United Nations Human Rights Committee

The United Nations Human Rights Committee is a treaty body composed of 18 experts, established by a 1966 human rights treaty, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Committee meets for three four-week sessions per year to consider the periodic reports submitted by the 173 States parties to the ICCPR on their compliance with the treaty, and any individual petitions concerning the 116 States parties to the ICCPR's First Optional Protocol. The Committee is one of ten UN human rights treaty bodies, each responsible for overseeing the implementation of a particular treaty.
The UN Human Rights Committee should not be confused with the more high-profile UN Human Rights Council, or the predecessor of the HRC, the UN Commission on Human Rights. Whereas the Human Rights Council and the Commission on Human Rights are UN political bodies: composed of states, established by a UN General Assembly resolution and the UN Charter, and discussing the entire range of human rights concerns; the Human Rights Committee is a UN expert body: composed of persons, established by the ICCPR, and discussing matters pertaining only to that treaty. The Human Rights Committee is often referred to as CCPR in order to avoid that confusion.

Members

The ICCPR states the basic rules for the membership of the Human Rights Committee. Article 28 of the ICCPR states that the Committee is composed of 18 members from states parties to the ICCPR, "who shall be persons of high moral character and recognized competence in the field of human rights", with consideration "to the usefulness of the participation of some persons having legal experience." Also according to Article 28, the members serve in their individual capacity, rather than as representatives of their countries. As stated in Articles 29 and 30 of the ICCPR, they are elected by a meeting of the states parties to the ICCPR held at UN Headquarters. Based on Article 32, they serve four-year terms, with one-half of their number elected every second year.
The current membership is as follows:

Name

State

Term

Year First Joined

Tania María Abdo Rocholl

Paraguay

Recent elections

On June 17, 2022, the States parties to the ICCPR met in New York and elected nine members of the Committee, to replace those whose terms would expire at the end of 2022. There were seventeen candidates for the nine positions, including one whose nomination was late. Those elected were Yvonne Donders, Hélène Tigroudja*, Bacre Waly Ndiaye, Tijana Šurlan, Koji Teraya, Farid Ahmadov, Laurence R. Helfer, Rodrigo A. Carazo, and Hernán Quezada Cabrera*. Asterisks denote sitting members who were re-elected.
On September 17, 2020, the States parties to the ICCPR met and elected nine members of the Committee, to replace those whose terms would expire at the end of 2020. There were fourteen candidates for the nine positions, not counting two who were withdrawn shortly before the election but counting one whose nomination was late. Those elected were Carlos Gómez Martínez, Changrok Soh, Imeru Tamerat Yigezu, Mahjoub El Haiba, José Manuel Santos Pais*, Tania María Abdo Rocholl*, Wafaa Ashraf Moharram Bassim, Kobauyah Tchamdja Kpatcha, and Marcia V.J. Kran*. Asterisks denote sitting members who were re-elected. David H. Moorre won an additional, contested "by-election" held on the same date, to elect a member to complete the term ending December 31, 2020, of Ilze Brands Kehris, who had resigned effective December 31, 2019, upon her appointment as UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights.
On August 28, 2018, Andreas B. Zimmermann won an uncontested by-election to complete the term ending December 31, 2020, of Anja Seibert-Fohr, who had resigned effective March 1, 2018.
On June 14, 2018, the States parties to the ICCPR met and elected nine members of the Committee, to replace those whose terms would expire at the end of 2018. There were sixteen candidates for the nine positions, not counting two who were withdrawn shortly before the election and one whose nomination was late. Those elected were Yadh Ben Achour*, Christopher Bulkan, Photini Pazartzis*, Hélène Tigroudja, Hernán Quezada Cabrera, Gentian Zyberi, Vasilka Sancin, Shuichi Furuya, and Duncan Muhumuza Laki*. Asterisks denote sitting members who were re-elected. Pierre-Richard Prosper of the United States was not elected, in reportedly "a first-ever defeat of a US candidate for the UN Human Rights Committee."

Meetings and activities

The Committee meets three times a year for four-week sessions. The categories of its work, outlined below, include state reporting, individual complaints, general comments, and inter-state communications.

