Universal-Womens-accesss-to-justice-Publications-Practitioners-Guide-Series-2016-ENG

292 PRACTITIONERS GUIDE No. 12
because the violation is so massive that it is impossible to
obtain the authorisation of all the people affected. 721
The European Court of Human Rights receives applications
from various entities – individual persons, NGOs, or group of
individuals – who claim to be a victim (either direct or indirect)
of the alleged violation. 722 Applications cannot be anonymous,
but the Court may grant leave to anonymity of the claim in its
communication to other parties or the public, when the
applicant has adduced sufficient reasons to justify this
departure from the rule. 723
As for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,
any person or group of persons, or any non-governmental
entity legally recognised in one or more Member States of the
Organization of American States (OAS), may lodge petitions
containing complaints of violation of this Convention by a
State. 724 In practice, however, the IACHR frequently requests
that the author of any complaint be either a victim or a relative
of a victim or have a mandate to act by the victim or by a
relative of the victim. The Commission has clearly stated that
“[t]he applicant must claim to be a victim of a violation of the
Convention, or must appear before the Commission as a
721
See, Rule 96(b), CCPR Rules of Procedure; Article 2 OP-ICESCR;
Rule 91(b), CERD Rules of Procedure; and Article 2, OP-CEDAW. See
also, Rule 68.1, CEDAW Rules of Procedure. See, Rule 13, CRC Rules
of Procedure: “communications may be submitted on behalf of the
alleged victim(s) without such express consent, provided that the
author(s) can justify her/his/their action and the Committee deems it
to be in the best interests of the child. If possible, the alleged
victim(s) on whose behalf the communication is presented may be
informed of the communication and her/his/their views shall be given
due weight in accordance with her/his/their age and maturity”.
722
Article 34 ECHR.
723
Rule 47.4, Rules of the Court, ECtHR, 1 January 2014, Strasbourg
(ECtHR Rules of Procedure). See for details of applications, the entire
Rule 47.
724
Article 44 ACHR.