92 QIL 60 (2019) 69-97 ZOOM IN exercising ‘total’, ‘full’, ‘exclusive’ control or physical power over its nationals stranded or captured in Syria. Considering the scope of application of human rights treaties other than the ECHR, in relation to the ICCPR the HRC has interpreted Article 2 as requiring States parties to ‘secure the rights under the Covenant for all persons in their territory and all persons under their control’.119 As a result − and in line with the ECtHR − the HRC has consistently affirmed the extraterritorial application of the Covenant to anyone within the power or effective control of a State Party, even if not situated within the territory of that State.120 Notably, the HRC has also recognized the extraterritorial reach of the Covenant in cases where a State party has control ‘over the facts and events giving rise to human rights violations’ in breach of its negative obligations,121 thus opening the door for a wider interpretation of the jurisdiction clause, which could, in principle, find application also in the situation of FTFs and their family members, for example in relation to the refusal to issue identity documents, birth certificates, etc.122 With regard to the CAT – assuming, as reported by several sources,123 that FTFs and their families in Syria and Iraq suffer from, or are exposed to, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or even torture 119 HRC, ‘General Comment No. 31: The Nature of the General Legal Obligation Imposed on States Parties to the Covenant’ UN Doc CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.13 (26 May 2004) 12. 120 King (n 104) 528-529. 121 M Scheinin, ‘Extraterritorial Effect of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights’, in Coosmans and Kamminga (eds) (n 118) 76. For example in Sophie Vidal Martins v Uruguay the HRC in 1982 found a violation of art 12 (freedom of movement) when Uruguay had refused to issue a passport to its citizen residing in Mexico, ‘thereby preventing her from leaving any country.’ HRC, Sophie Vidal Martins v Uruguay, UN Doc CCPR/C/15/D/57/1979 (23 March 1982) para 7-9. 122 HRC ‘General Comment 31’ (n 119) 6-7. 123 ‘UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria: Respect for the Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Must not Be Undermined for Political Expediency or Sacrificed for Security Considerations’ (9 May 2019) <www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24585&LangID= E>; Human Rights Watch, ‘World Report 2018’, (HRW New York 2019) 527-528; UNICEF ‘Protect the Rights of Children of Foreign Fighters Stranded in Syria and Iraq�� (n 37).