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Book contents
- A Commentary on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- A Commentary on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Table of Cases (Views of the Human Rights Committee)
- Table of Treaties (in chronological order)
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Article 1: Self-determination
- Article 2: To ‘Respect and to Ensure’ Covenant Rights
- Article 3: The Equal Right of Men and Women to the Enjoyment of Covenant Rights
- Article 4: Derogation in Times of Officially Proclaimed Public Emergency Threatening the Life of the Nation
- Article 5: Bar on Interpreting the Covenant in Abuse of Rights
- Article 6: The Right to Life
- Article 7: Torture, Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
- Article 8: Slavery, Servitude and Forced or Compulsory Labour
- Article 9: Liberty and Security
- Article 10: Treatment of Those Deprived of Their Liberty
- Article 11: Imprisonment for Inability to Fulfil a Contractual Obligation
- Article 12: Freedom of Movement of the Person
- Article 13: Procedural Safeguards in the Expulsion of Aliens
- Article 14: Fair Trial Rights
- Article 15: Retroactive Criminal Law
- Article 16: Recognition as a Person Before the Law
- Article 17: Privacy, Home, Correspondence; Honour and Reputation
- Article 18: Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion
- Article 19: Freedom of Expression
- Article 20: Propaganda for War and Hate Speech
- Article 21: Freedom of Assembly
- Article 22: Freedom of Association
- Article 23: Protection for the Family
- Article 24: Protection Required for Children
- Article 25: Right to Participate in Public Affairs, Electoral Rights and Access to Public Service
- Article 26: Equality before the Law Equal Protection of the Law
- Article 27: Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities
- Bibliography
- List of Concluding Observations (to Reporting States) by Human Rights Committee Sessions
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- Index
Article 15: Retroactive Criminal Law
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 June 2020
- A Commentary on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- A Commentary on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Table of Cases (Views of the Human Rights Committee)
- Table of Treaties (in chronological order)
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Article 1: Self-determination
- Article 2: To ‘Respect and to Ensure’ Covenant Rights
- Article 3: The Equal Right of Men and Women to the Enjoyment of Covenant Rights
- Article 4: Derogation in Times of Officially Proclaimed Public Emergency Threatening the Life of the Nation
- Article 5: Bar on Interpreting the Covenant in Abuse of Rights
- Article 6: The Right to Life
- Article 7: Torture, Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
- Article 8: Slavery, Servitude and Forced or Compulsory Labour
- Article 9: Liberty and Security
- Article 10: Treatment of Those Deprived of Their Liberty
- Article 11: Imprisonment for Inability to Fulfil a Contractual Obligation
- Article 12: Freedom of Movement of the Person
- Article 13: Procedural Safeguards in the Expulsion of Aliens
- Article 14: Fair Trial Rights
- Article 15: Retroactive Criminal Law
- Article 16: Recognition as a Person Before the Law
- Article 17: Privacy, Home, Correspondence; Honour and Reputation
- Article 18: Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion
- Article 19: Freedom of Expression
- Article 20: Propaganda for War and Hate Speech
- Article 21: Freedom of Assembly
- Article 22: Freedom of Association
- Article 23: Protection for the Family
- Article 24: Protection Required for Children
- Article 25: Right to Participate in Public Affairs, Electoral Rights and Access to Public Service
- Article 26: Equality before the Law Equal Protection of the Law
- Article 27: Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities
- Bibliography
- List of Concluding Observations (to Reporting States) by Human Rights Committee Sessions
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- Index
Summary
Article 15 prohibits the retroactive application of criminal law, both in relation to criminal conviction (Article 15(1), first sentence) and greater severity of any sentence (second sentence). It also requires a more lenient penalty to be applied if one is introduced after the offence was committed (third sentence). Article 15(2) preserves the legitimacy of the trial and punishment of crimes ‘according to the general principles of law recognized by the community of nations’, prompted by concerns that the post-Second World War prosecution of war crimes may otherwise be called into question.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- A Commentary on the International Covenant on Civil and Political RightsThe UN Human Rights Committee's Monitoring of ICCPR Rights, pp. 429 - 444Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020