Due to the humanitarian component of the Working Group’s mandate, domestic remedies do not need to be exhausted before bringing a case to its attention. A case submitted to the Working Group can also be submitted to the European Court of Human Rights, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Human Rights Committee, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights or similar judicial or quasi-judicial international bodies. The form to submit individual cases to the Working Group is reproduced in annex I to this Fact Sheet. E. Handling of cases Newly reported cases of disappearance are put before the Working Group for detailed examination during its sessions. Those which fulfil the requirements as outlined above are transmitted to the Governments concerned, with a request to carry out investigations and to inform the Working Group of the results. The cases are normally communicated by letter from the Working Group’s Chairperson to the Government concerned through the country’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations at Geneva. However, cases that occurred less than three months earlier are transmitted directly to the country’s Minister for Foreign Affairs by the most direct and rapid means. As indicated above, this is referred to as the urgent action procedure. Such communications can be authorized by the Chairperson on the basis of specific authority delegated to him or her by the Working Group. Cases which occurred before the three-month limit but not more than one year ago can be transmitted between sessions by letter, upon authorization by the Chairperson, provided that they have some connection with a case which occurred within the three-month period. Reports indicating that officials from one country were directly responsible for or involved in a disappearance in another country, or in cases where officials from more than one country were directly responsible for or involved in the disappearance, would be communicated to all Governments concerned. However, the case would be counted only in the statistics of the country in which the person was reportedly arrested, detained, abducted or last seen. 17