Guide to International Human Rights Mechanisms - Brookings

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International Mechanisms | Human Rights Treaty Bodies
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 999 U.N.T.S. 171, reprinted in International
Law and World Order: Basic Documents (B. Weston and J. Carlson, eds., 1994), III.A.3, and also
available at www.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr.htm.
Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, reprinted in
International Law and World Order: Basic Documents (B.Weston and J. Carlson, eds., 1994), III.A.4,
and also available at: www.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr-one.htm.
Human Rights Committee’s website: www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/index.htm
Frontline Defenders Guide: www.frontlinedefenders.org/manual/en/hrcmc_m.htm
Manfred Nowak, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: CCPR Commentary, (2nd ed.,
N.P. Engel Publishers, 2005).
Human Rights Protection for Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Internally Displaced Persons: A Guide to
International Mechanisms and Procedures ( Joan Fitzpatrick, ed., Transnational Publishers, Inc.,
2002), 123-35.
COMMITTEE.ON.THE.ELIMINATION.OF.RACIAL.DISCRIMINATION
Preliminary Note: It is recommended that applicants considering an individual communication to
the Committee seek the assistance of a lawyer or an experienced NGO.
Background The Committee is the body established by the International Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) to monitor state compliance and to
elaborate and explain that treaty’s requirements. It is composed of eighteen experts elected by states
parties who serve in their individual capacities. The Committee considers periodic reports of states
parties on their progress in abiding by the CERD, reviews compliance with its own prior “concluding
observations” on those reports, issues “general comments” (also called “general recommendations”)
about the CERD’s requirements, and for states that have made the required declaration under
article 14 of the CERD, considers individual complaints of violations of the treaty. 51
What you can Do If your state has ratified CERD and agreed to accept the CERD’s examination of
individual complaints, you can file communications concerning violations of your rights under the
CERD by governments or their agents. Even if the state has not accepted individual communications,
if you represent an NGO, you can provide general information on IDP rights issues in advance of
Committee consideration of state periodic reports. You may further call on the Committee to invoke
its “early warning” function to intervene in cases where mounting racial tensions are causing or may
51 The Committee also has the power to consider complaints by states about other states. However, no state has ever invoked this power.
Guide to International Human Rights Mechanisms
for Internally Displaced Persons and their Advocates 12