E/CN.4/2006/120 page 7 13. Derogations are exceptional and temporary measures: “The Covenant requires that even during an armed conflict measures derogating from the Covenant are allowed only if and to the extent that the situation constitutes a threat to the life of the Nation.”12 Derogation measures must be lifted as soon as the public emergency or armed conflict ceases to exist. Most importantly, derogation measures must be “strictly required” by the emergency situation. This requirement of proportionality implies that derogations cannot be justified when the same aim could be achieved through less intrusive means.13 Following the events of 11 September 2001, the United States has not notified any official derogation from ICCPR, as requested under article 4 (3) of the Covenant, or from any other international human rights treaty. 14. Not all rights can be derogated from, even during a public emergency or armed conflict threatening the life of a nation. Article 4 (2) of ICCPR stipulates which rights cannot be subject to derogation. These include the right to life (art. 6), the prohibition of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (art. 7), the recognition of everyone as a person before the law (art. 16), and freedom of thought, conscience and religion (art. 18). Although article 9 of the Covenant, enshrining the right to liberty and its corresponding procedural safeguards, and article 14, providing for the right to a fair trial, are not among the non-derogable rights enumerated in article 4, the Human Rights Committee has indicated in its general comment No. 29 (2001) that “procedural safeguards may never be made subject to measures that would circumvent the protection of non-derogable rights”. Thus, the main elements of articles 9 and 14, such as habeas corpus, the presumption of innocence and minimum fair trial rights, must be fully respected even during states of emergency.14 E. The complementarity of international humanitarian law and human rights law 15. The application of international humanitarian law and of international human rights law are not mutually exclusive, but are complementary. As stated by the Human Rights Committee in general comment No. 31 (2004): “the Covenant applies also in situations of armed conflict to which the rules of international humanitarian law are applicable. While in respect of certain Covenant rights, more specific rules of international humanitarian law may be especially relevant for the purpose of the interpretation of the Covenant rights, both spheres of law are complementary, not mutually exclusive”. 16. In its advisory opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, ICJ clearly affirmed the applicability of ICCPR during armed conflicts. The Court stated that “the right not arbitrarily to be deprived of one’s life applies also in hostilities. The test of what constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of life, however, then must be determined by the applicable lex specialis, namely, the law applicable in armed conflict”.15 The Court confirmed its view in its advisory opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories: “the protection offered by human rights conventions does not cease in case of armed conflict, save through the effect of provisions for derogation of the kind to be found in article 4 of the [ICCPR]”.16