The ICCPR Legal Implementation Index is a framework for examining the extent to which a state’s laws and policies conform to the ICCPR, as well as the manner in which a state has implemented its ICCPR obligations in practice. ICCPR Index assessments help produce a roadmap for compliance with the ICCPR’s human rights protections.
The ICCPR Index organizes the ICCPR’s protections into several major categories of rights, to facilitate comprehensive reviews of specific human rights concerns. These categories are:
- Due process and detention protections,
- Political participation,
- Women’s rights,
- Children’s rights,
- Minority rights, and
- Alien rights.
ICCPR Index assessments may broadly address a country’s compliance with the entire ICCPR, or may target one or more specific areas of interest, drawn from the categories above.
The ICCPR Index may be applied either as a preliminary assessment of a country’s efforts to implement the ICCPR, or as a follow-up on existing programming, to assess progress and future needs. By providing a detailed analysis of the status of civil and political rights, an ICCPR Index assessment can guide governments and civil society leaders towards more effective program development and problem solving.
The ICCPR Legal Implementation Index was created as part of a larger ABA ROLI project to promote the use of the ICCPR to advance the rule of law and assess respect for fundamental rights and freedoms in the emerging democracies and transitioning states worldwide. In September 2003, the ABA Rule of Law Initiative published the Practical Guide to the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights, an easily accessible handbook for understanding the nature and scope of the rights and freedoms catalogued in the ICCPR. Legal practitioners, scholars, international organizations, and nongovernmental organizations will find the guide to be a useful tool in the day-to-day work of promoting human rights and the rule of law.