a Total number of cases decided (by the adoption of Views, decisions of inadmissibility and decisions to discontinue consideration).

30.By the date of adoption of the present report (6 April 2018), some 230 communications were ready to be prepared for the Committee to take decisions on admissibility and/or the merits. Unless there is a significant increase in the capacity of the Secretariat to process communications, however, the Committee’s ability to address its backlog in that regard will continue to be seriously compromised.

31.During the period under review, the Committee, through its Special Rapporteurs on new communications and interim measures and the co-rapporteur, transmitted 178 new communications to States parties under rule 97 of the Committee’s rules of procedure, requesting information or observations relevant to questions of admissibility and the merits.

2.Cooperation by States parties in the examination of communications

32.In several cases decided during the period under review, the Committee noted that States parties had failed to cooperate in the procedure by not providing observations on the admissibility and/or the merits of the authors’ allegations. The States parties in question are Algeria (1 communication), Belarus (12 communications), Maldives (1 communication) and Sri Lanka (1 communication). The Committee deplored the situation and recalled that it was implicit in the Optional Protocol that States parties should transmit to the Committee all information at their disposal. In the absence of a reply, due weight has to be given to the author’s allegations, to the extent that they have been properly substantiated.

3.Issues considered by the Committee

33.A review of the Committee’s work under the Optional Protocol from its second session in 1977 to its 119th session in March 2017 can be found in the Committee’s annual reports from 1984 to 2017, which contain summaries of the procedural and substantive issues considered and summaries of the decisions taken by the Committee, and in the report entitled “Consideration by the Human Rights Committee at its 117th, 118th and 119th sessions of communications received under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights”. A chapter on the jurisprudential developments of the Committee during the period under review is not contained in the present annual report but in CCPR/C/122/3. The full texts of the Views adopted by the Committee and of its decisions declaring communications inadmissible under the Optional Protocol are available in the treaty body database.

34.During the period under review, the Committee examined and found violations of the Covenant in the following communications: Shumilina et al. v. Belarus (CCPR/C/120/D/2142/2012), Melnikov v. Belarus (CCPR/C/120/D/2147/2012), Sviridov v. Kazakhstan (CCPR/C/120/D/2158/2012), Ambaryan v. Kyrgyzstan (CCPR/C/120/D/2162/2012), Neupane and Neupane v. Nepal (CCPR/C/120/D/2170/2012), Gatilov v. Russian Federation (CCPR/C/120/D/2171/2012), Boboev v. Tajikistan (CCPR/C/120/D/2173/2012), Amarasinghe v. Sri Lanka (CCPR/C/120/D/2209/2012), X v. Sri Lanka (CCPR/C/120/D/2256/2013), Khelifati v. Algeria (CCPR/C/120/D/2267/2013), N.K. v. Netherlands (CCPR/C/120/D/2326/2013/Rev.1), S.L. v. Netherlands (CCPR/C/120/D/2362/2014), Allakulov v. Uzbekistan (CCPR/C/120/D/2430/2014), Ashirov v. Kyrgyzstan (CCPR/C/120/D/2435/2014), Hashi v. Denmark (CCPR/C/120/D/2470/2014), Batanov v. Russian Federation (CCPR/C/120/D/2532/2015), M.S. aka M.H.H.A.D v. Denmark (CCPR/C/120/D/2601/2015), Koreshkov v. Belarus (CCPR/C/121/D/2168/2012), Osío Zamora v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (CCPR/C/121/D/2203/2012), Boudjema v. Algeria (CCPR/C/121/D/2283/2013), Jamshidian v. Belarus (CCPR/C/121/D/2471/2014), Marchant Reyes et al. v. Chile (CCPR/C/121/D/2627/2015), Chelakh v. Kazakhstan (CCPR/C/121/D/2645/2015), Zogo v. Cameroon (CCPR/C/121/D/2764/2016), O.A. v. Denmark (CCPR/C/121/D/2770/2016) and Miller and Carroll v. New Zealand (CCPR/C/121/D/2502/2014), Abromchik v. Belarus (CCPR/C/122/D/2228/2012), Tamang v. Nepal (CCPR/C/122/D/2756/2016), Bobrov v. Belarus (CCPR/C/122/D/2181/2012), Tyvanchik et al. v. Belarus (CCPR/C/122/D/2201/2012), Delgado Burgoa v. Plurinational State of Bolivia (CCPR/C/122/D/2628/2015), Maldonado Iporre v. Plurinational State of Bolivia (CCPR/C/122/D/2629/2015), Budlakoti v. Canada (CCPR/C/122/D/2264/2013), Khadzhiyev and Muradova v. Turkmenistan (CCPR/C/122/D/2252/2013), Saidov v. Tajikistan (CCPR/C/122/D/2680/2015), Popova v. Russian Federation (CCPR/C/122/D/2217/2012), Kim v. Uzbekistan (CCPR/C/122/D/2175/2012), C.L. and Z.L. v. Denmark (CCPR/C/122/D/2753/2016), Nasheed v. Maldives (CCPR/C/122/D/2270/2013-CCPR/C/122/D/2851/2016), Millis v. Algeria (CCPR/C/122/D/2398/2014), Formonov v. Uzbekistan (CCPR/C/122/D/2577/2015), Vanteew v. Russian Federation (CCPR/C/122/D/2715/2016), Sannikov v. Belarus (CCPR/C/122/D/2212/2012), Sudalenko and Poplavny v. Belarus (CCPR/C/122/D/2190/2012), Sharma et al. v. Nepal (CCPR/C/122/D/2364/2014) and Sharma and Sharma v. Nepal (CCPR/C/122/D/2265/2013).

