NICARAGUA

Follow-up - State Reporting

Action by Treaty Bodies, Including Reports on Missions

CCPR, CCPR/C/SR.2738/Add.1 (2010)

Human Rights Committee

Ninety-ninth session

Summary record of the second part (public) of the 2738th meeting

Held at Palais Wilson, Geneva,

on Wednesday 28 July 2010, at 11:25 am

...

Follow-up to concluding observations on State reports and to Views under the Optional Protocol

Report of the Special Rapporteur for Follow-up on Concluding Observations (CCPR/C/99/2/CRP.1)

...

2. Mr. Amor, Special Rapporteur for Follow-up on Concluding Observations, said that, while he commended the excellent work of the secretariat, it was regrettable that the relevant staff did not have more time to devote to follow-up on concluding observations. At the Committee's request, he had undertaken to supply details of the contents of the letters sent to States parties concerning follow-up in which the Committee asked for further information, urged the State to implement a recommendation or, alternatively, noted that a reply was satisfactory.

...

46. Mr. Amor reported that none of the information requested from Nicaragua on its third periodic report had been received. It was recommended that a further reminder should be sent.

...

49. The Chairperson proposed that the Committee should adopt the Special Rapporteur's recommendations.

50. It was so decided.

...

CCPR, A/65/40 vol. I (2010)

...

Chapter VII: Follow-up to Concluding Observations

203. In chapter VII of its annual report for 2003,16 the Committee described the framework that it has set out for providing for more effective follow-up, subsequent to the adoption of the concluding observations in respect of States parties' reports submitted under article 40 of the Covenant. In chapter VII of its last annual report,17 an updated account of the Committee's experience in this regard over the last year was provided. The current chapter again updates the Committee's experience to 1 August 2010.

204. Over the period covered by the present annual report, Mr. Abdelfattah Amor acted as the Committee's Special Rapporteur for follow-up on concluding observations. At the Committee's ninety-seventh, ninety-eighth and ninety-ninth sessions, he presented progress reports to the Committee on intersessional developments and made recommendations which prompted the Committee to take appropriate decisions State by State.

205. For all reports of States parties examined by the Committee under article 40 of the Covenant over the last year, the Committee has identified, according to its developing practice, a limited number of priority concerns, with respect to which it seeks the State party's response, within a period of a year, on the measures taken to give effect to its recommendations. The Committee welcomes the extent and depth of cooperation under this procedure by States parties, as may be observed from the following comprehensive table.18 Over the reporting period, since 1 August 2009, 17 States parties (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Georgia, Japan, Monaco, Spain, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Sudan, Sweden, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Zambia), as well as the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), have submitted information to the Committee under the follow-up procedure. Since the follow-up procedure was instituted in March 2001, 12 States parties (Australia, Botswana, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Namibia, Nicaragua, Panama, Rwanda, San Marino and Yemen) have failed to supply follow-up information that has fallen due. The Committee reiterates that it views this procedure as a constructive mechanism by which the dialogue initiated with the examination of a report can be continued, and which serves to simplify the preparation of the next periodic report by the State party.19

206. The table below takes account of some of the Working Group's recommendations and details the experience of the Committee over the last year. Accordingly, the report does not cover those States parties with respect to which the Committee has completed its follow-up activities, including all States parties which were considered from the seventy-first session (March 2001) to the eighty-
fifth session (October 2005).

207. The Committee emphasizes that certain States parties have failed to cooperate with it in the performance of its functions under Part IV of the Covenant, thereby violating their obligations (Equatorial Guinea, Gambia).

...

Ninety-fourth session (October 2008)

State party: Nicaragua

Report considered: Third periodic (due on 11 June 1997), submitted on 20 June 2007.

Information requested:

Para. 12: Take immediate steps to put a halt to killings of women and, in particular: (a) conduct investigations and punish their attackers; (b) allow the victims of gender violence effective access to justice; (c) provide police protection for victims, and set up shelters; (d) maintain and promote opportunities for direct participation by women, both nationally and locally, in decision-taking on matters related in particular to violence against women, and ensure that women participate and are represented in civil society; (e) take steps to prevent and warn against gender violence, for example by providing training for police officers, particularly those in the police units for women (arts. 3 and 7).

Para. 13: Bring its legislation on abortion into line with the provisions of the Covenant; take steps to help women avoid unwanted pregnancies so that they do not need to resort to illegal or unsafe abortions which may endanger their lives, or seek abortions abroad; avoid penalizing medical professionals in the conduct of their professional duties (arts. 6 and 7).

Para. 17: Step up its efforts to improve conditions for all persons deprived of their liberty, complying with all the requirements of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners; tackle overcrowding as a matter of priority; supply figures to illustrate the progress made since the approval of this recommendation (art. 10).

Para. 19: Take the necessary action to put a stop to alleged instances of systematic persecution and death threats, particularly against the defenders of women's rights, and ensure that those responsible are duly punished; guarantee organizations of human rights defenders the right to freedom of expression and association in the conduct of their activities (arts. 19 and 22).

Date information due: 31 October 2009

No information received.

Action taken:

23 April 2010 A reminder was sent.

Recommended action: A further reminder should be sent.

Next report due: 29 October 2012

...

__________

16 Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-eighth Session, Supplement No. 40, vol. I (A/58/40 (vol. I)).

17 Ibid., Sixty-Fourth Session, Supplement No. 40, vol. I (A/64/40 (vol. I)).

18 The table format was altered at the ninetieth session.

19 As the next periodic report has become due with respect to the following States parties, the Committee has terminated the follow-up procedure despite deficient information or the absence of a follow-up report: Austria, Brazil, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Hong Kong (China), Mali, Namibia, Paraguay, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Suriname and Yemen.