HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE CONSIDERS DRAFT GENERAL COMMENT ON STATES PARTIES' OBLIGATIONS UNDER COMPLAINT MECHANISM

The Human Rights Committee this morning began its second reading of a draft General Comment on State parties' obligations under the first Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, by which State parties' recognize the Committee's competence to examine individual complaints alleging that they have violated an individual's rights under the Covenant.

Ivan Shearer, Committee Expert serving as rapporteur for the draft General Comment, introduced the text of the revised draft General Comment, reviewed a number changes made to the first 18 paragraphs of the draft General Comment that had been made following the first reading of the draft at the Committee's previous session, which was held in New York from 17 March to 4 April 2008.

Reviewing the document on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis, Experts today commented and agreed on changes to the revised draft General Comment, including paragraphs on the amount of time States parties had to respond to the Committee where a violation had been found; the legal quality and consistency of the Committee's Views in cases where a violation had been found; and follow-up procedures.

In general observations on the revised draft General Comment, Committee Experts stressed the need for State parties' acceptance of the Committees observations on individual communications received. In that context, there was a debate on the quasi-judicial nature of the procedure, and the obligations that were incumbent upon States as a result of becoming parties to the Optional Protocol. In particular, the need to ensure that States were under an obligation not to interfere with individuals who wished to submit an individual communication to the Committee was highlighted. Another issue was what the burden of proof would be for the State party.

The Committee publishes its interpretation of the content of human rights provisions, known as General Comments, on thematic issues or its methods of work. To date, it has issued 32 General Comments. The general comments of all human rights treaty bodies are compiled annually, and those for 2007 can be found in the document HRI/GEN/1/Rev.8/Add.1.

When the Committee reconvenes in public, on Friday, 18 July at 3 p.m., it is scheduled to continue its second reading of the draft General Comment on State Parties' obligations under the first Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.


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