ABSTRACT
Articles 3 to 21 of the UDHR are concerned with the recognition of the right of all peoples to the enjoyment and protection of their ‘civil and political rights’. These rights were then specified in greater detail in a legally binding treaty adopted 18 years after the UDHR in 1966, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).1 Over the years the interpretation of these rights has thrown more light on their scope and limits. The focus of this chapter is on the development of civil and political rights under the ICCPR, particularly in the jurisprudence of the Human Rights Committee (HRC), the body established to monitor and supervise the implementation of the ICCPR. This analysis will illustrate the practical evolution of civil and political rights since the adoption of the UDHR in 1948.
