Unit 2 of Human Rights Law (syllabus: Module II — the ICCPR and its First and Second Optional Protocols; the ICESCR; the role of the ILO, UNESCO, UNICEF and the WHO; the Sustainable Development Goals, the right to environment, and the role of NGOs). Below: what the unit covers, the provisions it turns on, and the cases an examiner expects you to name.
What this unit covers
- What obligation does Article 2(1) of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights impose?
- When may a State derogate under the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and what may it never derogate from?
- What is the Human Rights Committee and what are the three ways it learns of a violation?
- What does progressive realisation mean under Article 2(1) of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights?
- How is the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights supervised, and why is that unusual?
- What are the peremptory prohibitions, and which instrument governs each?
- What place do non-governmental organisations have in the United Nations human rights system?
Treat that list as a self-test: recite each topic's rule from memory before you open its cases.
Provisions
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966, s. Art. 2
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966, s. Art. 4
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966, s. Arts. 28, 40 and 41; First Optional Protocol Arts. 1 to 4
- International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966, s. Art. 2
- International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966, s. Arts. 16, 17 and 18
- Charter of the United Nations 1945; Genocide Convention 1948; Convention against Torture 1984, s. Charter Art. 2(4); Genocide Convention Arts. 2 and 3; CAT
- Charter of the United Nations 1945, s. Art. 71
Leading cases
- Jolly George Varghese v Bank of Cochin
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- Unni Krishnan J.P. v State of Andhra Pradesh
- International Covenant on Economic
- The Genocide Convention 1948
- Charter of the United Nations
Full case summaries
- Jolly George Varghese v Bank of Cochin (1980)
- M.C. Mehta v State of Tamil Nadu (1996)
- Vishaka v State of Rajasthan (1997)