--CCPR/C/79/Add.42, para. 9 (1995); see also CCPR/C/79/Add.62, para. 11
(1996); CCPR/C/79/Add.90, para. 8 (1998).
*****
The Committee is concerned about the wide variety of possible states of
emergency listed in the Constitution. The possibility of suspending article 5 of
the Constitution during states of exception does not appear to be compatible
with the Covenant, since it suspends in general terms the right of the
individual to do what the law does not prohibit and not to be compelled to
obey illegal orders. Likewise, the Committee is concerned that the state of
exception declared in June 2001 has not been duly notified to the other States
parties through the intermediary of the Secretary-General of the United
Nations.
The State party should ensure that its constitutional provisions for emergency
situations are compatible with article 4 of the Covenant. It should also comply
with the obligation to notify the other States parties through the intermediary
of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in all cases when an emergency
situation is declared and to inform them of the provisions from which it has
derogated and of the reasons for the derogation.
--CCPR/CO/72/GTM, para. 11 (2001).
*****
[T]he Committee notes with concern that the circumstances under which a
state of emergency may be proclaimed and enforced … are excessively broad
and may be used to restrict the exercise of basic rights in an unjustifiable
manner.
--CCPR/C/79/Add.78, para. 10 (1997).
*****
[I]n its note of 28 June 1979 to the Secretary-General of the United Nations…,
the Government of Uruguay has made reference to an emergency situation in
the country which was legally acknowledged in a number of "Institutional
Acts". However, no factual details were given at that time. The note confined
itself to stating that the existence of the emergency situation was "a matter of
universal knowledge"; no attempt was made to indicate the nature and the
scope of the derogations actually resorted to with regard to the rights
guaranteed by the Covenant, or to show that such derogations were strictly
necessary. Instead, the Government of Uruguay declared that more
information would be provided in connection with the submission of the
country's report under article 40 of the Covenant…. Although the sovereign
right of a State party to declare a state of emergency is not questioned, yet, in
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