State reporting under the ICCPR

All states parties to the ICCPR have an obligation "to submit reports on the measures they have adopted which give effect to the rights recognized and on the progress made in the enjoyment of those rights." The Human Rights Committee is responsible for "study" and responding to those reports submitted by states. States parties must submit an initial report within one year of the ICCPR's entry into force, and subsequent periodic reports as requested by the Committee. This reporting system is mandated by Article 40 of the ICCPR.

The frequency of the periodic reports was formerly about every five years, but starting in 2020 is every eight years. The UN has published guidance for states on reporting to the Committee and other human rights treaty bodies. The principal purpose of the report is to promote state compliance with the treaty principles and it should be an "honest appraisal of their conformity to the treaty obligations".

Procedure, and recent procedural changes

Following the submission of a state's report, representatives of the state appear before the Committee in Geneva or New York to discuss the report, in an in-person constructive dialogue which is generally webcast live on UN Web TV. Following this dialogue, the Committee drafts and adopts its concluding observations, a document including positive aspects, subjects of concern, and suggestions and recommendations. Subsequently, under its follow-up procedure, the Committee assesses whether certain recommendations have been fulfilled within one year.
In July 2010, the Committee proposed a new optional reporting procedure called the "List of Issues Prior to Reporting" or "Simplified Reporting Procedure". Under this system, instead of the state submitting a full report on its implementation of each article of the ICCPR, the Committee sends the state a list of issues to address, and the state's report must only answer the questions raised in that list of issues. The Committee subsequently adopted the simplified reporting procedure on a pilot basis, although it remains an optional alternative to the "regular" procedure, i.e., submission of a full report. At its 124th session in 2018, the Committee decided to adopt the simplified reporting procedure on a permanent basis, and to encourage all states to switch to simplified reporting. It also decided to strive to limit the number of questions in each list of issues to 25. In 2019, the Committee decided to make the simplified reporting procedure the default, changing a state's selection of it from an opt-in to an opt-out model.
In July 2019 the Committee decided to move, beginning in 2020, to an eight-year "Predictable Review Cycle", under which it would schedule one review for each state party. This cycle involves a five-year review process, and a three-year interval before the next review process begins. All states parties were divided into 8 groups of 21-22 states each, with the reporting process to start for each group on a different year.

NGO participation

NGOs and other civil society organizations play a crucial role in the reporting process. Any NGO, regardless of accreditation, may submit its own reports to the Committee, comment on state reports, and attend all Committee sessions as observers. Furthermore, the Committee often holds a closed meeting with interested NGOs as part of its review of a state's report.

Limitations of the reporting system

One set of weaknesses is inherent to a system of self-reporting. Though in theory, reports should be an honest appraisal, constructive criticism of perceived failures to adhere to Covenant principles is unlikely. The Centre for Civil and Political Rights, an NGO, states that "State reports often... fail to describe the implementation of the Covenant in practice" and "frequently lack an honest evaluation of the difficulties the State faces in implementing the rights guaranteed under the Covenant."
Late reporting and non-reporting by states is another problem. The Committee's annual report through March 2019 stated that fifteen states' "initial reports are overdue, of which 7 are overdue by between 5 and 10 years and 8 are overdue by 10 years or more." The report's Annex IV listed them; Equatorial Guinea's initial report was 30 years overdue. That Annex also listed thirteen states whose periodic reports were ten years or more overdue, with Afghanistan's overdue by 22 years, and Nigeria's overdue by 19; ten states whose periodic reports were five to ten years overdue; and 28 states whose periodic reports were overdue by less than five years. CSW, a UK-based NGO, asserts that "there remains a relatively low level of engagement and implementation of recommendations" on the part of States, and that the level of States compliance with treaty body recommendations is only 19%.
Other widely noted problems include the backlog of the Committee and the heavy burden on states, particularly small states.

Individual complaints to the committee

States that are party to the First Optional Protocol to the ICCPR have agreed to allow persons within their jurisdiction to submit complaints to the Committee claiming that their rights under the ICCPR have been violated. The ICCPR is one of eight UN human rights treaties with individual complaints procedures available; two other treaties state such procedures that are not yet in force.