3. International human rights law has laid down detailed criteria about when it is
lawful to detain people and how such people should be treated in detention. 400
A. Deprivation of the Right to Liberty
What amounts to deprivation
4. Every individual has a right to respect for their liberty and security of the
person.401 States are under an obligation to protect against arbitrary
deprivations of liberty.402
5. Deprivation of liberty is more than a mere interference with the freedom of
movement.403 Examples of deprivations of liberty include:
Control orders including curfews of up to 16 hours;404
Involuntary hospitalization;405
Confinement to a restricted area of an airport;406
Abduction and involuntary transportation from one country to
another;407
House arrest;408
Military detention;409
Detention for drug addiction and vagrancy;410
Detention of children for educational purposes.
400
See also UN Body of Principles for the Protection of all Persons under Any form of Detention or
Imprisonment, 1988; UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty; Standard
Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (1957); the Body of Principles for the Protection of All
Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment (1988); UN Standard Minimum Rules for the
Administration of Juvenile Justice (Beijing Rules); Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials
(1978); Principles of Medical Ethics relevant to the Role of Health Personnel, particularly Physicians, in
the Protection of Prisoners and Detainees against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment (1982); Guidelines on the Applicable Criteria and Standards relating to the
Detention of Asylum Seekers and Alternatives to Detention; European Prison Rules, 2006.
401 Article 9 ICCPR; Article 14 Arab Charter; Article 6 ACHPR; Article 7 ACHR; Article 5 ECHR.
402 Human Rights Committee, Communication 195/1985, W. Delgado Páez v Colombia, 12 July 1990.
403 Human Rights Committee, Communication 263/1987, González del Río v. Peru, 18 July 1988, para.
5.1; Communication No. 833/1998, Karker v. France, 30 Oct 2000, para. 8.5; Communication 456/1991,
Celepli v. Sweden, 18 July 1994, para. 6.1.
404 Human Rights Committee, Concluding observations, United Kingdom, CCPR/C/GBR/CO/6 (2008),
para. 17.
405 Human Rights Committee, Communication 754/1997, A. v. New Zealand, 3 August 1999, para. 7.2;
CAT, Concluding observations Moldova CAT/C/MDA/CO/2 (2010), para. 13.
406 Human Rights Committee, Concluding observations Belgium CCPR/CO/81/BEL (2004), para. 17.
407 Communication 52/1979, Lopez v. Uruguay, 29 July 1981.
408 Communication 1460/2006, Yklymova v. Turkmenistan, 20 July, 2009, para. 7.2-7.4; Communication
1172/2003, Madani v. Algeria, 28 March 2007, para. 8.5.
409 Communication 962/2001, Human Rights Committee, Mulezi v. Democratic Republic of the Congo,
8 July 2004, para. 5.2. Communication No. 265/1987, Vuolanne v. Finland, 7 April 1989, para. 9.4.
410 Human Rights Committee, Concluding Observations Rwanda, CCPR/C/RWA/CO/3 (2009), para.
16.
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