A/76/44
to the Convention have declared that they recognize the competence of the Committee to
receive and consider complaints under article 22 of the Convention. No complaint may be
considered by the Committee if it concerns a State party to the Convention that has not
recognized the Committee’s competence under article 22.
43.
The post of Rapporteur on new complaints and interim measures, established in
accordance with rule 104, paragraph 1, of the Committee’s rules of procedure, is currently
held by Mr. Rodríguez-Pinzón.
44.
Complaints under article 22 of the Convention are considered in closed meetings. All
documents relating to the work of the Committee under article 22, that is, submissions from
the parties and other working documents of the Committee, are confidential.
45.
The Committee decides on a complaint in the light of all the information made
available to it by the parties. The findings of the Committee are communicated to the parties
and are made available to the public. The text of the Committee’s decisions declaring
complaints inadmissible or discontinuing the examination of a case are also made public,
without disclosing the identity of the complainant, but identifying the State party concerned.
B.
Interim measures of protection
46.
Complainants frequently request preventive protection. Pursuant to rule 114,
paragraph 1, of its rules of procedure, at any time after the receipt of a complaint the
Committee, through its Rapporteur on new complaints and interim measures, may transmit
to the State party concerned a request to take such interim measures as the Committee
considers necessary to avoid irreparable damage to an individual or individuals. The State
party is to be informed that such a request does not imply a determination of the admissibility
or the merits of the complaint. During the reporting period, requests for interim measures of
protection were received in 57 complaints that were registered, of which 42 were granted by
the Rapporteur on new complaints and interim measures, who regularly monitors the
compliance by States parties with such requests.
C.
Progress of work
47.
As at 28 April 2021, the Committee had registered, since 1989, 1,068 complaints
concerning 42 States parties.14 Of those, 334 complaints had been discontinued and 117 had
been declared inadmissible. The Committee had adopted final decisions on the merits in 398
complaints and found violations of the Convention in 158 of them. Some 219 complaints
were pending consideration. All the Committee’s decisions on the merits, those declaring a
complaint inadmissible and discontinuance decisions can be found in the treaty body case
law database,15 on the OHCHR website16 and in the Official Document System of the United
Nations.17
48.
Between 27 November and 30 December 2020, the Committee held an online intersessional meeting, during which it examined 25 complaints. The Committee found four
communications, F.K. v. Denmark (CAT/C/70/D/743/2016), J.D. v. Switzerland
(CAT/C/70/D/819/2017), H.T. v. Switzerland (CAT/C/70/D/888/2018) and Z.S. v. Georgia
(CAT/C/70/D/915/2019), inadmissible. It discontinued the consideration of 20
communications: V.A. v. Kazakhstan (CAT/C/70/D/638/2014), S.V. v. Russian Federation
(CAT/C/70/D/660/2015), J.S. v. Canada (CAT/C/70/D/684/2015), G.S. v. Canada
(CAT/C/70/D/705/2015), A.S. v. Canada (CAT/C/70/D/728/2016), S.V. v. Australia
(CAT/C/70/D/740/2016), J.L. v. Canada (CAT/C/70/D/741/2016), C.C. v. Switzerland
(CAT/C/70/D/808/2017), B.S. v. Canada (CAT/C/70/D/838/2017), T.Ç. and M.E.Ç. v.
Georgia (CAT/C/70/D/861/2018), R.K.K. v. Switzerland (CAT/C/70/D/870/2018), B.K. et al.
14
15
16
17
The complaints examined by the Committee in relation to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia are
attributed to Serbia for statistical purposes.
See http://juris.ohchr.org/.
See www.ohchr.org/.
See http://documents.un.org/prod/ods.nsf/home.xsp.
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