The Committee on Human Rights opened this morning its sixty-third session by adopting its agenda and programme of work. The Committee members also heard a report on the activities of its pre-sessional working group and discussed the list of issues to be raised during its current session.
During the three-week session, the Committee, as a monitoring body, will review reports submitted by Ecuador, Israel, Italy, Algeria, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Tanzania on their compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The seven countries are among the 140 States parties to the International Covenant which was adopted in 1966 by the General Assembly. The Committee will examine the reports submitted by those States parties on their promotion and protection of civil and political rights. Representatives of these governments will introduce their country reports and respond to oral and written questions by the Committee's 18 members who serve in their personal capacity.
The Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m. to continue discussing issues to be taken up in connection with the consideration of the reports of the seven countries it will review this session. (For further information, please refer to background release no. HR/CT/98/3 of 7 July 1998).
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