The 1503 Procedure

What is the 1503 procedure?

Main features and usefulness of the procedure

What the 1503 procedure can do to assist you

How the procedure works

Who are the people who examine complaints under the 1503 procedure?

Who can submit a complaint?

How to submit a complaint

Other important information

Further information about the 1503 procedure

What is the 1503 Procedure

 The 1503 procedure is a universal mechanism. It applies in respect of all countries in the world.

The 1503 Procedure is named after the resolution of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights which established it. It enables 2 bodies of the UN - the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection on Human Rights and the Commission on Human Rights - to examine complaints which appear to show consistent patterns of gross and reliably attested human rights violations received from individuals or NGOs. 

Consistent pattern
In order to show a consistent pattern, the communication should refer to a substantial number of violations against different individuals. In the past, the Commission on Human Rights has decided that as few as 6 or 7 cases of prolonged administrative detention were sufficient to show a consistent pattern.

Gross violations
Gross violations are very serious violations of human rights. They include torture, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions (killings), arbitrary or summary executions (for example carrying out of the death penalty after an unfair trial), widespread arbitrary imprisonment or lengthy detention without charge or trial and widespread denial of the right to leave a country.

Reliably attested violations
The allegations of violations must be reliably attested, which means backed up by credible evidence.

Violations of any of the human rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights can be examined under this procedure.
For the full text of the UDHR available in many languages click here

 Main features and usefulness of the procedure

This procedure has 2 main features. It examines the human rights situation in specific countries and it is confidential.

 1          Examination of the human rights ‘situation’ in a country

This procedure examines the human rights situation in countries. It does not examine individual cases.
When a large number of individual cases are received which, taken together, seem to show a pattern of gross and reliably attested violations of human rights, the UN may decide to examine the situation in that country. 

This procedure is useful if:  

You have evidence of a substantial number of violations against different individuals or evidence of a serious violation of human rights against one person and wish to draw attention to the human rights situation in a particular country, rather than to an individual case, because: 

  • You think the UN should focus on the underlying problems in the country rather than an individual case.
  • The victim of the violation wants the UN to examine the situation in the country rather than the details of what happened to him or her.  

This procedure is not useful if:  

You, or the person you represent, has been the victim of a violation of human rights and you want an international mechanism to investigate the case. If you are looking for such a mechanism, the 1503 procedure is not for you. You should consult the other mechanisms listed in this manual. To do so, click here. Use your browser's "back" button to return to this page.  

2                    Confidentiality

In its early stages, the 1503 procedure is confidential. It involves communications between the UN and the state under examination which are not made public. Individuals or NGOs which submit complaints are not informed of any action taken regarding their complaint. Usually, the only communication they receive from the UN is a letter acknowledging receipt of their complaint.  

The confidential nature of the 1503 Procedure has 2 major consequences:

  • Once a collection of  individual complaints are examined by the UN under this confidential procedure, the state concerned may argue that those individual complaints should not be examined by other public mechanisms at the same time. Therefore, if you submit a complaint or a number of complaints under this procedure and then try to submit those complaints to other mechanisms (such as a Special Rapporteur) the state concerned may protest and ask those mechanisms not to accept your complaint.
  • No details of the UN’s examination of a state under this procedure are made public until the final stages of an examination. The shortest delay within which the final stages can take place is 1 year after the UN first received the individual communication. Therefore, there will be no publicity about any examination the UN may undertake for at least a year.

This procedure is not useful if:

You plan to send your complaint to a number of different mechanisms or if your primary goal is to get publicity for your complaint, as only a very small number of examinations carried out under this procedure are finally made public. In these circumstances the 1503 procedure may not be the appropriate mechanism for you.

What the 1503 procedure can do to assist you

An examination of the human rights situation in a country by the UN Commission on Human Rights under this procedure can result in the following action being taken:

  • The Commission may decide to appoint an independent expert to look into the situation in the country concerned.
  • The Commission may decide to stop the examination under the confidential 1503 procedure and refer the examination to its public procedure. Under its public procedure (known as the 1235 procedure) the Commission may adopt resolutions condemning or expressing concern about the human rights situation in the country. It can also decide to appoint a Special Rapporteur or Representative to look in to the human rights situation in a country or to examine a particular human rights problem.
  • The Commission may decide to keep the situation in a country under review (that is continue its examination), if further information concerning the human rights situation in the state concerned  has been received from the state or individuals. After further examination, it may decide to stop the examination or take one of the actions described above.
  • At the Commission the names of the states being examined under the 1503 Procedure are publicly announced. This can be politically embarrassing for the states concerned.
  • Finally, the Commission can - and sometimes does - simply decide to end its examination of the situation in a country and take no action at all.

How the procedure works (the formal procedure)

Step 1

The UN staff in Geneva receive all the complaints sent to the UN under the 1503 Procedure. They sift out any complaints which they consider do not meet the admissibility criteria as set out below in the section How to submit a complaint.  

If the UN staff think that a complaint might be admissible, they send the complaint to the state against which the complaint has been brought. The state then has 12 weeks to respond and to give its view on whether it thinks the UN should accept the complaint.  It is important to note that the author of the complaint (the person who submitted the complaint) may remain anonymous if they clearly state in the complaint that they do not wish their identity to be revealed to the government concerned. These complaints and any government responses received are then forwarded to the UN’s Working Group on Communications.

The UN sends a letter acknowledging receipt of the complaint to its author.

