The merits of the complaint

Once a Committee considers a complaint admissible, it proceeds to consider it on its merits, stating its reasons for concluding that a violation has or has not occurred under the applicable treaty provisions.

A number of States have also entered substantive reservations that may limit the scope of the human rights obligations they assume under the treaties. In most cases, a Committee will decline to consider complaints falling within areas covered by a reservation, though in exceptional circumstances, it may find a reservation impermissible and consider the case despite the purported reservation.

Consideration of the complaint

The Committees consider each case in closed session. Although some Committees have provisions for oral components of proceedings in their rules of procedure the practice has been to consider complaints only on the basis of the written information supplied by the complainant and the State party.

Accordingly, it has not been the practice to receive oral submissions from the parties or audio or audio-visual evidence (such as audio and video files). Nor do the Committees go beyond the information provided by the parties to seek independent verification of the facts.

As a general rule and in order to speed up the procedure, the Committees examine the admissibility of a complaint jointly with the merits. In this case, the general procedure set out above applies, that is, once the communication is received and registered, it is transmitted to the State party concerned to give it an opportunity to comment, within a set time frame.

The complainant is then offered an opportunity to comment on the State party’s observations, following which the case is normally ready for consideration on admissibility and merits by the Committee.

However, there are situations where the Committee decides to examine the admissibility first. In this case the State party is requested to make submissions on the merits if the Committee declares that the complaint is admissible. The complainant will in any case have the opportunity to comment on the State party’s submissions on the merits.

Once the Committee takes a decision on the case, it is transmitted to the complainant and the State party simultaneously.

One or more Committee members may append a separate opinion to the decision if they come to a different conclusion from the majority or perhaps reach the same conclusion but for different reasons.

The text of any final decision on the merits of the case or of a decision of inadmissibility will be posted on the OHCHR’s web site as part of the Committee’s jurisprudence.