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HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE ADOPTS REPORT ON FOLLOW-UP TO CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS AND DISCUSSES REPORT ON FOLLOW-UP TO VIEWS
23 July 2008
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Human Rights Committee
23 July 2008
The Human Rights Committee this morning discussed and adopted the progress report of the Special Rapporteur for Follow-up to Concluding Observations, and discussed the report of the Special Rapporteur for Follow-up to Views.
Nigel Rodley, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for Follow-up to Concluding Observations, introduced the progress report on follow-up to concluding observations (CCPR/C/93/R.1), detailing activities undertaken at the Committee’s ninety-third session. He said that State parties’ would have until March 2009 to submit pending responses to be considered when the Committee was scheduled to meet in New York that month.
Mr. Rodley noted that no information had been received from Gambia and Equatorial Guinea still had not submitted its initial report following a series of reminders sent and thus the Committee should declare those State parties in breach of their commitment to the Committee under the Covenant’s provisions. Several countries had given partial answers to the Committee’s questions to date, including Gambia, Mali, Namibia, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Chile, Barbados and Madagascar, to which further reminders would be sent. Sri Lanka and Paraguay had sent partial replies. The Rapporteur had spoken with representatives from Paraguay, Hong Kong (China) and the United States, who had said they would send their replies shortly. Despite the Rapporteurs discussion with a representative of Kosovo (Serbia) there was still no information on the part of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). Consultations should be considered during the ninety-fourth session of the Committee with representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Honduras. The Republic of Korea would submit replies on outstanding issues in the fourth periodic report and Ukraine will be considered at the ninety-fourth session of the Committee. Finally, it was pointed out that the responses of Grenada, Czech Republic, Sudan, Zambia, Georgia, Libya, Austria, Algeria, Costa Rica, Tunisia, Botswana, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Panama were not due, and thus all of those States parties were still within their deadlines.
In the following discussion, Experts commented, among other things, that a lot of information had not been received from States parties or that the replies received were not acceptable; this was disappointing, and could be construed as a failure of the follow-up procedure.
Subsequently, the Committee adopted the report, as orally amended.
Ivan Shearer, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for Follow-up to Views, introduced the progress report on the status of the Committee’s Views on individual communications (CCPR/C/93/R.5), and the responses of States parties thereto. The report compiled information received up to and including the ninety-second session from 17 March to 4 April 2008 on complaints made by individuals against the following countries: Australia; Canada; Belarus; Iceland; Jamaica; Serbia; Sri Lanka; Tajikistan; and Zambia. The causes of complaint were detailed in each case and ranged across the whole gamut of protected rights under the Convenant, from allegations of torture to complaints of discrimination in legislation regulating fishing licences. The report before the Committee also contained the recommendations of the Working Group on Follow-Up to Views regarding each of those cases.
In the following discussion, among other things, it was suggested by a Committee Expert that in a case where a State party had reviewed a particular situation and was not able to award financial compensation, the Committee could consider requesting that compensation be symbolic rather than financial in nature. Further, it was worrying that the remedies posed by the Committee were not always the wisest ones, for example in a case in which the Committee had merely requested that a country review its legislation and not that it make any specific changes.
The Committee is scheduled to reconvene this afternoon at 3 p.m., where it will conclude its discussion on the report on the status of the Committee’s Views on individual communications and adopt its annual report to the General Assembly.
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For use of the information media; not an official record
23 July 2008
The Human Rights Committee this morning discussed and adopted the progress report of the Special Rapporteur for Follow-up to Concluding Observations, and discussed the report of the Special Rapporteur for Follow-up to Views.
Nigel Rodley, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for Follow-up to Concluding Observations, introduced the progress report on follow-up to concluding observations (CCPR/C/93/R.1), detailing activities undertaken at the Committee’s ninety-third session. He said that State parties’ would have until March 2009 to submit pending responses to be considered when the Committee was scheduled to meet in New York that month.
Mr. Rodley noted that no information had been received from Gambia and Equatorial Guinea still had not submitted its initial report following a series of reminders sent and thus the Committee should declare those State parties in breach of their commitment to the Committee under the Covenant’s provisions. Several countries had given partial answers to the Committee’s questions to date, including Gambia, Mali, Namibia, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Chile, Barbados and Madagascar, to which further reminders would be sent. Sri Lanka and Paraguay had sent partial replies. The Rapporteur had spoken with representatives from Paraguay, Hong Kong (China) and the United States, who had said they would send their replies shortly. Despite the Rapporteurs discussion with a representative of Kosovo (Serbia) there was still no information on the part of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). Consultations should be considered during the ninety-fourth session of the Committee with representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Honduras. The Republic of Korea would submit replies on outstanding issues in the fourth periodic report and Ukraine will be considered at the ninety-fourth session of the Committee. Finally, it was pointed out that the responses of Grenada, Czech Republic, Sudan, Zambia, Georgia, Libya, Austria, Algeria, Costa Rica, Tunisia, Botswana, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Panama were not due, and thus all of those States parties were still within their deadlines.
In the following discussion, Experts commented, among other things, that a lot of information had not been received from States parties or that the replies received were not acceptable; this was disappointing, and could be construed as a failure of the follow-up procedure.
Subsequently, the Committee adopted the report, as orally amended.
Ivan Shearer, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for Follow-up to Views, introduced the progress report on the status of the Committee’s Views on individual communications (CCPR/C/93/R.5), and the responses of States parties thereto. The report compiled information received up to and including the ninety-second session from 17 March to 4 April 2008 on complaints made by individuals against the following countries: Australia; Canada; Belarus; Iceland; Jamaica; Serbia; Sri Lanka; Tajikistan; and Zambia. The causes of complaint were detailed in each case and ranged across the whole gamut of protected rights under the Convenant, from allegations of torture to complaints of discrimination in legislation regulating fishing licences. The report before the Committee also contained the recommendations of the Working Group on Follow-Up to Views regarding each of those cases.
In the following discussion, among other things, it was suggested by a Committee Expert that in a case where a State party had reviewed a particular situation and was not able to award financial compensation, the Committee could consider requesting that compensation be symbolic rather than financial in nature. Further, it was worrying that the remedies posed by the Committee were not always the wisest ones, for example in a case in which the Committee had merely requested that a country review its legislation and not that it make any specific changes.
The Committee is scheduled to reconvene this afternoon at 3 p.m., where it will conclude its discussion on the report on the status of the Committee’s Views on individual communications and adopt its annual report to the General Assembly.
________
For use of the information media; not an official record
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