Ebook: U.N. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. CCPR Commentary

Manfred Nowak has studied the Human Rights Committee's work from its beginning, and has published articles on its work in various journals since the early 1980s. He is currently the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture. The first edition of his monumental CCPR Commentary was published in 1993 and is probably the most widely cited study of the Committee's work. In light of the increasing number of communications examined by the Committee and the changes in the working methods, the publication of a second edition became necessary. Nowak chose to completely revise the first edition, rather than simply adding a supplement.

The completeness of the work and its thorough analysis make it unique. On an article-by-article basis it provides insights into all the provisions of the Covenant as well as the (first) Optional Protocol,1 including their background, by describing the drafting history and giving an overview of all relevant case-law. The article-by-article structure of Nowak's book has some consequences which may not be ideal for the new student of the Committee. Because Nowak follows the Covenant's structure (the description of states' substantive obligations precedes the presentation of the enforcement mechanisms), he refers to Committee views and concluding observations from the start, without having explained what they are. Those who use the book thus need to have a basic understanding (although not expert knowledge) of the Committee, its competences and the outcome of its work. It is not the type of book that one begins to read in order to simply get a quick overview of the Covenant and the Committee. Anyone who is somewhat familiar with the Covenant and the functioning of treaty bodies, however, will greatly benefit from it.

Another implication of following the Covenant itself is the inclusion of each and every article, up to and including the final provisions, even though many will find these of significantly less interest. Articles that are closely related, such as Articles 2(1), 3 and 26 (all on the prohibition of discrimination), are dealt with in separate chapters, which leads to some cumbersome repetition of case-law. On the other hand, this structure allows each section of the book to be used in a stand-alone manner. It could have implied that relevant issues on which there is no provision in the Covenant remained unaddressed. That would, of course, be undesirable. Nowak has chosen a pragmatic solution. Important, and heavily debated, questions concerning reservations and criticisms of the Covenant are addressed in the introduction of the book, but are not the subject of separate chapters.