States of Emergency - Centre for Policy Alternatives

of the Secretary General of the United Nations and of States
Parties, are set out in Part IV (Articles 28 – 30) of the ICCPR. 212
The several competences of the Committee are to be found in
Articles 40 (State Parties’ reporting obligations and basic
procedure), Articles 41 and 42 (Inter‐State communications and
the role of the Committee including conciliation) and in the First
Optional Protocol (individual communications). 213
4.2.2
The
Reporting
Procedure
The reporting obligation is the main instrument of supervision in
the ICCPR, and is compulsory for all States Parties. There are three
kinds of reports: (a) Initial Reports; (b) Periodic Reports; and (c)
Supplemental Reports.
Under Article 40 (1) and (2), a State Party’s initial report must be
submitted within one year of accession to the Covenant,
describing the measures it has adopted to give effect to the rights
established in the Covenant, and must also include reference to
any constraints in giving effect to same. The Committee has
decided in terms of Article 40 (1) (b) that periodic reports are to
be submitted every Live years by States. In exceptional cases, it
may also call for special reports, and in others, supplemental
reports in order clarify or seek fuller information. The Committee
212
See Javaid Rehman (2002) International
Human
Rights
Law:
A
Practical
Approach (London: Longman): Ch.4, pp. 83‐84.
213
See Steiner in Alston & Crawford (2000), op cit; Dominic McGoldrick
(1991) The
Human
Rights
Committee
(Clarendon; Oxford): Chs.2‐3;
Rosalyn Higgins (1991) ‘United
Nations
Human
Rights
Committee’ in
Robert Blackburn & John Taylor (1991) Human
Rights
for
the
1990s
(London: Mansell) p.67; Ineke BoereLijn (1995) ‘Towards
a
Strong
System
of
Supervision’ 17 Human
Rights
Quarterly
766
131