International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Human Rights Committee
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is an international treaty adopted by the →United Nations in 1966, which sets out a broad range of first-generation human rights (civil and political rights, freedoms) within the →comprehensive system of human rights. The ICCPR is the only legally binding instrument at the universal level that includes minority rights, thus forming an integral part of the →international protection of minorities. According to Article 27, „ [i]n those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to use their own language”. The implementation of the ICCPR is monitored by the Human Rights Committee, a body of 18 independent experts. The Committee examines periodic reports submitted by States, considers individual and inter-State complaints, and adopts general comments to interpret certain provisions of the Covenant. General Comment No. 23 elaborates on the personal scope and content of the rights enshrined in Article 27.