35.The Committee found no violations of the Covenant in the following communications: Kh.B. v. Kyrgyzstan (CCPR/C/120/D/2163/2012), Alger v. Australia (CCPR/C/120/D/2237/2013), R.I.H. and S.M.D. v. Denmark (CCPR/C/120/D/2640/2015), Androsov v. Kazakhstan (CCPR/C/121/D/2403/2014), Moreno de Castillo v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (CCPR/C/121/D/2610/2015), S.A.H. v. Denmark (CCPR/C/121/D/2419/2014), N.D.J.M.D. v. Canada (CCPR/C/121/D/2487/2014), M.A.S. and L.B.H. v. Denmark (CCPR/C/121/D/2585/2015), K.S. and M.S. v. Denmark (CCPR/C/121/D/2594/2015), A.S.G.M. v. Denmark (CCPR/C/121/D/2612/2015), M.P. et al. v. Denmark (CCPR/C/121/D/2643/2015), W.K. v. Canada (CCPR/C/122/D/2292/2013), S. v. Denmark (CCPR/C/122/D/2642/2015) and A.A. v. Denmark (CCPR/C/122/D/2595/2015).

36.The Committee decided that the following communications were inadmissible: N.D. v. Russian Federation (CCPR/C/120/D/2161/2012), K.E.R. v. Canada (CCPR/C/120/D/2196/2012), Yassin et al. v. Canada (CCPR/C/120/D/2285/2013), Quiroga and Aranda v. Plurinational State of Bolivia (CCPR/C/120/D/2491/2014), S.Z. v. Denmark (CCPR/C/120/D/2625/2015), D.S. v. Russian Federation (CCPR/C/120/D/2705/2015), J.B. and E.B. v. Australia (CCPR/C/120/D/2798/2016), Z.Z. v. Australia (CCPR/C/120/D/2941/2017), B.Z. et al. v. Albania (CCPR/C/121/D/2837/2016), S.A. et al. v. Greece (CCPR/C/121/D/2868/2016), Nekvedavičius v. Lithuania (CCPR/C/121/D/2802/2016), Stefanovich v. Belarus (CCPR/C/122/D/2182/2012), V.P. v. Belarus (CCPR/C/122/D/2166/2012), Hincapié Dávila v. Colombia (CCPR/C/122/D/2490/2014), K.M. v. Belarus (CCPR/C/122/D/2199/2012), Nicholls v. Australia (CCPR/C/122/D/2300/2013), Templ v. Austria (CCPR/C/122/D/2650/2015), F.F. v. Luxembourg and France (CCPR/C/122/D/3090/2017-CCPR/C/122/D/3091/2017) and Vasiljkovic v. Australia and Croatia (CCPR/C/122/D/2859/2016).

