HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE DISCUSSES FOLLOW-UP TO VIEWS AND CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS

Human Rights Committee
26 July 2007

The Human Rights Committee this afternoon discussed progress reports presented by its Rapporteurs for Follow-up to Concluding Observations and for Follow-up to Views.

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, and the responses of States parties thereto. The report compiled information received during the eighty-ninth and ninetieth sessions of the Committee, from March to July 2007, on complaints made by individuals against the following countries: Algeria; Australia; Canada; Colombia; the Czech Republic; Guyana; Peru; the Republic of Korea; and Sweden. The report before the Committee also contained the recommendations of the Working Group on Follow-Up to Views regarding each of those cases, which the Committee would take action on at its next session.

Rafael Rivas Posada, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for Follow-up to Concluding Observations, introduced the progress report on follow-up to concluding observations, detailing activities undertaken at the Committee’s eighty-eighth, eighty-ninth and ninetieth sessions. He proposed that the Committee should improve its work in this area and that it should develop criteria to assess and analyse the responses of State parties in a qualitative rather than just qualitative manner.

Mr. Rivas Posada noted that six States had responded to requests for further information: Syria; Israel; Greece; Slovenia; Canada and Italy. Hong Kong’s answers had also been received this year but they had not been analysed yet. Several countries had not given any answers to the Committee’s questions to date, including Gambia; Mali; Sri Lanka; Surinam; Namibia; Yemen; Brazil; Paraguay; and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Also, Equatorial Guinea had still not sent its initial report. The Republic of Moldavia had informed the Committee that they would send their answer soon. The deadline for the Central African Republic’s answers had expired three days ago, and the Rapporteur proposed to wait a few days before making any recommendations. Partial answers had also been received from Togo and partial but unsatisfactory answers from Uzbekistan. Also there was still no information on part of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). Finally, it was pointed out that the responses of the United States of America, Bosnia Herzegovina, Honduras, the Republic of Korea, Ukraine, Barbados, Chile and Madagascar were not due until next week, and thus all of those States parties were still within their deadlines.

Also this afternoon, the Committee paid tribute to Sir Vincent Evans, a former Committee Member, who passed away a few weeks ago. Sir Vincent Evans had been one of the founding members of the Committee, serving for two terms before moving to the European Court of Human Rights.

At the end of the session, the Committee adopted its Annual Report to the General Assembly.

When the Committee reconvenes tomorrow morning, Friday, 27 July, at 10 a.m., it is scheduled to adopt its concluding observations on the reports it considered at its present session before closing its ninetieth session.
__________

For use of the information media; not an official record