Siracusa Principles

It has long been observed by the American Association
for the International Commission of Jurists (A A ICJ)
that one of the main instruments employed by governments
to repress and deny the fundamental rights and
freedoms of peoples has been the illegal and unwarranted
Declaration of Martial Law or a State of Emergency.
Very often these measures are taken under the pretext of
the existence of a “public emergency which threatens the
life of the nation” or “threats to its national security.”
The abuse of applicable provisions allowing governments
to limit and derogate from certain rights contained
in the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights has resulted in the need for a closer examination
of the conditions and grounds for permissable limitations
and derogations in order to achieve an effective implementation
of the rule of law. The United Nations
General Assembly has frequently emphasized the importance
of a uniform interpretation of limitations on rights
enunciated in the Covenant.
W ith this in mind, the A A IC J initiated a colloquium
composed of 31 distinguished experts in international
law, held at Siracusa, Italy, in the Spring of 1984. This
meeting, the first of its kind, was co-sponsored by the
International Commission of Jurists, the Urban Morgan
Institute for Human Rights, and the International Institute
of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences.
The participants examined the limitation and derogation
provisions in the Covenant, seeking to identify:
(a) their legitimate objectives;
(b) the general principles of interpretation which govern
their imposition and application; and
(c) some of the main features of the grounds for
limitation or derogation.