4.Decisions concerning working methods for dealing with communications

37.At its 120th session, the Committee adopted its guidelines on making oral comments concerning communications (see CCPR/C/159).

5.Follow-up to Views

38.During the period under review, the Special Rapporteur for follow-up on Views submitted reports at the 121st (CCPR/C/121/2) and 122nd sessions (CCPR/C/122/2).

39.At the time of conclusion of the 121st and 122nd sessions, the Committee determined that there had been a violation of the Covenant in 1,061 of the 1,282 Views adopted since 1979. The Committee has continued the practice, initiated at its 109th session, to include in its reports on follow-up to Views an assessment of the replies received from or action taken by States parties; the assessment uses the criteria established for the follow-up procedure to the concluding observations. At its 118th session, the Committee decided to revise its assessment criteria. At its 121st session, on 9 November 2017, the Committee decided to further revise its methodology/procedure to monitor follow-up on its Views. The Committee continues to note that many States parties fail to implement the Views adopted under the Optional Protocol.

40.At its 121st session, the Committee decided to close the follow-up dialogue, with a note of satisfactory implementation of its recommendations, in the following communications: Hamida v. Canada (CCPR/C/98/D/1544/2007), Thuraisamy v. Canada (CCPR/C/106/D/1912/2009), H.E.A.K. v. Denmark (CCPR/C/114/D/2343/2014), M.K.H. v. Denmark (CCPR/C/117/D/2462/2014) and A.A.S. v. Denmark (CCPR/C/117/D/2464/2014).

41.At its 122nd session, the Committee decided to close the follow-up dialogue, with a note of partially satisfactory implementation of its recommendations, in the following communication: Engo v. Cameroon (CCPR/C/96/D/1397/2005).

J.General comments under article 40 (4) of the Covenant

42.At its 120th session, the Committee finalized its first reading of the draft general comment on the right to life (art. 6) and invited all interested stakeholders to comment thereon. It received submissions from States, United Nations organizations, specialized agencies, experts, academics and other professionals, national human rights institutions and other national institutions and non-governmental organizations. At its 121st and 122nd sessions, the Committee began its second reading of the draft.

K.Staff resources and translation of official documents

43.In accordance with article 36 of the Covenant, the Secretary-General has a duty to provide the Committee with the necessary staff and facilities for the effective performance of its functions. The Committee reiterates its concern regarding the shortage of staff resources and emphasizes once again the importance of allocating adequate staff resources to service its sessions and promote greater awareness, understanding and implementation of its recommendations at the national level. The Committee stresses the fact that, unless there is a significant increase in the staff capacity of the Petitions Unit that would allow it to prepare a greater number of communications for consideration by the Committee in the coming years than it has in the past, the Committee’s ability to address its backlog will continue to be seriously compromised. Furthermore, the Committee expresses its dissatisfaction regarding the regular turnover of staff, in particular those in the Petitions Unit, who need to remain in their positions long enough to acquire adequate experience and knowledge regarding the jurisprudence of the Committee.

44.The Committee welcomes the adoption by the General Assembly of resolution 68/268 on strengthening and enhancing the effective functioning of the human rights treaty body system, including the provision of additional meeting time and corresponding financial and human resources. Given the insufficiency of the resources provided, the Committee is not in a position to ensure full implementation of the resolution. In particular, the Committee regrets the decision to allocate in the 2018–2019 biennium budget only 5 temporary positions to OHCHR instead of the 11 posts requested by the Secretary-General pursuant to the calculation under the formula contained in resolution 68/268. Due to this decision and the length of the recruitment process of new staff and the organizational needs of OHCHR, the Committee will not be able to use most of the additional time allocated to it in 2018 to review communications. Under the circumstances, the Committee’s serious backlog of communications from authors alleging violations of their rights is bound to grow. The Committee also regrets the strict word limits imposed under the resolution on key documents such as general comments, rules of procedure and views in complex situations. Furthermore, the Committee expresses its grave concern that important documents, including in-session documents, are not translated in a timely manner, which continues to have a negative impact on the Committee’s work.

