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The United Nations Human Rights Treaties

How To Complain About Human Rights Treaty Violations

Follow-up

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  1. The Human Rights Committee
  2. Committee Against Torture
  3. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
  4. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
  5. Conclusion

1. The Human Rights Committee

The Human Rights Committee is the only Committee that formally follows-up on cases where there has been a violation of a treaty right. CEDAW is expected to do so in the future in light of specific provisions in the CEDAW Optional Protocol relating to follow-up. The Human Rights Committee will keep track of whether or not a state has followed through on the Views of the Committee, and whether or not an appropriate remedy has been given to the victim. None of the Committees can force the state to provide a remedy to the victim, but the practice of follow up may serve to put some pressure on the state party to comply with the Committee's decision.

For the purpose of Follow-up, the Committee appointed one of its members to serve as a Special Rapporteur on Follow-up to Individual Communications. The purpose was to ensure that the Human Rights Committee properly focussed on the issue of follow-up, particularly in light of the poor record of compliance with the Committee's Views.

After the Committee has made a finding on the merits of a violation of a provision of the Covenant, it asks the state party to take appropriate steps to remedy the violation. The recommended remedy may be more or less specific. But in recommending a remedy, the Committee routinely indicates to states parties:

Bearing in mind that, by becoming a party to the Optional Protocol, the State party has recognized the competence of the Committee to determine whether there has been a violation of the Covenant or not and that, pursuant to article 2 of the Covenant, the State party has undertaken to ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the Covenant and to provide an effective and enforceable remedy in case a violation has been established, the Committee wishes to receive from the State party, within 90 days, information about the measures taken to give effect to the Committee's Views.

In other words, Article 2 of the Covenant legally binds ratifying states to provide an effective remedy for those whose Covenant rights have been violated, and for over two decades the Committee has exercised its competence and responsibility under the Optional Protocol to determine whether there has been a violation. Therefore, although the Optional Protocol refers to the Committee's decisions as "Views", refusal to implement those Views is clearly incompatible with the spirit and purpose of the Protocol.

To date, the Committee has performed the task of follow-up with minimal transparency and effort. In theory, the Committee's rules of procedure specifically require that information furnished by the parties within the framework of follow-up, and decisions of the Committee relating to follow-up activities, are "not subject to confidentiality" (unless the Committee takes a special decision to the contrary). (Rule 97) The practice is quite different. Authors of cases in which the Committee has found a violation of the Covenant therefore need to press the Committee to undertake greater follow-up efforts, including:

  • conduct a follow-up meeting between the Special Rapporteur on Follow-up and the state's representative as soon as possible after the expiry of the 90-day period
  • make the content of that meeting and the state's response available to the author and to the public without delay, and include that information in the Committee's annual report
  • if a satisfactory remedy is not provided after the follow-up meeting, invite the state party to send a representative to discuss follow-up in an open session with the Committee
  • if a satisfactory remedy is not provided after such an open meeting, request a follow-up mission or visit by a Committee representative to the state party.

2. Committee Against Torture

The Committee has recently adopted a follow-up mechanism, which provides for the designation of one of its members as Rapporteur for Follow-up. The Rapporteur is expected to monitor the responses of states parties to the Committee's request for information on the remedy provided, and to meet with representatives of selected states parties that have not responded positively to the Committee's request. They are also enabled to make visits to states parties in the course of follow-up activities. (Rule 115)

3. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

CERD does not have a follow-up procedure on individual communications revealing a violation of the Convention. The Committee includes in its annual report to the General Assembly the text of its final Views.

4. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women

The CEDAW Optional Protocol specifically refers to follow-up (Article 7).

Within six months of the Committee issuing its Views and recommendations, the state party will be directed to submit to the Committee a written response, including information on any action taken. The Committee may invite the state party to submit further information about measures taken, and may request that information be included in subsequent state reports.

Under its Rules of Procedure, the Committee is to designate a rapporteur or working group on follow-up, who will ascertain the measures taken by states parties to give effect to the Committee's Views and recommendations. The Committee is also to include information on follow-up in its annual reports to the General Assembly.

In the absence of decided cases to date, CEDAW has yet to develop specific follow-up practices.

5. Conclusion

An individual complaint to a treaty body provides a person who believes his or her rights have been violated with an opportunity to receive a determination from an international expert body that supports the claim of a violation and an entitlement to a remedy. Treaty body Views are generally not enforceable in domestic courts of states parties. The treaty bodies themselves, and the political organs of the UN such as the General Assembly or the Commission on Human Rights, engage in little or no follow-up of these Views. Nevertheless, a decision of an international expert body that an individual's human rights, and a particular state's obligations to protect those rights, have been violated can be a powerful tool for applying pressure for redress.