II.  REQUIREMENTS, LIMITATIONS AND EFFECTS OF THE CONCURRENT APPLICABILITY OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW AND INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW IN ARMED CONFLICT to exclude or to modify the legal effect of certain provisions of the treaty in their application to that State” (art. 2.1 (d)). Entering reservations on international human rights or international humanitarian treaties is legal under international law insofar as they respect the provisions of article 19 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. This Convention, which to a great extent codifies existing customary law, indicates that reservations can be formulated if the treaty itself allows it or, if the treaty is silent, if the reservation is not incompatible with the purpose and object of the treaty. International law requires a series of conditions for reservations to be valid. Reservations to treaties of international humanitarian law are quite rare. However, State parties’ approach to reservations to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights has prompted the Human Rights Committee to indicate that reservations to certain provisions may not be compatible with its object and purpose. The Committee noted in its general comment No. 24 (1994) that a State may not reserve the right to engage in slavery, to torture, to subject persons to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, to arbitrarily deprive persons of their lives, to arbitrarily arrest and detain persons, to deny freedom of thought, conscience and religion, to presume a person guilty unless he or she proves his or her innocence, to execute pregnant women or children, to permit the advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred, to deny to persons of marriageable age the right to marry, or to deny to minorities the right to enjoy their own culture, profess their own religion, or use their own language.74 The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women finds it unacceptable that States reserve the commitment to pursue by all appropriate means and without delay a policy of eliminating discrimination    General comment No. 24 (1994) on issues relating to reservations made upon ratification or accession to the Covenant or the Optional Protocols thereto, or in relation to declarations under article 41 of the Covenant, para. 8. 74 53