غير أنه طالما كانت هذه التدابير تستهدف تصحيح الظروف التي تحول دون التمتع بالحقوق المكفولة بموجب المادة 27 أو التي تنتقص منه، فإنها يجوز أن تشكل تفريقا مشروعا في إطار العهد، شريطة أن تكون مستندة إلى معايير معقولة وموضوعية.
Accordingly, a State may not reserve the right to engage in slavery, to torture, to subject persons to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, to arbitrarily deprive persons of their lives, to arbitrarily arrest and detain persons, to deny freedom of thought, conscience and religion, to presume a person guilty unless he proves his innocence, to execute pregnant women or children, to permit the advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred, to deny to persons of marriageable age the right to marry, or to deny to minorities the right to enjoy their own culture, profess their own religion, or use their own language. And while reservations to particular clauses of article 14 may be acceptable, a general reservation to the right to a fair trial would not be.