Chapter Eight. The Procedures and Case Law of the United Nations Human Rights Committee under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Abstract

The UN Human Rights Committee is an independent body of 18 experts, which was established in 1976 to monitor State party compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and to act as a quasi-judicial organ with competence to examine complaints from individuals, pursuant to the Optional Protocol to the Covenant (OP). Bearing in mind that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has no competence to examine cases submitted by individuals, the Human Rights Committee (HRC) is the closest the world has ever come to an international court of human rights. According to rule 92 of the Committee’s rules of procedure the Committee may inform the State party that interim measures of protection may be desirable to avoid irreparable harm to the victim of the alleged violation. Keywords: Human Rights Committee (HRC); ICCPR; international court of human rights; International Court of Justice (ICJ); Optional Protocol (OP); State party; UN Human Rights Committee