8.5 Finally, with respect to the alleged violation of article 26, the State party refers to the decision of the Court of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles of 24 February 1984 and argues that the Court's considerations do not reveal that Mr. Croes was discriminated against. 9.1 Commenting on the State party's submission, the author's heirs, in a submission dated 29 June 1988, maintain that their father's initial allegations are well founded and that he did indeed exhaust all the domestic remedies available to him. They claim in particular that the State party's argument that the author should have initiated civil proceedings against the Netherlands does not address his concerns, since monetary compensation cannot do away with the human rights violations of which the author was a victim, and which, in their opinion, still warrant criminal prosecution. Furthermore, they claim that Mr. Croes did not have to invoke international treaty norms and the obligations of the State party , since the courts should have applied them ex officio. They claim, in that context, that the author, in his memorandum to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands dated 10 January 1984, did, in fact, invoke the Covenant. 9.2 With respect to the alleged violation of articles 6 and 9, paragraph 1, the author's heirs reiterate that the shot fired by [name deleted] which wounded the author was part of a premeditated plot against the author's life. They affirm that the "heavily armed police corps" intended to "victimize" the unarmed MEP loyalists, to cause Aruban citizens to turn against Aruban citizens, which in turn would provide a pretext to postpone the elections scheduled by the Government of the Netherlands Antilles. They deny that MEP supporters acted in any way that could be construed as aggressive during the motorcade and affirm that the parade was held following discussions with the highest police officer on duty on 24 April 1983. 9.3 With respect to the alleged violations of articles 19 and 21, the author's heirs claim that the State party's argumentation reflects an exceedingly narrow interpretation of the scope of these articles. They take issue with the State party's submissions concerning article 21 (see para. 8.4 above) and reiterate that the motorcade was broken up only after it had proceeded for several hours and covered approximately 20 miles, and that there was no danger of crossing the motorcade of a rival political party. Thus there was no basis for prohibiting and/or breaking up the parade. 9.4 Concerning an alleged violation of article 25, the author's heirs challenge without further substantiation the State party's claim that the rights of the author and of his party were in no way restricted. In respect of article 26, finally, they maintain that, under the pretext of justice, the author did suffer from discrimination because of the inadequate investigation of the shooting incident and the authorities' efforts to hold back evidence. In other words, the discrimination is said to have consisted in the authorities' attempt to "cover up" the case of the police officer. 10. Pursuant to rule 93, paragraph 4 of its provisional rules of procedure and in accordance with its decision of 25 October 1985, the Human Rights Committee has reviewed its decision on admissibility of 25 October 1985. On the basis of the additional information provided by the State party in its submission of 16 May 1986, the Committee concludes that there would have been effective remedies available to the author both with respect to the shooting incident and the break-up of the motorcade. The Committee has stressed on previous occasions that remedies, the availability of which is not evident, cannot be invoked by the State party to the detriment of the author in proceedings under the Optional Protocol (Communication No. 113/1981, decision of 12 April 1985, para. 10.1). In this case, however, the Committee comes to the conclusion that remedies were evident. It would have been open to Mr. Croes to institute civil proceedings against the State party and to claim compensation for the damages suf- fered as a result of the alleged failure of the State party to fulfil its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It is true that he claimed that this type of recourse would not address his concerns. In this context, the Committee observes that although States parties are obliged to investigate in good faith allegations of human rights violations, criminal proceedings would not be the only available remedy. Accordingly, the Committee cannot accept the argument of the author and his heirs that proceedings before the Aruban courts, other than those leading to the criminal prosecution of the policeman, do not constitute effective remedies within the meaning of article 5, paragraph 2 (b), of the Optional Protocol. The Committee adds that the authors'complaint could 32

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents