II. REQUIREMENTS, LIMITATIONS AND EFFECTS OF THE CONCURRENT APPLICABILITY OF
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW AND INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW IN ARMED CONFLICT
the […] Covenant” (art. 2.1). A restrictive interpretation of this provision
considers that States cannot be held accountable for human rights violations
committed outside their territory.44 This interpretation, however, does not
properly take into consideration the Covenant’s object and purpose. In this
respect, the Human Rights Committee has stated that a State party “must
respect and ensure the rights laid down in the Covenant to anyone within
the power or effective control of that State Party, even if not situated within
the territory of the State Party.” The Committee has interpreted that rights
must be available to all individuals who are in the territory or subject to
the jurisdiction of the State. Moreover, it has indicated that the principle
of extraterritorial protection “also applies to those within the power or
effective control of the forces of a State party acting outside its territory”.45
This conclusion is supported by the International Court of Justice, which
concluded that “the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
is applicable in respect of acts done by a State in the exercise of its
jurisdiction outside its own territory.”46
The Committee against Torture has indicated that “the State party should
recognize and ensure that the Convention applies at all times, whether
in peace, war or armed conflict, in any territory under its jurisdiction”.
The Committee defined the territory under the State party’s jurisdiction in
terms of all persons under the effective control of the State’s authorities, of
whichever type, wherever located in the world.47
The International Court of Justice also held that article 2 of the Convention
on the Rights of the Child imposes obligations on States parties to each
child within their jurisdiction and observed that the Convention could be
applied extraterritorially.48 In a later case it recalled that international
See, for example, the point of view of the United States of America expressed in a
periodic report to the Human Rights Committee (CCPR/C/USA/3, annex I).
45
General comment No. 31 (2004), para. 10.
46
Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall, para. 111.
47
CAT/C/USA/CO/2, paras. 14–15.
48
Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall, para. 113.
44
43
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