UN Human Rights Committee Issues Commentary on Liberty and Security of Person (October 30, 2014) [1]
On October 30, 2014, the United Nations Human Rights Committee issued an authoritative commentary [3] in regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), entitled, “General Comment No.35 – Article 9: Liberty and security of person.” According to a press release [4], the General Comment discusses states’ obligations relating to Article 9 of the ICCPR and covers a range of issues, “including the definition of arbitrary detention and the procedural safeguards necessary for avoiding unlawful and arbitrary detention, such as the 48-hour standard for promptly bringing a criminal suspect before a judge.” It also discusses “the highly controversial issue of people being detained without criminal charge under security legislation in exceptional situations such as armed conflict. It emphasizes that such detention poses a severe risk of a person being arbitrarily deprived of their liberty. The General Comment describes safeguards that must be provided for security detention to be acceptable under Article 9.”