States of Emergency - Centre for Policy Alternatives

incomplete reports. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the inter‐state
communication provision has never been used. In the case of
individual communications, although more and more States are
acceding to the Optional Protocol, it has been the case that the
Committee’s views have a habit of being ignored or generating
hostility in States in which human rights concerns are most acute.
The effect of the Committee’s reports, General Comments, and
Rules of Procedure also do not seem to have had a demonstrable
impact on States meeting their treaty obligations. In the view of
many commentators, the Committee has also been hampered by
insufLicient institutional support and resources.
On the other hand, the Human Rights Committee has built a solid
reputation for independence, expertise, fairness and impartiality
as a rules‐based and adjudicative decision‐making body, in
contradistinction to most other international bodies which
operate under the dictates and dynamics of international politics
and diplomacy. Ironically, it appears that it is this very positive
feature that makes it unable to exert the kind of political pressure
or harness the media spotlight in the furtherance of human rights
protection within States.
4.2.1
The
Human
Rights
Committee
The rules relating to the establishment, membership
requirements, composition, ensuring regional representation,
quorum and enactment of internal rules of procedure,
remuneration, and a detailed framework for elections to the
Human Rights Committee, as well as the roles within this schema
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