What is the ICCPR?
The ICCPR is the most important international human rights treaty, providing a range of protections for civil and political rights. The ICCPR obligates countries who have signed the treaty to protect and preserve basic human rights such as the right to life and to human dignity, equality before the law, freedom of speech and association, freedom from torture and arbitrary detention, equality between men and women, fair trial and minority rights. The Covenant compels governments who ratified it to take administrative, judicial and legislative measures in order to protect the rights enshrined in the treaty. The Covenant was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1966 and went into force in 1976. As of May 2006, 156 countries have ratified the Covenant. www.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr.
