In the instance where it is necessary, the UN Human Rights Council has made it possible for complaints to be lodged to address a matter that it is felt needs their attention. The process for this can take anywhere between a few months to a half year, if not longer, and involves multiple parties and potential outcomes.
Who can make a complaint?
Any individual, group of individuals, or NGOs. The complaint cannot be anonymous, though confidentiality will be maintained throughout the process, to ensure the security of the party issuing the complaint.
Against whom can a complaint be lodged?
A complaint can be submitted against any of the 193 member states of the United Nations.
Complaint Admission Criteria
The UN has a strict set of criteria that needs to be met for any complaint to be accepted, properly processed, and addressed:
- Domestic remedies must have been exhausted, unless those options are provably ineffective or take unreasonable lengths of time to action (“unreasonably prolonged”)
- It must be in writing in one of the six official UN languages: Spanish, Russian, English, French, Chinese, and Arabic.
- It must contain a description of relevant facts, including the names of alleged victims, dates, location of events, and any other evidence available, and with as much detail as possible.
- It must not be politically motivated or based on media reports.
- It must not include or involve the use of abusive of insulting language.
- The matter must not already be under examination by a special procedure, treaty body, or other UN group.
How To Submit a Complaint
The UN accepts two methods for lodging complaints: by email and by post. Complaints lodged via email will have a faster response than any made via physical mail and post offices. The UN will also only reply with a confirmation letter and nothing else while they investigate the issue.
Processing a Request
Following the submission of a request, the submitting party will receive a notice confirming that the UN has received their request. Afterwards, the complaint will then go through a screening process involving one if not two different groups – the Working Group On Communications and the Working Group On Situations, each of whom convene at different times of the year to process and discuss complaints and related matters.
The Initial Screening
Once a complaint has been issued, it will go through an initial screening, wherein the Chairman of the Working Group on Communications and the Secretariat will vet the communications against expected submission requirements. Complaints that meet the criteria will then be “submitted to the State concerned to obtain their views on the allegations of violations” reported.
Stage 1: Undergoing Consideration by the Working Group on Communications
If the Chairman and Secretariat consider the complaint valid and it meets the expected requirements, it will then be passed on to the Working Group on Communications, who will consider the report and review the complaint and responses from the State against which the complaint was issued.
Potential Outcomes
During this second stage, in its review sessions, which are held twice a year (in February and August), the Working Group on Communications may take one of three options:
- Dismiss the complaint
- Keep the matter of the complaint open as it seeks further information from either the submitting party or the accused state.
- Refer the case and any recommendations on to the Working Group On Situations.
Stage 2: Undergoing Consideration by the Working Group on Situations
The Working Group on Situations is tasked with presenting the Human Rights Council with reports of “consistent patterns of gross and reliably attested violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms”. This group, like the Working Group On Communications, meets twice a year – in April and October, to examine cases presented to it by the Working Group on Communications.
Potential Outcomes
Matters presented before the Working Group On Situations may have three different outcomes during their sessions:
- Halt further considerations on the matter
- Maintain an open or pending status for further review, with the allowance of supplementary information
- Should the matter meet the appropriate criteria regarding “gross and reliably attested” violations of freedoms and human rights, the Working Group on Situations will refer the matter to the Human Rights Council.
Stage 3: Consideration by the Human Rights Council
The meetings held by the UN Human Rights Council are, unless stated otherwise, always closed, and occur at a minimum of once per year.
Consideration of a matter by the Human Rights Council is the final stage of the process, and can have several different outcomes.
- If further action is not needed, the matter may be dismissed.
- Keep the matter in an open review state pending further information from the accused state.
- Maintain an ‘under review’ status for the case while an independent expert nation monitors the matter and reports outcomes to the council.
- Discontinue any further confidential reviews and make the matter public.
- Advice the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to provide the accused state with capacity building.
Complaint Solutions
In the instances where accused states have taken actions to amend their mistakes and address and resolve human rights violations, the actions that can be taken (based on past outcomes) include:
- Conducting independent investigations, accepting visits from and actualising recommendations from UN personal or Universal Periodic Reviews of the Human Rights Council, and/or aligning policies and legislation with international human rights standards.
- Denying removal of citizenship
- Providing reparations to victims of human rights violations
- Reducing prison sentences and releasing political opponents and detainees
- Eliminating the death penalty for minors
Failure To Progress On An Application
Should any of the committees involved in progressing a complaint determine that the application ought not to progress forward due to failing to meet prerequisite criteria or requirements, the matter can be dismissed. Should this occur, appeals cannot be made against these decisions.
Calendar of Sessions
Each of the two working main working groups involved in processing submissions meets twice a year to review all matters and issues. The Working Group for Communications convenes in February and August of each year, while the Working Group for Situations meets in April and October of each year.
