Partecipazione, diritti umani e condizioni di vulnerabilità: “virtù e vizi” del diritto internazionale

The human right to participate in the governance of one’s country is a fundamental pillar of democracy itself. At the international level, this right - originally enshrined in Article 21 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights - finds its primary legal foundation in Article 25 of the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This provision, which has served as a model for numerous subsequent international and domestic legal frameworks, establishes that the right to democratic participation belongs to “every citizen” and must be guaranteed “without discrimination”. This paper first examines the evolution of the concept of “participation” within international human rights law. It then seeks to assess how this right is normatively articulated in relation to three specific categories of vulnerable persons (children, persons with disabilities, and women who are victims of discrimination and violence), and whether it is possible, also thanks to the outcomes of the interpretative activity provided by the Committees over the years, to delineate its content and the corresponding obligations for States, ultimately evaluating its effectiveness in practice.