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The States Parties to the present Protocol,
Considering that in order
further to achieve the purposes of the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights (hereinafter referred to as the Covenant)
and the implemenation of its provisions it would be appropriate
to enable the Human Rights Committee set up in part IV of the Covenant
(hereinafter referred to as the Committee) to receive and consider,
as provided in the present Protocol, communications from individuals
claiming to be victims of violations of any of the rights set forth
in the Covenant,
Have agreed as follows:
Article 1
A State Party to the Covenant that
becomes a Party to the present Protocol recognizes the competence
of the Committee to receive and consider communications from individuals
subject to its jurisdiction who claim to be victims of a violation
by that State Party of any of the rights set forth in the Covenant.
No communication shall be received by the Committee if it concerns
a State Party to the Covenant which is not a Party to the present
Protocol.
Article 2
Subject to the provisions of article
1, individuals who claim that any of their rights enumerated in
the Covenant have been violated and who have exhausted all available
domestic remedies may submit a written communication to the Committee
for consideration.
Article 3
The Committee shall consider inadmissible
any communciation under the present Protocol which is anonymous,
or which it considers to be an abuse of the right of submission
of such communications or to be incompatible with the provisions
of the Covenant.
Article 4
1. Subject to the provisions of article
3, the Committee shall bring any communications submitted to it
under the present Protocol to the attention of the State Party to
the present Protocol alleged to be violating any provision of the
Covenant.
2. Within six months, the receiving
State shall submit to the Committee written explanations or statements
clarifying the matter and the remedy, if any, that may have been
taken by that State.
Article 5
1. The Committee shall consider communications
received under the present Protocol in the light of all written
information made available to it by the individual and by the State
Party concerned.
2. The Committee shall not consider
any communication from an individual unless it has ascertained that:
(a) The same matter is not being
examined under another procedure of international investigation
or settlement;
(b) The individual has exhausted
all available domestic remedies. This shall not be the rule where
the application of the remedies is unreasonably prolonged.
3. The Committee shall hold closed
meetings when examining communications under the present Protocol.
4. The Committee shall forward its
views to the State Party concerned and to the individual.
Article 6
The Committee shall include in its
annual report under article 45 of the Covenant a summary of its
activities under the present Protocol.
Article 7
Pending the achievement of the objectives
of resolution 1514(XV) adopted by the General Assembly of the United
Nations on 14 December 1960 concerning the Declaration on the Granting
of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, the provisions
of the present Protocol shall in no way limit the right of petition
granted to these peoples by the Charter of the United Nations and
other international conventions and instruments under the United
Nations and its specialized agencies.
Article 8
1. The present Protocol is open for
signature by any State which has signed the Covenant.
2. The present Protocol is subject
to ratification by any State which has ratified or acceded to the
Covenant. Instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the
Secretary-General of the United Nations.
3. The present Protocol shall be
open to accession by any State which has ratified or acceded to
the Covenant.
4. Accession shall be effected by
the deposit of an instrument of accession with the Secretary-General
of the United Nations.
5. The Secretary-General of the United
Nations shall inform all States which have signed the present Protocol
or acceded to it of the deposit of each instrument of ratification
or accession.
Article 9
1. Subject to the entry into force
of the Covenant, the present Protocol shall enter into force three
months after the date of the deposit with the Secretary-General
of the United Nations of the tenth instrument of ratification or
instrument of accession.
2. For each State ratifying the present
Protocol or acceding to it after the deposit of the tenth instrument
of ratification or instrument of accession, the present Protocol
shall enter into force three months after the date of the deposit
of its own instrument of ratification or instrument of accession.
Article 10
The provisions of the present Protocol
shall extend to all parts of federal States without any limitations
or exceptions.
Article 11
1. Any State Party to the present
Protocol may propose an amendment and file it with the Secretary-General
of the United Nations. The Secretary-General shall thereupon communicate
any proposed amendments to the States Parties to the present Protocol
with a request that they notify him whether they favour a conference
of States Parties for the purpose of considering and voting upon
the proposal. In the event that at least one third of the States
Parties favours such a conference, the Secretary-General shall convene
the conference under the auspices of the United Nations. Any amendment
adopted by a majority of the States Parties present and voting at
the conference shall be submitted to the General Assembly of the
United Nations for approval.
2. Amendments shall come into force
when they have been approved by the General Assembly of the United
Nations and accepted by a two-thirds majority of the States Parties
to the present Protocol in accordance with their respective constitutional
processes.
3. When amendments come into force,
they shall be binding on those States Parties which have accepted
them, other States Parties still being bound by the provisions of
the present Protocol and any earlier amendment which they have accepted.
Article 12
1. Any State Party may denounce the
present Protocol at any time by written notification addressed to
the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Denunciation shall
take effect three months after the date of receipt of the notification
by the Secretary-General.
2. Denunciation shall be without
prejudice to the continued application of the provisions of the
present Protocol to any communication submitted under article 2
before the effective date of denunciation.
Article 13
Irrespective of the notifications
made under article 8, paragraph 5, of the present Protocol, the
Secretary-General of the United Nations shall inform all States
referred to in article 48, paragraph 1, of the Covenant of the following
particulars:
(a) Signatures, ratifications and
accessions under article 8;
(b) The date of the entry into
force of the present Protocol under article 9 and the date of
the entry into force of any amendments under article 11;
(c) Denunciations under article
12.
Article 14
1. The present Protocol, of which
the Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally
authentic, shall be deposited in the archives of the United Nations.
2. The Secretary-General of the United
Nations shall transmit certified copies of the present Protocol
to all States referred to in article 48 of the Covenant.
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