Professor Changrok Soh, the first South Korean member to be elected as the Vice-chair of the UN Human Rights Committee, has been part of the Committee since 2021. He participated in the 141st Session, in which he was responsible for the State Review of Croatia and Malta, and the LOIPR on Sierra Leone. Below you can find an overview of the session published by the NGO Center for Civil and Political Rights (CCPR Centre).
Overview of the 141st Session of the Human Rights Committee (01 - 23 March, 2024)
The Committee reviewed seven countries on the application of the ICCPR. India was reviewed for the first time since 1997, while the delegation of Syria opted to participate online from Damascus.
State Reviews of Seven Countries and Adoption of LOIs
The Human Rights Committee was still able to review the periodic reports and adopted concluding observations for seven countries: Croatia, Malta, Honduras, Maldives, Suriname, Syria, and India. The Committee also adopted the List of Issues in relation to Chad, and the List of issues prior to reporting of Austria, Costa Rica, Cote Di’Ivoire and Sierra Leone.
This session followed the elections in May at the 40th Meeting of State Parties in New York. Five current Committee members were re-elected and four new members were selected and will join the Committee in 2025.
Follow-up to Concluding Observations and Views
The Committee adopted a Follow-up report to Concluding Observations concerning Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, and Lao People's Democratic Republic. The report on Follow-up will be available soon here. The presentation and adoption of the Follow-up report on Views was postponed to the next Committee session.
Decisions adopted on Individual communications
The Committee adopted XX decisions, XX were decided on the merits, X cases were declared inadmissible, and XX communications were discontinued. Regarding the cases which were decided on the merits, the Committee found: XX violations. At the end of the session, the Committee informed that there has been a violation of the Covenant in XX (XX%) of the XX Views that it had adopted since 1977.
Next on the agenda
The next 142nd session will be held from 14 October to 8 November 2024. The Committee will review Ecuador, France, Greece, Iceland, Pakistan, and Türkiye. It will also adopt the List of Issues of Latvia and the List of Issues Prior to Reporting of Benin, Cameroon, Monaco, Poland, Slovenia, and South Africa.
Regarding the countries that will be reviewed under the follow-up procedure to Concluding Observations, they are not available yet.