UN Human Rights Committee Prepares to Review Antigua and Barbuda’s Civil and Political Rights Record

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The Human Rights Committee this morning adopted its annual report on the work of its one hundred and forty-first (1-23 July 2024), one hundred and forty-second (14 October-7 November 2024), and one hundred and forty-third sessions (3-28 March 2025). 

Introducing the report, Ivan Šimonović, Committee Rapporteur, said that as of 26 March 2025, 174 States were parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 116 States were parties to the Optional Protocol to the Covenant on individual communications, and 92 States were parties to the Second Optional Protocol, on the abolition of the death penalty.  Côte d’Ivoire and Zambia had acceded to the Second Optional Protocol in May and December 2024 respectively. 

Country report task forces met during the three sessions to consider and adopt lists of issues on the reports of Chad and Latvia and lists of issues prior to reporting for Antigua and Barbuda, Austria, Barbados, Benin, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, the Dominican Republic, Jordan, Mauritius, Monaco, New Zealand, Poland, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and South Africa.

At its one hundred and forty-first session, the Committee adopted concluding observations on Croatia, Honduras, India, Maldives, Malta, Suriname and the Syrian Arab Republic.  At its one hundred and forty-second session, the Committee adopted concluding observations on Ecuador, France, Greece, Iceland, Pakistan and Türkiye.  At its one hundred and forty-third session, the Committee would adopt concluding observations on Albania, Burkina Faso, Mongolia, Montenegro and Zimbabwe.  The review of Haiti had been postponed to the Committee’s next session, due to the human rights situation in the country. 

During the one hundred and forty-first session, the Special Rapporteur for follow-up on concluding observations submitted interim reports to the Committee.  During that session, the Committee reviewed the following States parties under the follow-up process: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Liberia, and Lao People’s Democratic Republic.

Regarding communications, at its one hundred and forty-first session, the Committee examined 21 drafts concerning 63 communications: 53 communications were decided on the merits, 10 were declared inadmissible and 32 were closed. Regarding communications decided on the merits, the Committee found violations in 51 of them.  At its one hundred and forty-second session, the Committee examined 19 drafts concerning 308 communications: 287 were decided on the merits, 10 were declared inadmissible and 11 were closed.  With regard to the communications for which a decision was taken on the merits, the Committee found violations in 287 of them. At its one hundred and forty-third session, the Committee examined 19 drafts concerning 66 communications: 38 were decided on the merits, five were declared inadmissible and 23 were closed. The Committee found violations in 37 of the communications for which decisions were taken on the merits.  The Committee had successfully started applying its multifaceted strategy aimed at ending the high number of communications pending consideration and adoption.  Mr. Šimonović reiterated the Committee’s concern regarding the lack of resources and emphasised the importance of allocating adequate staff resources to service its sessions. 

Following the presentation, various Committee experts took the floor, thanking the Rapporteur for his work on the report.  A speaker said that the Committee’s follow-up procedure allowed the Committee to remain in a dialogue with States parties on the implementation of the Covenant. States parties that had been under the Committee’s review were invited to submit their follow-up information and continue the dialogue.  The liquidity crisis was challenging, a speaker noted, and the Committee was approaching a point where it would be difficult to continue the high quality of their work without the required resources.  The Committee was sometimes the last beacon of hope for persons from countries to obtain legal redress outside their own legal system.  The report was worth being shared more broadly and could be further developed and enhanced, another speaker said. 

The Committee then adopted the annual report, before closing the meeting.

The Human Rights Committee’s one hundred and forty-third session is being held from 3 to 28 March 2025.  All the documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session’s webpageOpens in new window.  Meeting summary releases can be found here.  The webcast of the Committee’s public meetings can be accessed via the UN Web TV webpageOpens in new window.

The Committee will next meet in public at 11 a.m. on Friday 28 March to close its one hundred and forty-third session.

Produced by the United Nations Information Service in Geneva for use of the media; 
not an official record. English and French versions of our releases are different as they are the product of two separate coverage teams that work independently.

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