TNAG-1124-FCO40-1399-Implementation-of-the-International-Covenant-on-Economic--So-1982 — Page 36

E/1982/3/Add.16

English Page 30

V.

DEPENDENT TERRITORIES

Introduction

1.

The position in relation to each Dependent Territory covered by this report is set out in the annex to the present report. It may help the Economic and Social Council if certain preliminary remarks of a general nature are made and if the United Kingdom offers some further comment on the implementation of article 1 of the Covenant.

General

2. The various Dependent Territories whose reports are included in the present report have their own legal systems. Although in many respects those legal systems share certain common features with each other and with the legal system of the United Kingdom, on any particular matter it is necessary to look at the legislation and other rules of law applying in the Dependent Territories concerned. Because each Dependent Territory has a separate and distinct legal system and most are, in varying degrees, self-governing, it was appropriate for the reports in respect of each Dependent Territory to be prepared by the authorities in that Territory. It is for that reason that the reports may differ in the way in which they comment on the various articles of the Covenant.

It should also be borne in mind that the Territories whose reports are included vary greatly in history, size, population and economic and political potential. The preparation of the numerous reports required under various United Nations instruments places a great burden on their often limited resources.

3.

A.

In none of the Dependent Territories covered in the present report does the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights itself have the force of law. The obligation to give effect to the rights recognized in the Covenant is fulfilled in those Territories by the provision of safeguards of different kinds operating in the various legal systems concerned, independently of the Covenant but in full conformity with it.

5.

The reports contain, in respect of each Territory, short general explanations, article by article, of legal rules concerning the rights recognized in the Covenant, and citing, where appropriate, the principal legislative enactments, cases and administrative instructions in which the rules are embodied. In some respects, the authorities in the Territories have stated that the position in the Territory is as set out in the report submitted by the United Kingdom, to which reference therefore also needs to be made. However, the legal rules concerning human rights and freedoms are not comprehensively embodied in any one legislative instrument, or series of such instruments, in any of the Dependent Territories, although in some Territories the Constitution contains a group of provisions dealing with human rights and freedoms. In most cases the relevant legal rules derive both from legislation, in many fields, and from case law, and, particularly because of the nature of the latter, cannot be comprehensively enumerated. The explanations in the reports should not, therefore, be regarded as an exhaustive statement of the safeguards provided.

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