II. PARTICULARITIES OF THE PROCEDURES UNDER THE DIFFERENT TREATIES A. Procedure under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted in 1966, covers a broad range of civil and political rights, such as the right to life, the right to a fair trial, freedom of expression, equality before the law and prohibition of discrimination. The individual rights that may be invoked before the Human Rights Committee are set out in Part III of the Covenant (arts. 6–27). The complaint mechanism for alleged violations of those articles is established by the first Optional Protocol to the Covenant, a separate treaty open to State parties to the Covenant. States that have become a party to the Optional Protocol recognize the competence of the Human Rights Committee—a panel of 18 independent experts that meets three times a year—to receive complaints from persons within their jurisdiction alleging violations of their rights under the Covenant.14 Additional pointers Complaints under the Optional Protocol to the Covenant that contain the necessary prima facie elements are referred to the Committee’s Special Rapporteur on new communications and interim measures, who decides whether the case should be registered and transmitted to the State party for comment. Given the large number of complaints submitted to the Committee, there may be a delay of several years between the initial submission and the Committee’s final decision. Under the Optional Protocol, there is no time limit for submitting complaints to the Committee. However, in order to prevent possible abuse in this respect, the Committee introduced a rule in its rules of procedure regarding delays in submission. According to current rule 96 (c), a delay in submission will not automatically constitute an abuse of the right of submission. However, there might be abuse if the complaint is submitted after five years from the exhaustion of domestic remedies or, where applicable, after three years from the conclusion of another procedure of international investigation or settlement, unless there are reasons justifying the delay taking into account all the circumstances of the case. The Human Rights Committee cannot examine a complaint if the same matter is being examined at the same time by another mechanism of international For more information on the Human Rights Committee, see OHCHR Fact Sheet No. 15 or the Committee’s web page: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/index.htm (accessed 28 March 2013). 14 13