HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE DISCUSSES PROGRESS REPORTS ON FOLLOW-UP TO ITS CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS AND ON FOLLOW-UP TO VIEWS

The Human Rights Committee today discussed an update by the Special Rapporteur on follow-up to concluding observations and by the Special Rapporteur on follow-up to views.

According to the Committee’s procedure, the Committee selects a minimum of two and maximum of four recommendations, termed the follow-up recommendations, to be included in the follow-up procedure; these recommendations are indicated in the Committee’s concluding observations issued to a State party following their review by the Committee. When reviewing follow-up reports, the Committee assesses the replies using the scale from A for largely satisfactory reply to E for replies that indicate that the measures taken go against the Committee’s recommendations.

Marcia Kran, Committee Expert and the Special Rapporteur on follow-up to concluding observations presented the Committee’s assessment of the follow-up reports provided by Austria, South Africa, Sweden, Denmark and Kuwait. The draft text was adopted by the Committee as amended during the discussion and will be available on the web page dedicated to the follow-up procedure for concluding observations. The Committee then adopted the draft report.

During the meeting this morning, the Committee began the consideration of a report on the follow-up to views which the Committee adopts after the consideration of communications from individuals claiming a violation of their rights under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The text, presented by Photini Pazartzis, Committee Vice-Chair and the Special Rapporteur on follow-up to views, concerned 17 communications from 12 States parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The report contained evaluations of the responses received on measures taken by States parties in this context. The Committee’s assessment of the replies follow the same scoring principle described above for the concluding observations.

The cases examined this morning concerned Algeria, Australia, Cameroon, Chile, Côte d'Ivoire, Denmark, and the Czech Republic. The Committee will continue the process of adopting this report tomorrow 20 March at 3 p.m.

All the documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session’s webpage. The webcast of the Committee’s public meetings is available at UN Web TV.

The Committee will next meet in public at 10 a.m. on Wednesday 20 March to hold a half-day of general discussion in preparation for a general comment on article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on the right of peaceful assembly.



For use of the information media; not an official record

CCPR/19/8E