HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE ADOPTS ITS ANNUAL REPORT

Human Rights Committee
72nd session
25 July 2001
Morning




The Human Rights Committee this morning adopted its annual report on its activities in monitoring the implementation by States parties of the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The report contains six chapters and thirteen annexes and it will be submitted to the General Assembly for its consideration.

The annual report covers the period of 1 August 2000 to 31 July 2001 and the seventieth, seventy-first and seventy-second sessions of the Committee. During this period, the Committee considered 14 initial and periodic reports and adopted concluding observations on them. In addition, it examined a number of communications which it received from individuals who claimed that any of their rights under the International Covenant had been violated by a State party. The individuals have to exhaust all available domestic remedies before submitting written communications to the Committee for consideration under the Optional Protocol. No communication can be considered unless it concerns a State party to the Covenant that has recognized the competence of the Committee by becoming a party to the Protocol.

According to the report, of the 148 States that have ratified, acceded or succeeded to the Covenant, 98 have accepted the Committee's competence to deal with individual complaints by becoming parties to the Optional Protocol. In addition, under article 12 (2) of the Optional Protocol, the Committee was still considering communications from two States parties -- Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago -- that had denounced the Optional Protocol, such communications having been registered before denunciation had taken effect.

With regard to the General Comment on article 4 of the Covenant, which the Committee adopted on 24 July 2001, the report recalled that article 4, paragraph 1 of the Covenant stipulated that in times of public emergency, States parties might take measures derogating from some of their obligations under the Covenant. Pursuant to paragraph 2, no derogation was allowed from articles 6, 7, 8, 11, 15, 16 and 18, which were related to fundamental freedoms and non-derogable rights. In addition, pursuant to paragraph 3, any derogation should be immediately notified to the Secretary-General, who in turn should immediately inform the other States parties; and a further notification was required upon the termination of the derogation.

The General Comment on derogations from the provisions of the Covenant, said, among other things, that the safeguards related to derogation, as embodied in article 4 of the Covenant, were based on the principles of legality and the rule of law, inherent to the Covenant as a whole. As certain elements on the right to a fair trial were explicitly guaranteed under international humanitarian law during armed conflict, the Committee found no justification for derogation from those guarantees during possible other emergency situations. The Committee was of the opinion that those principles and the provision of effective remedies required that fundamental principles of fair trial should be respected during a state of emergency.

The Committee has so far adopted 29 General Comments; the aim of the General Comments is to make the experience gained by the Committee so far through the examination of those reports available for the benefit of all States parties in order to assist and promote their further implementation of the Covenant; to draw the attention of the States parties to insufficiencies disclosed by a large number of reports; to suggest improvements in the reporting procedures and to stimulate the activities of the States parties, the international organizations and the specialized agencies concerned in achieving progressively and effectively the full realization of the rights recognized in the Covenant.

When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will continue its examination of communications in private. At 10 a.m. on Friday, it is expected to meet in public to deal with remaining business before concluding its three-week session.




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