Compendium of Standards, Good Practices and Recommendations Right Legal Source Examples of Relevance Right to freedom of opinion and expression Article 19 UDHR Limitations on the permissibility of public statements by members of the armed forces. Article 19 ICCPR Article 13 CRC Article 10 ECHR Right to peaceful assembly and right to freedom of association Article 20 UDHR Article 21 ICCPR Article 8 ICESCR Participation by service personnel in public assemblies, trade unions, military associations or civil society groups; the right to strike. Article 5 ICERD Article 11 ECHR Article 15 CRC Reservations, derogations and limitations In the context of the rights of armed forces members, the extent and scope of restrictions on human rights are of particular significance. Reservations or derogations may be imposed on the exercise of certain rights by military personnel. Where no reservations or derogations are in place, then the rights in question are fully applicable, according to their respective wording, and limitations will only be permissible if they follow the requirements set out in respective human rights provisions. Reservations Some human rights treaties allow state parties to make reservations with respect to certain provisions. This means that a state may unilaterally exclude or modify the effect of certain provisions in their application to that particular state.50 For example, several OSCE participating States have entered reservations to Article 5 (liberty and security of person) and/or Article 6 of the ECHR (the right to a fair trial before an independent and impartial tribunal) with respect to their military justice systems.51 Similarly, some participating States have made reservations to provisions of the ICCPR concerning discipline in their armed forces.52 Where a state has made a valid reservation, the relevant provision of the treaty 50 See: UN, “Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties”, 23 May 1969, UN, Treaty Series, vol. 1155, p. 331, Art. 2(1)(d) and Arts. 19–23. 51 At the time of writing, this applied to Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, France, Moldova, Portugal, the Russian Federation, Slovakia, Spain and Ukraine. See: “Reservations and Declarations for Treaty No.005”, Council of Europe, https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/search-on-treaties/-/conventions/ treaty/005/declarations. 52 At the time of writing, this applied to France, Ireland and the United Kingdom. See: “Status of Treaties: 4. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights”, UN Treaty Collections, https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ ViewDetails.aspx?chapter=4&clang=_en&mtdsg_no=IV-4&src=IND. 45