L.Outreach on the work of the Committee

45.At its ninety-fourth session, the Committee adopted a paper on a strategic approach to public relations with the media (CCPR/C/94/3).

46.During the 120th, 121st and 122nd sessions, OHCHR provided a full webcast of the Committee’s sessions, including the examination of all States parties’ reports and other public meetings. The webcast may be viewed at https://webtv.un.org.

47.The Committee continued to develop a media strategy, which has included holding press conferences at the end of each session.

48.The Committee continued to highlight the importance of holding a periodic session in New York and, to that end, asked the Secretariat to make a contingency booking for a room in New York for the 125th session.

M.Submission of the Committee’s annual report to the General Assembly

49.The Chair attended the interactive dialogue with the General Assembly in New York on 13 October 2017, at which time he presented the Committee’s annual report.

N.Adoption of the report

50.At its 3488th meeting, on 6 April 2018, the Committee considered the draft of its sixtieth annual report, covering its activities at its 120th, 121st and 122nd sessions, held in 2017 and 2018. The report, as amended in the course of the discussion, was adopted unanimously. By virtue of its decision 1985/105 of 8 February 1985, the Economic and Social Council authorized the Secretary-General to transmit the Committee’s annual report directly to the General Assembly.

II.Methods of work of the Committee under article 40 of the Covenant and cooperation with other United Nations bodies

51.The present section contains a summary and an explanation of the modifications introduced by the Committee to its working methods under article 40 of the Covenant during the past year, as well as recent decisions adopted by the Committee on follow-up to its concluding observations on State party reports.

A.Recent developments and decisions on procedures

52.During the 120th session, the Committee decided to:

(a)Extend the pilot procedure for repetitive communications to another year in order to assess the procedure’s effectiveness;

(b)Establish a working group, to be chaired by Mr. Heyns, to assess the simplified reporting procedure;

(c)Invite States parties with periodic reports that are overdue by 10 years or more to opt for the simplified reporting procedure;

(d)Consider the replies of Swaziland to the list of issues drawn up in the absence of an initial report as its initial report.

53.At its 121st session, for the first time, the Committee held hearings concerning the case of Miller and Carroll v. New Zealand (CCPR/C/121/D/2502/2014), with the presence of the authors’ counsel and the participation of the representatives of the State party through video conference. In accordance with the Guidelines on making oral comments concerning communications (CCPR/C/159), the meeting in which the parties presented their oral comments was closed.

54.During the 121st session, the Committee decided to:

(a)Extend the deadline for the submission of States parties’ information on follow-up to concluding observations from one year to two years;

(b)Reduce the number of follow-up rounds from three to one and request a second follow-up report from States parties in appropriate cases only;

(c)Discontinue the follow-up procedure for States parties with a second or third follow-up report pending evaluation at 10 November 2017;

(d)Grade States parties’ replies regarding measures of non-repetition only if such measures had been specified in the Committee’s Views.

55.At its 120th session, the Committee undertook its first reading of the draft of the revised rules of procedure as prepared by the working group established during the 116th session. At its 121st and 122nd sessions, the Committee continued reviewing the draft.

56.In October 2009, the Committee decided to make a new reporting procedure available to a limited number of States parties. At its 111th session (July 2014), the Committee decided that the procedure involving a list of issues prior to reporting should, in principle, be offered to all States parties and should be applicable to periodic reports only (see A/70/40, para. 56 (a)). Information on the procedure can be found at www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CCPR/Pages/SimplifiedReportingProcedure.aspx.

