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Centre for Civil and Political Rights
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Human Rights Committee Case-Law Digest
| Decisions adopted during
July 2012 session (105th)
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Issue No. 4
January 2013
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Editorial
The Centre for Civil and Political Rights is very pleased to issue this fourth edition of its newsletter on the Human Rights Committee's Individual Communications. This edition covers the decisions adopted at the 105th session, held in July 2012.
One of the most striking features of the cases from this session is the predominance of complaints against Belarus; 4 of the 10 cases decided on the merits. It is particularly troubling that with respect to two of these cases the State party informed the Committee that it would consider any decision invalid, since it does not recognise the Committee's interpretation of the Optional Protocol as authoritative.
More positively, in Narrain et al. v. Mauritius the Committee addresses the question of whether or not candidates for election may be required to indicate a community affiliation when the objective of this requirement is to ensure that the religious and cultural diversity of society is reflected in the National Assembly.
The CCPR team |
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Human Rights Committee Case Law - 105th Session (July 2012)
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 Guezout v. Algeria - CCPR/C/105/D/1753/2008
Article 2�3 - Effective remedy. Failure to investigate the alleged violations, in particular the enforced disappearance of the victim. Use of the Truth and Reconciliation Charter to prevent recourse to justice for serious crimes, such as enforced disappearance. VIOLATION
Article 6�1 - Right to life. Risk to life due to enforced disappearance and deprivation of liberty. VIOLATION Article 7 - Torture, Ill-treatment. Secret detention of the victim. Suffering of the victim's family due to his enforced disappearance. VIOLATION Article 9 - Arbitrary detention and Rights of detainees. Arrest without a warrant and without being informed of the reasons. Failure to bring the victim before a judicial authority or allow an opportunity to challenge the legality of the detention. Secret detention, including failure to inform the family of the detention. VIOLATION
Article 10�1 - Conditions of detention. Secret detention. VIOLATION
Article 16 - Legal personality. Enforced disappearance with the effect of removing the victim from the protection of the law. VIOLATION
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Govsha et al. v. Belarus - CCPR/C/105/D/1790/2008
Article 19 - Freedom of expression. Restrictions on organising public events, which cannot be justified under the tests of necessity and proportionality. VIOLATION
Article 21 - Freedom of assembly. Restrictions on the organisation of public meetings, which do not serve a legitimate purpose under Art. 21. VIOLATION
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Korneenko v. Belarus - CCPR/C/105/D/1226/2003
Full text of decision - E | R |
Summary
Article 19�2 - Freedom of expression. (In conjunction with Art. 22) Unjustified restrictions on the right to seek and impart information. VIOLATION
Article 22 �1 - Freedom of association. Restrictions on the use of equipment received as untied foreign aid and the seizure of equipment, preventing an association carrying out its statutory activities. VIOLATION
Article 25 - Participation in political affairs. (In conjunction with Art. 22) Penalisation of an association for the use of equipment received as untied foreign aid for election monitoring and related publicity activities. VIOLATION
OP Article 1 - Consideration of communications. State party's refusal to recognise competence of the Committee to register communications which it considers inadmissible. VIOLATION
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Levinov v. Belarus - CCPR/C/105/D/1867/2009, 1936/2010, 1975/2010, 1977/2010, 1978/2010, 1979/2010, 1980/2010, 1981/2010, 2010/2010
Full text of decision - E | R |
Article 19 - Freedom of expression. Unjustified restrictions on the right to organise pickets. VIOLATION OP Article 1 - Consideration of communications. State party's refusal to recognise the competence of the Committee to register communications which it considers inadmissible. VIOLATION
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Schumilin v. Belarus - CCPR/C/105/D/1784/2008
Article 19 - Freedom of expression. Penalisation of distribution of leaflets relating to a meeting with a former candidate for the presidency. VIOLATION
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Katsaris v. Greece - CCPR/C/105/D/1558/2007
Article 2�3 in conjunction with Article 7 - Effective remedy , torture and ill-treatment. Problems with the investigation into the author's complaints, in particular a failure to reconcile discrepancies between two contradictory findings and the prolonged duration of investigations. VIOLATION
Article 2�1 in conjunction with Article 26 - Equality before the law. Failure to investigate complaints of racist treatment by law enforcement personnel. VIOLATION
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Narrain et al. v. Mauritius - CCPR/C/105/D/1744/2007
Article 25 - Participation in political affairs. Requirement that candidates for election specify to which of four communities (Hindu, Muslim, Sino-Mauritian, or General Population) they belong. VIOLATION
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Maharjan v. Nepal - CCPR/C/105/D/1863/2009
Full text of decision - E
Summary
Article 2�3 - Effective remedy. Absence of effective mechanisms to complain of torture. Failure of State to investigate. VIOLATION Article 7 - Torture and ill-treatment. Incommunicado detention in inhumane conditions and torture. (In conjunction with article 2�3) Suffering of family as a result of author's disappearance. VIOLATION Article 9 - Arbitrary detention and rights of detainees. Arrest without a warrant and lack of opportunity to challenge the legality of detention. VIOLATION Article 10 - Conditions of detention. Inhumane conditions of detention, including overcrowding, lack of food, lack of sanitation, and blindfolding. VIOLATION |
Pavlyuchenkov v. Russian Federation - CCPR/C/105/D/1628/2007
Full text of decision - E | R |
Summary
Article 10 �1 - Conditions of detention. Inhumane conditions of detention, including inadequate ventilation, insufficient food, lack of sanitation and no opportunity for exercise outdoors. VIOLATION |
Chiti v. Zambia - CCPR/C/105/D/1303/2004
Full text of decision - E
Summary
Article 6 - Right to life. Premature death due to torture, lack of access to medication for prostate cancer while in detention, inadequate diet and unclean environment in detention despite medical requirements due to being HIV-positive. VIOLATION
Article 7- Torture and ill-treatment. Torture of the author while in detention. Suffering of the victim's family as a result of his arrest and torture and as a result of the eviction from their home. (In conjunction with article 2�3 (effective remedy)) Lack of effective investigation by the State. VIOLATION
Article 14 �3(g) - Fair trial, self-incrimination. Use of a confession extracted by torture. VIOLATION
Article 17 - Privacy. (In conjunction with Article 2�3 (effective remedy)) Illegal eviction of the author and destruction of personal property. Failure to pay compensation ordered by the courts. VIOLATION
Article 23 �1 - Protection of family. (In conjunction with Article 2�3 (effective remedy)) Illegal eviction of the author and destruction of personal property. Failure to pay compensation ordered by the courts. VIOLATION
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Inadmissible cases:
S.V. v. Canada - CCPR/C/105/D/1827/2008
Full text of decision - E | F
J.B.R. et al. v. Colombia - CCPR/C/105/D/1822-1826/2008Full text of decision - E | S
B.K. v. Czech Republic - CCPR/C/105/D/1844/2008
Full text of decision - E
D.V. and H.V. v. Czech Republic - CCPR/C/105/D/1848/2008
Full text of decision - E
X.J. v. Netherlands - CCPR/C/105/D/1840/2008
Full text of decision - E
V.A. v. Russian Federation - CCPR/C/105/D/1526/2006
Full text of decision - E | R A.P. v. Ukraine - CCPR/C/105/D/1834/2008
Full text of decision - E | R |
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