3619 Results
Quotes
Quotes based on international documents, law, and treaties- "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person."
- "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile."
- "The State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration."
- "1. Every human being has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. 2. To give effect to this right for internally displaced persons, they shall not be interned in or confined to a camp. If in exceptional circumstances such internment or confinement is absolutely necessary, it shall not last longer than required by the circumstances. 3. Internally displaced persons shall be protected from discriminatory arrest and detention as a result of their displacement. 4. In no case shall internally displaced persons be taken hostage."
- "Violence or the threat of violence, intimidation or harassment, or incitement of such acts through hate speech and aggressive political rhetoric are incompatible with democratic elections."
- "States should take the necessary measures to ensure that parties, candidates and supporters enjoy equal security, and that State authorities take the necessary steps to prevent electoral violence."
- "Just as important, the legal framework must also ensure that prospective voters are free from violence, intimidation and fear of retribution for exercising freely the right to vote, so that they may participate in an election campaign in order to seek and receive information about the electoral contestants."
- "Law enforcement agencies should behave in a neutral manner."
- "Democratic elections should be conducted by…c) accountable electoral institutions…."
- "States should take all necessary and appropriate measures to ensure the transparency of the entire electoral process including, for example, through the presence of party agents and duly accredited observers."
- "Whatever the legal basis for the establishment of an electoral body, its members should be appointed in a manner which ensures that they enjoy the confidence of both public and political parties alike. The electoral body and its members should be subject only to the Constitution and the law of the land; they should be removable only for cause; and ideally they should not be persons whose further career advancement may be dependent on their performance on the electoral body. They should be served by a secretariat accountable entirely to the electoral body. Accountability of the electoral body directly to Parliament is preferable to accountability through the executive government."
- "Although an electoral body should enjoy independence from direction or control, whether from the government or any other quarter, it is accountable to the electorate within the law, and should act accordingly."
- "Transparency in this context covers a wide range of decision-making issues by the election management team. It embraces meetings with each political party contesting an election, release of information on a timely basis on major developments in the preparatory stages of an election, affording an opportunity to political parties to object to the appointment of individual staff members and election officers and the taking of appropriate remedial action where an objection is found to be justified."
- "An electoral commission’s role lies at the heart of the concept of transparency in election organization. It is this body which often has the responsibility for the organization, superintendence and control of elections. It is thus uniquely placed to develop through its practices and procedures a culture of openness, transparency and consultation that can—and should—infuse the whole electoral process. All aspects of the electoral commission’ establishment, composition, status and functions are relevant to the matter of the transparency of the election processes."
- "The basic consideration is to cloth the administration in a high degree of functional autonomy and operational independence."
- "Principles guiding the work of electoral authorities can be summarized as…transparency at all the stages of the electoral process."
- "Principles guiding the work of electoral authorities can be summarized as…accountability before the legislature and the public."
- "The overall credibility of an electoral process is substantially dependent on all relevant groups, from government to civil society, participating in the formation and functioning of electoral structures and processes. In this respect, the value of constant consultation, communication and co-operation among the electoral administration, the political parties and the institutions of society cannot be over emphasized. In the formulation of the legislative framework of an electoral administration, this aspect should receive particular attention."
- "A national election administration, such as a central election commission or equivalent body, is usually responsible for administering an election. Occasionally, the judiciary may oversee the election process. Whichever body is constituted to administer a particular election, its work should be…transparent."
- "All electoral activities, including the decision-making process, the legal process and the organization of events, should be conducted in a wholly transparent manner."
- "Administrative mechanisms are particularly required to give effect to the general obligations to investigate allegations of violations promptly, thoroughly and effectively through independent and impartial bodies."
- "A failure by a State Party to investigate allegations of violations could in and of itself give rise to a separate breach of the Covenant. Cessation of an ongoing violation is an essential element of the right to an effective remedy."
- "However the positive obligations on States Parties to ensure Covenant rights will only be fully discharged if individuals are protected by the State, not just against violations of Covenant rights by its agents, but also against acts committed by private persons or entities that would impair the enjoyment of Covenant rights in so far as they are amenable to application between private persons or entities. There may be circumstances in which a failure to ensure Covenant rights as required by article 2 would give rise to violations by States Parties of those rights, as a result of States Parties' permitting or failing to take appropriate measures or to exercise due diligence to prevent, punish, investigate or redress the harm caused by such acts by private persons or entities."