57.At its 120th, 121st and 122nd sessions, the Committee examined the sixth periodic report of Australia, the fifth periodic report of Cameroon, the seventh periodic report of El Salvador, the fourth periodic report of Guatemala, the sixth periodic report of Hungary, the seventh periodic report of Norway and the fourth periodic report of Switzerland, all of which were submitted pursuant to the simplified reporting procedure. During those three sessions, the Committee also adopted lists of issues prior to reporting with respect to the second periodic report of Botswana, the third periodic report of Chad, the fourth periodic report of Czechia, the seventh periodic report of Japan, the sixth periodic report of Peru, the sixth periodic report of Tunisia and the sixth periodic report of Uruguay.

B.Links to other bodies

58.At the 120th session, the Bureau met with members of the International Law Commission to discuss its draft conclusions on subsequent agreements and subsequent practice in relation to the interpretation of treaties. Committee members also met informally with members of the Committee against Torture to discuss, among other topics, non-refoulement, interim measures and diplomatic assurances. The Bureau members also met with the Chief of the Human Rights Council Branch in OHCHR. At the 121st session, members of the Bureau met the Chief of the Universal Periodic Review Branch in OHCHR.

III.Submission of reports by States parties under article 40 of the Covenant

59.In line with the guidelines adopted by the Committee at its sixty-sixth session and amended at its seventieth session (CCPR/C/66/GUI/Rev.2), the five-year periodicity in reporting, which the Committee had established at its thirteenth session, in July 1981 (CCPR/C/19/Rev.1), was replaced by a flexible system whereby the date for the subsequent periodic report by a State party is set on a case-by-case basis at the end of the Committee’s concluding observations on any report, in accordance with article 40 of the Covenant and in the light of the guidelines for reporting and the working methods of the Committee. The Committee confirmed this approach in its current guidelines, adopted at the ninety-ninth session (CCPR/C/2009/1).

A.Reports submitted to the Secretary-General between 30 March 2017 and 6 April 2018

60.During the period covered by the present report, 16 reports were submitted to the Secretary-General by the following States parties: Angola (second periodic report), Belarus (fifth periodic report), Belize (initial report), Cabo Verde (initial report), Estonia (fourth periodic report), Guinea (third periodic report), Lithuania (fourth periodic report), Mauritania (second periodic report), Mexico (sixth periodic report), Netherlands (fifth periodic report), Niger (second periodic report), Norway (seventh periodic report), Paraguay (fourth periodic report), Sudan (fifth periodic report), Tajikistan (third periodic report) and Viet Nam (third periodic report).

B.Overdue reports and non-compliance by States parties with their obligations under article 40

61.The Committee wishes to reiterate that States parties to the Covenant must submit the reports referred to in article 40 of the Covenant on time so that the Committee can duly perform its functions under that article. Regrettably, serious delays have been noted since the establishment of the Committee.

62.The Committee notes with concern that the failure of States parties to submit reports hinders the performance of its monitoring functions under article 40 of the Covenant. The Committee reiterates that States with overdue reports are in default of their obligations under article 40 of the Covenant (see annex II for the list of States parties with overdue reports).

63.The Committee draws particular attention to the fact that 16 initial reports are overdue, of which 7 are overdue by between 5 and 10 years and 8 are overdue by 10 years or more. The result is frustration of a crucial objective of the Covenant, namely, to enable the Committee to monitor compliance by States parties with their obligations under the Covenant on the basis of periodic reports. The Committee addresses reminders at regular intervals to all those States parties whose reports are significantly overdue.

64.Owing to the concern of the Committee about the number of overdue reports and non-compliance by States parties with their obligations under article 40 of the Covenant, amendments to the rules of procedure were formally adopted during the seventy-first session, in March 2001. The Committee has applied the revised rules since the end of the seventy-first session (April 2001).

65.The amendments introduced a procedure to be followed when a State party has failed to honour its reporting obligations for a long time, or requests a postponement of its scheduled appearance before the Committee at short notice. In both situations, the Committee may henceforth notify the State concerned that it intends to consider, from material available to it, the measures adopted by that State party to give effect to the provisions of the Covenant, even in the absence of a report.

