Individual case decisions in 2012

So far there have been 54 case decisions announced by the UN treaty body system in 2012.  These are opinions issued on the basis of individual complaints that have been filed by a person or persons, alleging that they have been a victim of human rights violations by their government.

The victim has won in 36 of these 54 cases.  These decisions are non-binding, so the Committee is often forced to follow up over a long period of time to attempt to get the state's compliance to its ruling. The government is usually given 3 to 6 months to submit an initial written response, confirming that it has implemented the decision.

This number of cases so far in 2012 probably represents about 50% of the total number of decisions that will eventually be issued during the full year.

The UN is still struggling to release these decisions in a timely and transparent manner.  Efforts this year to establish linked pages to each of the main treaty body sites where a table of decisions is listed is a welcome development, but the accuracy of the information on these sites is still uneven. Some decisions which can be found in the treaty body database are not included in these new tables, and other decisions are found in the new tables but not in the database.  Also the numbers of decisions issued each session often do not correspond to the numbers announced by the treaty body itself for that session. The issuance of the decision often trails the date of adoption by 3 to 6 months, sometimes longer.

Here is a listing of the decisions released so far that I am aware of. I will add case summaries of these decisions in a later post.

No.	Treaty	Case no.	Parties	Result	Session
1	CERD	46/2009	Dawas & Shava v. Denmark	Violation	Feb 2012
2	CRPD	3/2011	H.M. v. Sweden	Violations	Feb 2012
3	CEDAW	19/2008	Kell v. Canada	Violations	Feb 2012
4	CEDAW	25/2010	M.P.M. v. Canada	Inadmissible	Feb 2012
5	CEDAW	38/2010	R.K.B. v. Turkey	Violations	Feb 2012
6	CEDAW		Jallow v. Bulgaria	Violations	July 2012
7	CAT	343/2008	Kalonzo v. Canada	Violations	May 2012
8	CAT	364/2008	J.L.L. et al v. Switzerland	No violation	May 2012
9	CAT	370/2009	E.L. v. Canada	No violation	May 2012
10	CAT	382/2009	M.D.T. v. Switzerland	No violation	May 2012
11	CAT	391/2009	M.A.M.A. v. Switzerland	Violations	May 2012
12	CAT	393/2009	E.T. v. Switzerland	No violation	May 2012
13	CAT	396/2009	Gbadjari v. Switzerland	Violations	May 2012
14	CAT	413/2010	A.A.M. v. Sweden	No violation	May 2012
15	CAT	414/2010	N.T.W. v. Switzerland	No violation	May 2012
16	CAT	424/2010	M.Z.A. v. Sweden	No violation	May 2012
17	CAT	433/2010	Gerasimov v. Kazakhstan	Violations	May 2012
18	CAT	444/2010	Abdussamotov et al v. Kazakhstan	Violations	May 2012 Note: this one included an oral hearing.
19	CAT	453/2011	Gallastegi Sodupe v. Spain	Violations	May 2012
20	CCPR	1820/2008	Krasovky v. Belarus	Violations	March 2012
21	CCPR	1772/2008	Belyazeka v. Belarus	Violations	March 2012
22	CCPR	1905/2009	Khirani v. Algeria	Violations	March 2012
23	CCPR	1853/2008	Atasoy & Sarkut v. Turkey	Violations	March 2012
24	CCPR	1789/2008	G.E. v. Germany	Inadmissible	March 2012
25	CCPR	1914/15/16/2009	Musaev v. Uzbekistan	Violations	March 2012
26	CCPR	1801/2008	G.K. v. Netherlands	No violation	March 2012
27	CCPR	1627/2007	V.P. v. Russian Fed’n	Inadmissible	March 2012
28	CCPR	1829/2008	Benitez Gamarra v. Paraguay	Violations	March 2012
29	CCPR	1828/2008	Olmedo v. Paraguay	Violations	March 2012
30	CCPR	1634/2007	*Korneenko v Belarus	Inadmissible	March 2012
31	CCPR	1816/2008	K.A.L. & A.A.M.L. v. Canada	Inadmissible	March 2012
32	CCPR	2058/2011	O.D. v. Russian Fed’n	Inadmissible	March 2012
33	CCPR	1858/2009	Y.M. v. Russian Fed’n	Inadmissible	March 2012
34	CCPR	1606/2007	E.I. v. Belarus	Inadmissible	March 2012
35	CCPR	1750/2008	Sudalenko v. Belarus	Violations	March 2012
36	CCPR	1880/2009	Nenova et al. v. Libya	Violations	March 2012
37	CCPR	1859/2008	Kamoyo v. Zambia	Violations	March 2012
38	CCPR	1641/2007	Calderon Bruges v. Colombia	Violations	March 2012
39	CCPR	1752/2008	J.S. v. New Zealand	Inadmissible	March 2012
40	CCPR	1755/2008	El Hagog v. Libya	Violations	March 2012
41	CCPR	1866/2009	Chebotareva v. Russian Fed’n	Violations	March 2012
42	CCPR	1782/2008	Aboufaied v. Libya	Violations	March 2012
43	CCPR	1883/2009	Orazova v. Turkmenistan	Violations	March 2012
44	CCPR	1226/2003	*Korneenko v. Belarus	Violations	July 2012
45	CCPR	1628/2007	Pavlyuchenkov v. Russian Fed’n	Violations	July 2012
46	CCPR	1303/2004	Chiti v. Zambia	Violations	July 2012
47	CCPR	1827/2008	S.V. v. Canada	Inadmissible	July 2012
48	CCPR	1840/2008	X.J. v. Netherlands	Inadmissible	July 2012
49	CCPR	1790/2008	Govsha et.al v. Belarus	Violations	July 2012
50	CCPR	1753/2008	Guezout et.al v. Algeria	Violations	July 2012
51	CCPR	1784/2008	Schumilin v. Belarus	Violations	July 2012
52	CCPR	1526/2006	V.A. v. Russian Fed’n	Inadmissible	July 2012
53	CCPR	1558/2007	Katsaris v. Greece	Violations	July 2012
54	CCPR	1863/2009	Dev Bahadur Mharjan v. Nepal	Violations	July 2012

