44 INTERNATIONAL LEGAL PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN ARMED CONFLICT human rights instruments are applicable in respect of acts done by a State in the exercise of its jurisdiction outside its own territory.49 While the Human Rights Committee and the Committee against Torture have focused on persons under the jurisdiction and effective control of the State, irrespective of their location, the International Court of Justice has found that, for economic, social and cultural rights, there is a stronger link to the territory of the State. It indicated that while the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights contains no provision on its scope of application, “[t]his may be explicable by the fact that this Covenant guarantees rights which are essentially territorial. However, it is not to be excluded that it applies both to territories over which a State party has sovereignty and to those over which that State exercises territorial jurisdiction.” In other words, the Court considers that the Covenant could be applied outside the territory of the State as long as that State has effective control—it exercises jurisdiction—over the foreign territory. That is the case in situations of occupation, in which the occupying State exercises effective control over the occupied territory. The Court examined the analysis by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the applicability of the Covenant to the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It noted that the Committee had “reiterated its concern about Israel’s position and reaffirmed ‘its view that the State party’s obligations under the Covenant apply to all territories and populations under its effective control’.” The Court observed “that the territories occupied by Israel have for over 37 years been subject to its territorial jurisdiction as the occupying Power. In the exercise of the powers available to it on this basis, Israel is bound by the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.”50 While the territorial element is one of the criteria to delimit the scope of human rights obligations, many of these obligations also refer to persons under the jurisdiction of a State. This criterion covers persons who are still in the power of a State, irrespective of whether they are physically   49  50 Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo, para. 216. Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall, para. 112.