Step 2

The UN’s Working Group on Communications only meets once a year (usually in August). It considers all the complaints and government responses which have been forwarded to it. If the Working Group thinks that any of the complaints reveal a bad human rights situation (i.e. a consistent pattern of gross and reliably attested human rights violations) in a particular country, it can refer examination of the ‘situation’ in that country to the Working Group on Situations.

The UN informs all states examined by the Working Group on Communications of any action taken in regard to them.
Authors of complaints are not informed of any progress regarding their complaint.

Step 3

 The Working Group on Situations only meets once a year (usually in March) to examine the country ‘situations’ which have been referred to it by the Working Group on Communications.  If the Working Group on Situations is concerned that there is evidence of a bad situation in a country it can refer examination of the situation to the UN Commission on Human Rights. It can also suggest action which the Commission should take to ameliorate the situation in the country.

Step 4

The UN Commission on Human Rights examines the country ‘situations’ which have been referred to it by the Working Group on Situations. The Commission only meets once a year (usually in April) and its examinations of country situations are carried out in closed session (i.e. not open to the public).

These closed sessions are attended by state representatives of the members of the Commission and state representatives of the countries under examination. These official representatives discuss the human rights situation in the country. The discussions are based on reports compiled by the 2 Working Groups which examined the situation in the country concerned as described in steps 2 and 3 above. At the end of these discussions, the Commission can decide to take action to address the situation in a particular country. These actions are described in the section What can the 1503 procedure do to assist you above.

Who are the people who examine complaints under the 1503 procedure?

A number of different bodies examine complaints under this Procedure.

The Working Group on Communications
There are 5 members of the Working Group each from one of the regional groups; Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe. They are nominated by the UN Sub-Commission on Human Rights which itself is composed of 26 members nominated by the UN Commission on Human Rights. Although they are nominated by states, member of the Sub-Commission are directed to act in their individual capacity.

Working Group on Situations
This Working Group is composed of 5 persons each from one of the 5 regional groups nominated by the UN Commission on Human Rights. 

The UN Commission on Human Rights
The UN Commission on Human Rights is composed of diplomats representing its 53 member states. When it meets in closed session to examine country situations under the 1503 Procedure, representatives from each of the 53 states and representatives of states being examined under the 1503 procedure attend. States under examination do not have to be members of the Commission to attend the closed session .

Representatives of the states under examination attend the closed session in order to defend the state and try to prevent the Commission from taking action against them.  

Who can submit a complaint

Complaints can be submitted by: individuals or groups of individuals who claim to be the victims of human right violations; any person or group of people which has direct and reliable knowledge of violations, or non-governmental organisations which have direct and reliable knowledge of violations of human rights. Anonymous complaints will not be accepted by the UN.

How to submit a complaint

1.      Admissibility criteria

There is no formal procedure for submitting a complaint under the 1503 Procedure. However, a complaint must meet the admissibility criteria. These criteria describe the information that must be included and the information that should not be included. The admissibility criteria are as follows:

What must be included in the complaint?:

  • The name of the author of the complaint, that is the person(s) or organisation(s) submitting the complaint. If the author wishes to remain anonymous this should be clearly stated in the complaint. However, it should be noted that, no matter how careful the UN may be a state may still find out the name of the author of a complaint (either from the facts of the complaint or another source).
  • The complaint must show the existence of a consistent pattern of gross and reliably attested violations of human rights. See the section What is the 1503 Procedure above.
  • The complaint must contain a description of the facts including: the identification of alleged victims, the identification of alleged perpetrators of violations and a detailed description of incidents in which alleged violations occurred. This description should aim to show a consistent pattern of violations.
  • The complaint should include clear evidence of the violation. For example: written statements from victims or their families describing the violation, written statements from other witnesses to the violation or a medical report describing injuries which resulted from the violation. These pieces of evidence can be included in the text of the complaint or attached to the complaint as an annex.
  • The complaint should state which rights have been violated. This may appear obvious, but you should clearly state which article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights appears to have been violated.
  • The complaint should include a statement of purpose that is, the reasons why you have submitted the complaint. It would be sufficient to say that you are ‘seeking UN action to bring an end to the violations of human rights disclosed in the complaint’.

What should not be included in the complaint:

  • The complaint should not contain abusive language or insulting remarks about the state concerned, and should not show political motivations. This means that it should not challenge the legitimacy of the government concerned as such, but should concentrate on the facts of the complaint.

  • The complaint should not be based only on reports in the mass media.

  • The complaint should not be inconsistent with the major international human rights instruments.

2.      Format

There are no formal requirements regarding the format a complaint should take. However, a good complaint will consist of:

  • A cover letter stating that the complaint is submitted under the 1503 Procedure. The letter should also contain a summary of the allegations made and a statement of purpose setting out the reasons why you have submitted the complaint.

  • The text of the complaint, describing in detail the consistent pattern of gross violations of human rights

  • Annexes, containing the best available documentary evidence of the allegations (for example witness statements, statements from victims, medical reports etc).

    3.      Where to send the complaint

Written complaints should be sent to:

Support Services Branch
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations
1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
 

Tel. 00 41 22 917 90 00
Fax: 00 41 22 917 90 11 

Other important information  

Exhaustion of Domestic Remedies

Before submitting a complaint you should read this section by clicking here 

Have you already submitted your complaint to another treaty mechanism?
If so you should read this section by clicking here 

Further information about the 1503 Procedure

For further information, including the revised text of resolution 1503, visit the UN’s revised 1503 Procedure webpage by clicking here.

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