*note that there are 2 separate decisions brought by Viktor Korneenko against Belarus. In 1226/2003 violations were found (CCPR July session). In 1634/2007 the Committee ruled the claim to be inadmissible (CCPR March session). 

Flurry of new ratifications in 2012

There has been an impressive spike of activity in the ratification of UN human rights treaties this year, including during the last couple of weeks. There have now been 61 new ratifications during 2012. This includes both ratifications of the treaties themselves and of the various individual complaint mechanisms under the treaties.  This represents a 3% growth in the entire system in just the first 9 months of the year.

Here is a summary of the latest ratifications (described in more detail below in case you are not familiar with some of these acronyms):

Summary

• 3 ratifications of the Optional Protocol to CESC
• 4 ratifications of CAT 
• 3 ratifications of OPCAT
• 1 ratification of the Optional Protocol to CEDAW
• 2 ratifications of the OPIC to CRC
• 9 ratifications of the OPSC to CRC
• 7 ratifications of the OPAC to CRC
• 1 ratification of CMW
• 1 ratification of the article 77 complaint procedure of CMW
• 15 ratifications of the CRPD
• 9 ratifications of the Optional Protocol to the CRPD
• 6 ratifications of CED
• no new ratifications for CERD or CCPR

Total of 61 ratifications.  This brings the total human rights treaty ratifications to 1615 and the total number of ratifications of various individual complaint mechanisms in the treaties to 436.  Approximately 25% of the new ratifications in 2012 have occurred in the last two weeks, during the end of September and the first week in October. 

Here is a more detailed breakdown of these 61 new ratifications. 

1. Covenant on Economic Social & Cultural Rights (CESC) (3)

There have been three new ratifications of the Optional Protocol to CESC, for a total of eight ratifications. This protocol comes into effect once there are ten ratifications. 

