Individual communications

The Committee can receive and consider individual communications, also known as complaints, from or on behalf of a person or group of persons claiming to be victims of a violation of the Covenant by a State party (set out in the Optional Protocol to CESCR).

For the Committee to have the competence to receive individual complaints, the State party concerned must have recognized the Committee’s competence by ratifying the Optional Protocol. You can check this here.

Communications may be submitted by or on behalf of individuals or groups of individuals, under the jurisdiction of a State Party, claiming to be victims of a violation of any of the economic, social and cultural rights set forth in the Covenant by that State Party. Where a communication is submitted on behalf of individuals or groups of individuals, this shall be with their consent unless the author can justify acting on their behalf without such consent.

The following resources provide more information on submitting complaints:

Individual complaints form and guidance note

Guidance for individual communications received under the Optional Protocol

Guidance for third party submissions (communications on behalf of others)

General information about the complaints procedures for all treaty bodies

General information about individual complaints

Recent complaints

• Table of pending cases

Jurisprudence

• Jurisprudence database
• Jurisprudence highlights Nov 2022-March 2023

Interim measures

Article 5(1) of the Optional Protocol states that at any time after a communication is received, and before a determination on the merits has been reached, the Committee may urgently request the State party concerned to take interim measures to avoid possible irreparable damage to the victim or victims of the alleged violations.

• Guidelines on interim measures

How to submit a complaint

Complaints should be submitted using the online submission form.

Learn more: Treaty bodies communications page