International Human Rights and the International Human Rights System A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions • the name of the person(s) or organization(s) submitting the communication • the date and place of the incident that is the subject of the complaint • a detailed description of the circumstances of the incident. A complaint can be directed to a specific mechanism, such as the HRC complaints procedure, or a specific SP or a specific TMB. Alternatively, the complaint can be sent to the Office of the United Nations Human Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva, where staff will determine the most appropriate mechanism for the complaint and then refer it to that mechanism. 3. HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL COMPLAINT PROCEDURE243 3.1. The nature of the procedure Although, when it was established, the former Commission in Human Rights was explicitly denied authority to deal with complaints of human rights violations, it received so many complaints that it was later given a limited mandate for this, known as the “1503 Procedure” after the ECOSOC resolution that authorized it.244 In establishing the HRC, the GA decided that the new body should maintain a complaints system.245 The HRC reviewed the 1503 Procedure during its institution building year (2006– 07) and adopted, as part of its institution building package, a procedure that was little different.246 In discussing the HRC’s complaints system, it is important to recognize what the system is not. It is not a judicial process that results in a binding, enforceable determination of a complaint of a human rights violation. It does not provide remedies to victims and it does not punish perpetrators. It does not even make a public finding on whether there has been a violation. And it does not deal with individual complaints individually, but only collectively where they constitute “consistent patterns of gross and reliably attested violations of all human rights and all fundamental freedoms”.247 A “consistent pattern” can be established by one broad complaint that alleges and provides evidence of such a pattern or by a number of complaints of individual violations that together reveal the possibility of a “consistent pattern”. The procedure is a confidential procedure “with a view to enhancing cooperation with the State concerned”.248 It is intended to be “impartial, objective, efficient, victims-oriented and conducted in a timely manner”.249 However, in fact, it is subject to the politics of the HRC, takes several years to reach any conclusions (if at all) and cannot provide any remedy for individual victims. Nonetheless, it provides a useful way to bring a human rights situation to international attention and to build moral and political pressure on violating States to meet their human rights obligations. 3.2. Admissibility To be admissible to the HRC complaint procedure, a complaint must: • not be manifestly politically motivated or inconsistent with the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights instruments • give a factual description of the violations and the rights allegedly violated • not be abusive • be submitted by or on behalf of victims • not be exclusively based on media reports 243 For information about the HRC’s complaints procedure, see: www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/Complaint.aspx. 244 Economic and Social Council resolution 1503 (XLVIII) of 27 May 1970, as modified by ECOSOC Resolution 2000/3 of 16 June 2000; cf Economic and Social Council Resolution 1235 (LXII). 245 GA Resolution 60/251; para. 6. 246 HRC Resolution 5/1, adopted on 18 June 2007. 247 HRC Resolution 5/1; para. 85. 248 HRC Resolution 5/1; para. 86. 249 HRC Resolution 5/1; para. 86. 86 | Chapter 13: International complaint procedures