A private individual or a member of a group of private individuals may submit a communication to one of the treaty bodies or committees of the independent experts of the United Nations (the UN Committee) if the individual regards that he or she has personally and directly been a victim of a violation of a right guaranteed under a UN human rights treaty or its Optional Protocol.

The complaint procedure before the UN Committees may be especially interesting for the individuals, whose rights were violated by the state not being party to the European Convention on Human Rights. For example, the Republic of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and, starting from 16 September 2022, the Russian Federation belong to the states not being the parties of the human rights protection system of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In addition, it is to note that in certain cases the UN Committee may consider the complaint if the European Court of Human Rights dismissed (took the inadmissibility decision) the similar complaint on the procedural grounds.

Currently, there are eight UN Committees, which, under certain conditions, receive and consider individual complaints, i.e.:

1. The Human Rights Committee (HRC) may consider individual communications alleging violations of the rights set forth in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR);
2. The Committee against Torture (CAT) may consider individual complaints alleging violations of the rights set out in the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (the Convention against Torture);
3. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) may consider individual communications alleging violations of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR);
4. The Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) may consider individual communications alleging violations of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women;
5. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) may consider individual petitions alleging violations of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination;
6. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) may consider individual communications alleging violations of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by States parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention;
7. The Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) may consider individual communications alleging violations of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance;
8. The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) may receive and consider individual communications alleging violations of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Protocols.

It is to highlight that the individual complaint can be lodged only against the state, which ratified the covenant/convention itself and the complaint procedure under the relevant UN covenant or convention. For example, the complaint can be lodged against the Russian Federation under the ICCPR, but it cannot be lodged under the ICESCR, since the Russian Federation did not ratify the Optional Protocol to the latter Covenant as regards the individual complaint procedure. Thus, it should be always verified whether the complaint about the violation of particular rights can be lodged against the particular state.

Similar to the procedure under the European Convention on Human Rights, the complaint can be lodged after exhaustion of the available remedies at the national level and within a certain period after the final national decision or the conclusion of another procedure of international investigation or settlement.

The periods for lodging the complaint vary depending on the covenant/convention. For example, under the ICCPR a communication may be declared inadmissible as abuse of the right of petition, “when it is submitted after 5 years from the exhaustion of domestic remedies by the author of the communication, or, where applicable, after 3 years from the conclusion of another procedure of international investigation or settlement, unless there are reasons justifying the delay taking into account all the circumstances of the communication”. Certain UN covenants and conventions (the Convention against Torture for example) do not include any precise deadlines for submitting the individual complaint. However, even in such a case the UN Committees advise and request to submit the complaint as soon as possible after the exhaustion of domestic remedies, since the delay in submitting the case may make it difficult for the state party to respond properly and for the UN Committee to evaluate the factual background thoroughly; the UN Committee may consider it inefficient to consider the complaint if the time elapsed since the exhaustion of domestic remedies is so unreasonably prolonged as to render consideration of the complaint by the UN Committee unduly difficult.

The UN Committees examine and take the decisions concerning the violation of the rights based on facts and arguments set forth in the complaint, the documents submitted with it and exchange of the observations by the applicant and the state in the process of consideration of the complaint by the relevant UN Committee. If the UN Committee finds the violation of the applicant’s rights under the covenant/convention, it demands the state party to provide redress for the applicant, which may include compensation and taking of the individual measures to stop the violation.

The majority of the complaints are received by the HRC under the ICCPR. The scope of the ICCPR is very similar to the European Convention on Human Rights. In its turn, the CAT deals with the complaints about prohibition of torture and other forms of ill-treatment; most complaints against the “refoulement” (return of the applicant to the state where he or she would be in danger of being subjected to torture) are lodged with this UN Committee.

The UN Committees have also the competency to order to the state to apply the interim measures at any stage of the procedure before the UN Committee in order to prevent actions that cannot later be undone (for example, extradition to a country where the applicant would face a risk of torture). The request for the interim measure should be lodged together with the complaint or later in the proceedings, if the complaint has been registered.

It is to note that the complaint should be lodged in one of the official languages of the United Nations (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish). The essential documents submitted together with the complaint or their summary should be provided in the translation into one of the official languages as well.

Finally, it is to highlight that for the individuals whose rights are violated by the states not being party to the UN covenants/conventions and/or their complaint mechanism, the United Nations propose alternative complaint procedures such as:

• the Human Rights Council Complaint Procedure dealing with the gross and reliably attested violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms;
• the special procedures of the Human Rights Council being the independent human rights experts, who may consider and take certain actions in respect of any state as regards the individual complaints about the violation of human rights. Within their mandate, the special procedures send the letters to the governments on allegations of human rights violations they have received. Where necessary, the experts request that the concerned authorities take action to prevent or stop the violation, investigate it, bring to justice those responsible and make sure that remedies are available to the victims or their families. The letters of the special procedures have the advisory character. This complaint procedure can be quite useful in case of the pending proceedings of deportation/extradition to the state in question, since the letter of the special procedure attesting the violation of the rights might serve a good argument against the extradition/deportation to the state in question.

The Law company of Yegor BOYCHENKO provides the following services of lodging complaints and conducting cases in the UN Committees and under other UN procedures regarding the protection of human rights:

• Analysis of documents and advice as regards submitting an individual complaint to the UN Committees or the use of another UN special procedure;
• Preparation and submission of a complaint to the UN Committee, including a request for interim measures:
  • correct statement of facts;
  • correct statement of violations of the UN covenants/conventions;
  • correct filling in of the communication formв.
• Intervening and participating in the case at the stage of exchange of observations on the complaint between the applicant and the respondent state:
  • correspondence with the relevant UN Committee in one of the UN official languages;
  • preparation and submission of the observations on the part of the applicant in one of the UN official languages.
• Preparation and submission of complaints under the UN special procedures.