The Human Rights Committee this afternoon adopted its annual report covering its one hundred and thirty-eighth, one hundred and thirty-ninth and one hundred and fortieth sessions.
Tijana Šurlan, Committee Rapporteur, presented the draft annual report for the sessions. She said that as of March 2024, 174 States were parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. South Sudan acceded to the Covenant on 5 February 2024. One hundred and fifteen States were parties to the First Optional Protocol on the communications procedure, while 90 were parties to the Second Optional Protocol, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.
Country report task forces met during the sessions to consider and adopt lists of issues on the reports of Honduras, Mongolia, Pakistan, Suriname and Viet Nam, and lists of issues prior to reporting for Andorra, Azerbaijan, Djibouti, Jamaica, Mali, Republic of Moldova, San Marino and Slovakia.
Ms. Šurlan said that, at its one hundred and thirty-eighth session, the Committee adopted concluding observations on Brazil, Burundi, Colombia, Cyprus, Lesotho, State of Palestine and Uganda, and reviewed Mexico, Niger, Portugal and Senegal under the follow-up process. At its one hundred and thirty-ninth session, the Committee adopted concluding observations on Iran, Kuwait, Republic of Korea, Trinidad and Tobago, United States and Venezuela, and reviewed Belgium, Czechia, Mauritania and Nigeria under the follow-up process. During that session, the Special Rapporteur for follow-up on Views submitted an interim report covering six Views relating to Colombia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Paraguay and Tajikistan. At its current one hundred and fortieth session, the Committee adopted concluding observations on Chile, Guyana, Indonesia, Namibia, Serbia, Somalia and the United Kingdom, and reviewed Finland, Paraguay, Tunisia and Uzbekistan.
Under its First Optional Protocol, the Committee, at its one hundred and thirty-eighth session, adopted decisions on 54 communications, of which 27 were decided on the merits, 10 were declared inadmissible, and 17 were discontinued. Regarding the cases decided on the merits, the Committee found violations in 19 of them. At its one hundred and thirty-ninth session, the Committee adopted decisions on 55 communications, of which 25 were decided on the merits, 16 were declared inadmissible, and 14 were discontinued. Regarding the communications decided on the merits, the Committee found violations in 22 of them. At its one hundred and fortieth session, the Committee adopted decisions on 43 communications, of which 19 were decided on the merits, nine were declared inadmissible, and 15 were discontinued. The Committee found violations in 19 of the communications decided on the merits.
At its current session, Ms. Šurlan said, the Committee adopted a strategy to reduce its backlog and the time gap between registration and the Committee's decision on a communication. It also held its thirteenth informal meeting with States parties to the Covenant on 21 March 2024, providing an update on its work under its core activities related to reporting and its Optional Protocol. The meeting was attended by representatives of over 60 States parties, a clear indication of the relevance of the Covenant and the Committee's work.
Under the Covenant, Ms. Šurlan noted, the United Nations Secretary-General had a duty to provide the Committee with the necessary staff and facilities for the effective performance of its functions. She expressed concern regarding the Committee's shortage of staff resources under both its reporting and Optional Protocol procedures and emphasised the importance of allocating adequate staff resources to service the Committee's sessions.
Ms. Šurlan said the Committee fully supported the digital transformation agenda of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which was of critical importance to the work of the Committee and the future of the human rights architecture. In this regard, the Committee strongly encouraged States parties to provide sustainable contributions, she concluded.
The Human Rights Committee's one hundred and fortieth session is being held from 4 to 28 March 2024. All the documents relating to the Committee's work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session's webpage. Meeting summary releases can be found here. The webcast of the Committee's public meetings can be accessed via the UN Web TV webpage.
The Committee will next meet on Wednesday, 27 March at 3 p.m. to hear the progress report of the Committee's Special Rapporteur on follow-up to concluding observations.
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