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Arab Manual for Human Rights

UN Conferences on Human Rights

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    - Human Rights Committee (HRC)
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    - Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
    - Committee against Torture (CAT)
    - Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
    - Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW)

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Human Rights Committee (HRC)

The Committee on Human Rights oversees the extent to which states that are party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its first supplementary optional protocol fulfill their obligations with regard to individuals filing their complaint, and the second supplementary protocol which aims at abolishing the death sentence.

According to the Covenant, member states have to submit reports on measures taken and progress achieved with regard to various rights recognized by the Covenant, and on any factors or difficulties affecting the implementation of the Covenant. The first report must be submitted within one year of the date it takes effect for each state. States also have to submit additional reports whenever the Committee requests. The Committee is entitled to receive and examine statements of complaint by one member state against another member state claiming that the accused state does not fulfill its obligations under the Covenant. This is possible only if both member states have already declared their recognition of the Committee's right to receive and examine such statements.

Concerning the first optional protocol, the Committee is authorized to receive and examine statements or ordinances by individuals under the jurisdiction of any state who is a party to the protocol, who claim that their rights stipulated in the Covenant were violated. Such individuals who exhaust all local means of fair treatment are able to send written statements to the Committee for consideration. The Committee cannot examine any ordinance against a state who is not a party to the protocol. Received ordinances are examined in closed meetings. All documents received by the Committee and its deliberations remain confidential, unless the Committee decides otherwise. However, the person who presented the ordinance and the state in question may disclose any data and information pertinent to the deliberations, unless the Committee asks them to respect the confidentiality of such information. The final resolutions and decisions of the Committee with regard to ordinance (opinions, decisions of rejecting on ordinance, and decisions to free examining an ordinance) are publicly declared and the names of persons who filed the ordinances are released, unless the Committee decides otherwise.

In the case of the second optional protocol, member state are obliged under article 3 of the protocol to include in their reports to the Committee information on measures taken to implement its provisions. According to articles 4 and 5 of the protocol the jurisdiction of the Committee is expanded to receiving and examining statements whenever a member state claims that another member state does not live up to its obligations. In that case the Committee's jurisdiction covers the provisions of the second protocol, unless the state in question issues a statement to the contrary upon ratifying the protocol or upon joining it. It is mandatory that both states in question should have recognized the Committee's right to receive complaints by member states against each other in accordance with article 41 of the Covenant. This is so, although as far as member states in the two optional protocols are concerned, the Committee's jurisdiction to receive letters and ordinances sent by individuals extends to include the provisions of the second protocol with regard to member states unless the state in question issues a statement to the contrary upon ratifying or signing the protocol.

The Committee on Human Rights is composed of 18 independent experts "who possess high moral standards and who are well known for their expertise in the field of human rights". These experts join the Committee by virtue of their personal capacity. They are elected by states who are party to the Covenant by secret ballot, while taking into consideration the representation of different cultures and major legal systems.

The Committee meets in three sessions every year, and the duration of each session is three weeks. Its meetings are usually held at the United Nations headquarters in New York in March and at the UN office in Geneva in July and November. The Committee's annual report submitted to the UN General Assembly covers all its activities, including its remarks on reports submitted by member states, and its decisions or resolutions with regard to complaints filed by individuals.

The Committee began making general comments in 1981 on selected materials and issues related to the Covenant. After gaining experience through reviewing reports of member states, the Committee sought to make that experience available to all concerned parties by publishing its general comments. The Committee also sought to enhance the implementation of the Covenant more effectively by attracting the attention of member states to deficiencies or malfunctions uncovered by large numbers of reports. It also issued suggestions on how to improve the process of writing reports, explained the Covenant's requirements, and supported the efforts of member states and international organizations in enhancing and protecting human rights. The Committee's general commentaries could benefit countries that are not parties to the Covenant, and contribute to strengthening cooperation among countries, enhancing and protecting human rights worldwide.

The Committee carefully follows the activities or work of supervisory bodies established pursuant to agreements on human rights. In order to facilitate the task of states who are parties to several human rights treaties, the Committee avoids causing any conflict with the work of other bodies dealing with human rights. The Committee seeks to harmonize its own work with those other bodies as much as possible. The Committee pays great attention to the annual meeting of the heads of those bodies, and to any judgments, commentaries and general recommendations issued by those bodies. Moreover, the Committee effectively participates in various United Nations activities related to human rights. It also exhibits special interest in the initiative arising from the memorandum of understanding signed by the United Nations Committee on Human Rights and the United Nations Development Program pertaining to a large number of issues and activities in the area of human rights, including the improvement and development of quantitative and qualitative criteria for assessing the extent of adherence or compliance of member states to the provisions of human rights agreements and treaties, as well as assessing the ability of member states to practice good management.