118th session in brief

Overview of the 118 Session of the Human Rights Committee (October-November 2016)

At its 118th session (17th October to 4th November 2016) the Human Rights Committee reviewed the reports of seven States on the implementation of the ICCPR: Azerbaijan, Colombia, Jamaica, Morocco, Poland, Moldova and Slovakia.

The Committee also adopted the Lists of Issues in relation to the reports of five States: Honduras, Liechtenstein, Madagascar, Mongolia and Pakistan and the List of Issues Prior to Reporting in relation to Paraguay and Togo.

The text adopted on the Follow-up to Concluding Observations assesses the recent information received on the implementation of the Committee’s recommendations in relation to Angola, Croatia, Cyprus, Haiti, Macao (China) and Mozambique.

The Committee also adopted its report on the Follow-up to the Views, which analyses the progress on the implementation of recommendations regarding 43 individual communications.

In addition, the Committee held public meetings to continue the discussion regarding the first draft of a General Comment on article 6 (Right to Life) of the ICCPR.

35 individual communications were adopted, 15 were found to have violations, 3 with no violations, 1 was inadmissible, 1 was admissible and 9 were discontinued.

Furthermore, the Committee adopted a paper on guidelines on reparations, which will be soon available online. 

Concerning its methods of work, the Committee adopted new criteria for the follow-up procedure of Concluding Observations and Views. It also adopted a paper to allow the possibility of public hearings related to individual communications and a paper to publish online a list of the pending cases.