- "The Committee attaches importance to States Parties' establishing appropriate judicial and administrative mechanisms for addressing claims of rights violations under domestic law. The Committee notes that the enjoyment of the rights recognized under the Covenant can be effectively assured by the judiciary in many different ways, including direct applicability of the Covenant, application of comparable constitutional or other provisions of law, or the interpretive effect of the Covenant in the application of national law."
- "It is the duty of each Member State to provide adequate resources to enable the judiciary to properly perform its functions."
- "States shall ensure that domestic law is consistent with international legal obligations by: ...(b) Adopting appropriate and effective judicial and administrative procedures and other appropriate measures that provide fair, effective and prompt access to justice."
- "The States party to the Convention commit themselves to: j) to ensure establishment of independent, impartial electoral bodies to organise the conduct of democratic free and fair, authentic and periodical elections in accordance with the national legislation of the country and in line with international commitments of the state."
- "Establish and strengthen independent and impartial national electoral bodies responsible for the management of elections."
- "Democratic elections should be conducted: e) by impartial…electoral institutions."
- "Strengthen and where necessary establish an appropriate electoral administration and oversight bodies, in our respective countries and provide the necessary resources and capacity to conduct elections which are free fair and credible."
- "The officials are acting independently."
- "The EMB should work transparently, efficiently and professionally and will be expected to administer the electoral process so that it is conducted fairly, impartially and in accordance with national laws and international standards for elections."
- "An independent electoral authority should be in place mandated to supervise the electoral process and to ensure that it is conducted in accordance with the established laws which are compatible with international human rights law. Whichever body is constituted or assigned to administer the elections, its work should be independent, impartial, and transparent. The administering body should be independent from political motivated manipulation."
- "The independence of the election administration body is further guaranteed by a transparent, sufficient and independent budget provided from government resources."
- "The overall credibility of an electoral process is substantially dependent on all relevant groups (including political parties, government, civil society and the media) being aware of and participating in the debate surrounding the formation of the electoral structure and processes. An informed debate in these groups should also take place regarding the functioning of the EMBs. In this respect the value of constant consultation, communication and cooperation among EMBs, the political parties and the institutions of society cannot be over-emphasized"
- "An electoral body must...act with impartiality and a maximum of transparency, consulting in a meaningful way with interested parties, before decisions are taken on important matters and being prepared to give reasons for such decisions."
- "The EMB must be impartial and competent, and it must be perceived to be both by the electoral contestants and the public."
- "Impartial election administration is critical for democratic elections. Further, impartiality in election administration must be accompanied by the appearance of fairness. Regardless of how an election administration is structured, it is important that it not only function in an impartial manner but also be perceived by the electorate as doing so."
- "Political parties must be equally represented on electoral commissions or must be able to observe the work of the impartial body. Equality may be construed strictly or on a proportional basis (see point I.2.3.b). "
- "The central election commission must be permanent in nature."
- "Where there is no longstanding tradition of administrative authorities' independence from those holding political power, independent, impartial electoral commissions must be set up at all levels, from the national level to the polling station level."
- "All EMB personnel should be provided with instructions and/or training on their role and responsibilities, including their duty to act in a fair and impartial manner."
- "The state has the responsibility to promote and facilitate the teaching of human rights and fundamental freedoms at all levels of education and to ensure that all those responsible for training lawyers, law enforcement officers, the personnel of the armed forces and public officials include appropriate elements of human rights teaching in their training programme."
- "Members of electoral commissions must receive standard training."
- "Ensure the availability of adequate logistics and resources for carrying out democratic elections."
- "The way an electoral commission is funded may…affect its independent status. Where funds are provided through any special or block vote in the Ministry responsible for electoral matters, valuable time may have to be spent negotiating the budget with that Ministry, or the Ministry of Finance, as the case may be. It is believed that the budget for an electoral commission should be voted directly by Parliament."
- "The availability of resources is an important consideration in any scheme for election administration."
- "Indeed, the lack of adequate resources to run an election could severely hamper the goal of delivering free and fair election services."
- "Government must adequately fund the EMB in order for it to deliver a credible and legitimate election."
- "Election administrators should be free from interference by government or parties, and should be provided with sufficient funds to allow them to fulfil their responsibilities."