HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE HEARS REPORTS ON FOLLOW-UP TO CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS AND TO VIEWS

This morning the Committee heard presentations of progress reports by Committee members on the status of follow-up to the Committee’s concluding observations and on follow-up to Views. Following the presentations on action taken by States parties to implement concluding observations and Committee Views (opinions on individual complaints), the Committee adopted the reports, as orally amended during today’s discussions.

Nigel Rodley, Committee Member and the former Special Rapporteur on Follow-Up to Concluding Observations, presenting the progress report on that subject, said that responses had come from China and Hong Kong, Tunisia, Costa Rica and Barbados. As to Yemen, the follow-up process would be ended, as the next periodic report was now due. Further information was needed from Brazil, the Central African Republic, the United States, Chile, Madagascar, the Czech Republic, Sudan, Zambia, Georgia, Macedonia, Panama and Botswana. Libya and Austria had sent information, which would be considered at the Committee’s next session. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Honduras, the Republic of Korea, Ukraine would receive a further reminder for additional information.

Regarding Kosovo, experts debated how to reflect the current status of Kosovo in the follow-up progress report, taking into account precedent decisions within the United Nations system. The Committee decided to request its Secretariat to verify the UN position on the status of Kosovo and that it would reconsider the situation in a year’s time.

Barbados had sent information in March 2009 and mentioned that they would not implement certain recommendations. An Expert asked whether the fact that Barbados had considered abolishing the death penalty, as the Committee had asked, but decided not to abolish it, meant that they had complied with the Committee’s recommendations. In future, such a possibility should be taken into account in the crafting of recommendations. The Committee admitted that the complete abolition of the death penalty was not a provision of the Covenant.

Ruth Wedgwood, Committee Member and Special Rapporteur for Follow-Up to Views, presenting her report, noted that the Committee had not succeeded in meeting with the delegation of Algeria in order to discuss a case involving incommunicado detention and ill-treatment. The dialogue was also ongoing with Nepal regarding a case of disappearance and failure to investigate. In the case of Norway, following the Committee’s intervention, Norway had changed its procedure in the appellate courts. As to Greece, in a case in which the Committee had asked for compensation for torture, the State Party had responded that the complainant should exhaust legal remedies in Greece and file a lawsuit. The Committee had to decide whether such a suggestion, which completely ignored the Committee’s request for compensation, was an appropriate answer.

Turning to a case in which abortion of an anencephalic baby had been denied in Peru, Ms. Wedgwood said that Peru had been asked to establish a medical protocol for therapeutic abortions. A compensation offered by Peru had been rejected by the woman concerned because Peru did not recognize the violations of the Covenant and the compensation was not commensurate with the damage suffered. In another Peruvian case dating back to 1997 and involving ill-treatment in detention of a person suspected of terrorism, the Committee had asked for a release unless Peruvian law provided for the possibility of a fresh trial offering all the guarantees required by the Covenant. Instead, following an extraordinary appeal in 2008, the judgment had been confirmed and the sentence increased to 35 years of prison on terrorism charges.

Regarding a Russian case, in which Konstantin Babkin had been tried and punished for the same offence twice in an unfair trial, the State Party had responded that the case had been sent to the Supreme Court. However, later information showed that the Russian Supreme Court had refused to consider the case. As to a case in the Philippines, the Committee considered the dialogue ongoing regarding a case of undue delay to review conviction and sentence.

Concerning a case in Iceland in which the Committee addressed discrimination of commercial fishing quotas and had asked for compensation, the State had responded that it did not have the means to provide such remedies. Taking into account the current grave economic situation of Iceland, that could indeed pose a great problem. The Committee underlined that a part of the Committee’s requests had been fulfilled by Iceland.


When the Committee meets again at 3 p.m. on Thursday, 30 July, it is scheduled to adopt its annual report to the General Assembly.


For use of the information media; not an official record


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