Professor Changrok Soh, the first South Korean member to be elected to the UN Human Rights Committee, has been part of the Committee since 2021. He participated in the 136th Session, in which he was responsible for the state review of the Philippines and the adoption of the List of Issues in relation to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Below you can find an overview of the session published by the NGO CCPR Centre.

Overview of the 136th Session of the Human Rights Committee (10 October - 4 November, 2022)

Human Rights Committee held its 136th session between 10 October and 4 November 2022

The Committee reviewed six countries on the application of the ICCPR, two of them without a State delegation, while the dialogue with Haiti was postponed.

● State reviews of six countries and adoption of LOIs

The Human Rights Committee conducted six reviews of periodic reports, two of them without State delegations, and adopted Concluding observations on the fifth report of the Philippines, the third report of Kyrgyzstan, the seventh report of Japan, the second report of Ethiopia. The Committee considered the fourth report of Nicaragua and the eighth report of the Russian Federation without the State delegations, and it still adopted Concluding observations. Moreover, the review of the second report of Haiti was postponed to the 139th session in October 2023 following the request of the State.
The Committee also adopted the List of Issues in relation to the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kuwait, and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

● Reviews in absentia

After two postponements, the Human Rights Committee went on and considered the eighth report of Russia in the absence of the State delegation. The review of the report was initially scheduled to take place in the 134th session, but it was postponed to the 135th session, in which Russia requested a postponement once again.
Moreover, the review of the fourth report of Nicaragua was also conducted in the absence of the State delegation. The Committee regretted the lack of response of the State, more concerning given that it also did not engage with the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Committee against Torture, or the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

● Follow-up to Concluding Observations and Views

The Committee adopted a report on Follow-up to Concluding Observations concerning Algeria, Angola, Bulgaria, and Vietnam. 
The reports on Follow-up will be available soon here (https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=2575&Lang=en).

● Decisions adopted on Individual communications

The Committee adopted 63 decisions on individual communications. From these, 19 cases were decided on merits (all with violations), 5 cases were declared inadmissible, 10 cases decided on the admissibility, and 29 were discontinued (9 with satisfactory settlement).