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

304 PRACTITIONERS GUIDE No. 12
communication within that time. 764 CERD provides that the
communication must be submitted within six months of the
exhaustion of domestic remedies, including the “national CERD
body”, “except in cases of duly verified exceptional
circumstances”. 765
The European Court of Human Rights may only deal with
the matter if it is submitted to the Court within a period of six
months after exhaustion of domestic remedies. 766 The date of
submission is “the date on which an application form satisfying
the formal requirements of Rule 47 is sent to the Court. The
date of dispatch shall be the date of the postmark. Where it
finds it justified, the Court may nevertheless decide that a
different date shall be considered to be the date of
introduction”. 767 The Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights requires that the petition or communication
must be lodged within a period of six months from the date on
which the party alleging violation of his or her rights has been
notified of the decision that exhausted the domestic remedies.
In those cases in which the exceptions to the requirement of
prior exhaustion of domestic remedies are applicable, the
petition shall be presented within a reasonable period of time.
For this purpose, the Commission considers the date on which
the alleged violation of rights occurred and the circumstances
of each case. 768 The African Commission on Human and
Peoples’ Rights’ rules provide that the communications must
be submitted within a reasonable period from the time local
764
Article 3.2(a) OP-ICESCR; Article 7(h), OP-CRC-CP.
765
Article 14.5 ICERD; Rule 91(f), CERD Rules of Procedure.
766
Article 35.1 ECHR. Where there are no available domestic
remedies, the case should be submitted within six months of the facts
complained of. For an extensive explanation of the six month
requirement, see Lutete Kemevuako v. the Netherlands, ECtHR,
Application No. 65938/09, Admissibility decision of 1 June 2010.
767
Rule 47.6, ECtHR Rules of Procedure. See rule 47 below at fn 1354.
768
See also, Article 46.2, ACHR, and Article 32, IACHR Rules of
Procedure.