eugene R. Fidell, Elizabeth L. Hillman, and Nancy Duff Campbell) and two organizations (Amnesty International and The International Commission of Jurists)…

John Bellinger’s Testimony before the PCLOB (and implications for Senate approval of the Persons with Disabilities Convention) [Updated on April 2]
My friend and former legal adviser to the State Department John Bellinger recently testified before the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board (PCLOB) on the question whether international…

The Extraterritorial Right to Privacy: An Opportunity to Impact the Debate
A codicil to our ongoing discussion of the human rights implications of foreign and mass surveillance (see prior posts by Ryan Goodman (here and here), Philip Alston, Jennifer…

UN Human Rights Committee’s Report on US Compliance with the ICCPR: National Security Highlights
The United Nations Human Rights Committee has issued its Concluding Observations (full text) assessing US compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights…

UN Human Rights Committee Says ICCPR Applies to Extraterritorial Surveillance: But is that so novel?
[Editor’s Note: John Bellinger over at Lawfare replied to the following post. And Ryan has a new post, partly in response to John.] A major development in today’s UN Human…

International Law on Mass Foreign Surveillance: A Response to Ben Wittes and Ashley Deeks
On Monday, I joined the debate between Glenn Greenwald and Ben Wittes by arguing that the issue of mass surveillance of foreign populations is regulated by international human…

The Koh Memo’s Impact on the Current US Position (A Reply, in part, to Ben Wittes)
[Editor’s Note: Just Security is holding a “mini forum” on the extraterritorial application of human rights treaties in light of the release of two State Department memos and…

Letter to the Editor from Manfred Nowak, What does extraterritorial application of human rights treaties mean in practice?
[Editor’s Note: Just Security is holding a “mini forum” on the extraterritorial application of human rights treaties in light of the release of two State Department memos and…