2 The right to liberty and security A person’s right to liberty and security, including the prohibition of arbitrary detention, is a fundamental right enshrined at all three levels of the multi-layered regulatory scheme in the area of human rights law: that of the UN, the Council of Europe and the EU. This right also extends to non-nationals, regardless of their residence status. The UDHR and the conventions listed in Table 3 are complemented by non-binding soft law documents, such as declarations, guidelines, general comments by UN treaty bodies or principles. They help to understand the content of the legal obligations under the different human rights law instruments and are therefore used recurrently in this report. Legal norms and principles enshrined in various Council of Europe and UN instruments to which all EU Member States are party are binding under international law, regardless of whether or not they are mirrored in EU legislation. Table 3 provides an overview of the relevant provisions of the core instruments from the three regulatory regimes. The right to liberty and security is not absolute and may therefore be restricted. However, in line with Article 18 of the ECHR, any restriction on the right to liberty must be strictly construed. Any restriction must respect the strict safeguards established by international, European and domestic law. This chapter first presents the safeguards applicable to all persons, and then those specific Table 3: Legal provisions relating to the right to liberty and security, and prohibition of arbitrary detention EU (primary law) Right to liberty and security EU Charter (Article 6) Council of Europe ECHR (Article 5 (1), first sentence) UN UDHR (Article 3) ICCPR (Article 9, first limb) CRPD (Article 14) UDHR (Article 9) Prohibition of arbitrary detention ECHR (Article 5 (1), second sentence) ICCPR (Article 9, second limb) Fourth Protocol to ECHR (Article 1) ICRMW (Article 16 (4)) CRC (Article 37 (b)) 1951 Geneva Convention (Article 31 – implicit) Notes: CRC = Convention on the Rights of the Child, 20 November 1989 CRPD = Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 13 December 2006 ICCPR = International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 16 December 1966 ICRMW = International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, 18 December 1990 UDHR = Universal Declaration of Human Rights, General Assembly Resolution 217 A(III) of 10 December 1948 Source: FRA, 2017 (based on human rights law instruments) 25