the spirit of liberty, which now animates our hearts and gives success to our arms,
is extinct, our numbers will accelerate our ruin and render us easier victims to tyranny.”
- Samuel Adams2
Personal liberty has been always held as the most sacra sanctum right in the history of humankind.
The struggle for freedom or abolition of slavery or abolition of any kind of oppression has been the
main objective of the majority of the human race throughout the glob which has witnessed conflicts
and faced wars. All one needs is personal liberty. Life without personal liberty makes no sense or
makes life like animal existence. Perhaps, that is the reason why most of the legal systems including
India have placed right to life and personal liberty together. Such an important right has been in
question or is undervalued in few legal systems taking away or curtailing personal liberty viś a
viś right to life itself. Indian legal system too has come into conflicts when it comes to deal with
preventive detention and personal liberty. These are not only the conflicts between Art. 21 and Art. 22
of the Indian Constitution, but also the conflicting contrary to the values or principles of human rights.
Personal liberty under international law
The provisions of personal liberty under international law are not new, although they are not
produced in the documentary form, the struggle for personal liberty has originated with the origin of
the civilization itself. It was after witnessing two world wars, that the international community came
ahead with the Charter of the United Nations and later on the General Assembly of the UN adopted
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), 1948. Article 3 of the UDHR states, “Everyone
has the right to life, liberty and security of person.” This has been given a wider recognition by the
member States with the adoption of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights under Art.4.
There are various international conventions and treaties that have been adopted by the international
community especially to establish peace and harmony; peace and harmony are the two factors which
are very much necessary for enforcing the right to liberty and right to life.