• Bolivia (Jan 13)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina (Jan 18)
• Slovakia (Mar 7)

2. Convention Against Torture (CAT) (4)

The four new ratifications brings the total to 153 countries that have ratified this treaty. 

• Dominican Republic (Jan 24)
• Nauru (Sep 26)
• Lao People's Democratic Republic (Sep 26)
• United Arab Emirates (July 19)

3. Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) (3)

The three additions brings the total now to 64 countries that have ratified OPCAT.

• Hungary (Jan 12)
• Mauritania (Oct 3)
• Philippines (Apr 17)

4. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) (1)

One new country has ratified the Optional Protocol to CEDAW (individual complaint mechanism), making the total 104 overall (in addition, 187 countries have ratified the CEDAW treaty itself). 

• Cote d'Ivoire (Jan 20)

5. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) (2)

The CRC treaty itself remains at 193 ratifications, but the new optional protocol has received its first two ratifications last month.  Once the protocol has received ten ratifications, the individual complaint mechanism will come into effect.

• Gabon (Sep 25)
• Thailand (Sep 25)

6. Optional Protocol to the CRC on the sale of children (OPSC) (9)

There are now 160 ratifications of this optional protocol with the following nine additions:

• Finland (Jun 1)
• Grenada (Feb 6)
• Indonesia (Sep 24)
• Malaysia (Apr 12)
• Micronesia (Apr 23)
• Myanmar (Jan 16)
• Suriname (May 18)
• Swaziland (Sep 2)
• Zimbabwe (Feb 14)

7. Optional Protocol to the CRC on children in armed conflict (OPAC) (7)

This optional protocol now has 150 ratifications, including these new seven:

• Cote d'Ivoire (Feb 6)
• Grenada (Feb 6)
• Indonesia (Sep 24)
• Malaysia (Apr 12)
• Niger (Mar 13)
• Nigeria (Sep 25)
• Swaziland (Sep 25)

8. Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (CMW) (2)

One country (Indonesia) has joined the treaty. In addition, one party (Uruguay) has joined the individual complaint mechanisms in article 77. 

• Indonesia (May 31)
• Uruguay (Apr 13) (complaint mechanism)

9. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) (24)

The CRPD is clearly the treaty that is growing the fastest at this point.  It has received 15 new ratifications to the treaty itself and 9 more ratifications of its individual complaint mechanism (optional protocol).  This brings the total now to 124 state parties, and 74 ratifications of the optional protocol. 

Ratifications of the treaty:

• Benin (July 5)
• Bulgaria (Mar 22)
• Djibouti (Jun 18)
• Dominica (Oct 1)
• Estonia (May 30)
• Ghana (July 31)
• Greece (May 31)
• Israel (Sep 28)
• Liberia (July 26)
• Mauritania (Apr 3)
• Mozambique (Jan 30)
• Nauru (Jun 27)
• Poland (Sep 25)
• Russian Federation (Sep 25)
• Swaziland (Sep 24)

Ratifications of the Optional Protocol:

• Benin (July 5)
• Djibouti (Jun 18)
• Dominica (Oct 1)
• Estonia (May 30)
• Ghana (July 31)
• Greece (May 31)
• Mauritania (Apr 3)
• Mozambique (Jan 30)
• Swaziland (Sep 24)

10. Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CED) (6)

The CED now has 36 state parties (ratifications) and 14 ratifications of the article 31 individual complaint procedure.  During 2012 there have been 6 new ratifications of the treaty itself and no new ratifications of the individual complaint procedure. 

• Austria (Jun 7)
• Bosnia & Herzegovina (Mar 30)
• Colombia (July 11)
• Costa Rica (Feb 16)
• Mauritania (Oct 3)
• Peru (Sep 26)

Conclusion

It is nice to see this much activity in the ratification of the existing international human rights treaties. It is an indication of how important and well-established the treaty system is today. But it signals even more workload for a system that is already overburdened. Efforts to find more resources and more support for the system are needed.