66.At its 103rd session, the Committee amended its rules of procedure (rules 68 and 70) relating to the examination of country situations in the absence of a report (review procedure). Since 2012, the examination of such country situations takes place in public rather than closed sessions and the resulting concluding observations are also issued as public documents.

67.The Committee first applied the procedure under rule 70 of its rules of procedure to a non-reporting State at its seventy-fifth session. To date, the procedure to examine States parties in the absence of a report has been initiated with regard to the following 22 States parties: Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Grenada, Haiti, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Rwanda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Seychelles, South Africa, Suriname and Swaziland. Information on all States parties examined under this procedure up until the 110th session is contained in the annual report to the sixty-ninth session.

68.Prior to its 112th session, the Committee indicated to South Africa that it would adopt a list of issues in the absence of a report from that State party during the 112th session. On 26 November 2014, South Africa submitted its report and the adoption of a list of issues was rescheduled. A note verbale was also sent to Bangladesh indicating that the Committee would adopt a list of issues in the absence of a report at the 112th session. Following a commitment by Bangladesh to provide the Committee with a report by March 2015, the Committee deferred consideration of the situation of civil and political rights in Bangladesh until receipt of the report. On 19 June 2015, Bangladesh submitted its report, which was examined by the Committee during its 119th session. After several reminders, the Committee adopted a list of issues in the absence of a report at the 119th session. Swaziland sent a reply to the list of issues and a high-level delegation for the dialogue with the Committee at its 120th session.

69.During its 121st session, the Committee adopted lists of issues on the Gambia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in the absence of a report.

C.Periodicity with respect to States parties’ reports examined during the period under review

70.At its 104th session, the Committee decided to allow States parties to submit reports at intervals of no more than six years. Thus, the Committee may now ask States parties to submit their subsequent periodic reports within three, four, five or six years. At its 114th session, the Committee decided that, when determining the periodicity for future reports, States submitting reports under the simplified reporting procedure should be given an extra year to provide their reports compared with those submitting under the standard reporting procedure, with a view to ensuring fairness among States parties making use of the different procedures. Accordingly, the Committee may now ask States parties submitting reports under the simplified reporting procedure to provide their periodic reports at intervals of no more than seven years (i.e., the maximum six years allowed under the standard reporting procedure plus an extra year).

71.The dates of examination of the State party reports considered during the period under review and the due date for the subsequent reports are indicated in the table below.

State party	Date of examination	Due date for next report
Honduras	July 2017	July 2021
Liechtenstein	July 2017	July 2023
Madagascar	July 2017	July 2021
Mongolia	July 2017	July 2022
Pakistan	July 2017	July 2020
Swaziland	July 2017	July 2021
Switzerland	July 2017	July 2022
Australia	October 2017	November 2023
Cameroon	October 2017	November 2022
Democratic Republic of the Congo	October 2017	November 2021
Dominican Republic	October 2017	November 2022
Jordan	October 2017	November 2022
Mauritius	October 2017	November 2022
Romania	October 2017	November 2023
El Salvador	March 2018	April 2023
Guatemala	March 2018	April 2023
Hungary	March 2018	April 2023
Lebanon	March 2018	April 2023
Norway	March 2018	April 2024

Annex I

Members and officers of the Human Rights Committee, 2017–2018

Name	Country of nationality a	Term ends 31 December
Tania María Abdo Rocholl	Paraguay	2020 c
Yadh Ben Achour	Tunisia	2018 b
Ilze Brands Kehris	Latvia	2020 c
Sarah Cleveland	United States of America	2018 b
Ahmed Amin Fathalla	Egypt	2020 c
Olivier de Frouville	France	2018 b
Christof Heyns	South Africa	2020 c
Yuji Iwasawa	Japan	2018 b
Ivana Jelić	Montenegro	2018 b
Bamariam Koita	Mauritania	2020 c
Marcia Kran	Canada	2020 c
Duncan Laki Muhumuza	Uganda	2018 b
Photini Pazartzis	Greece	2018 b
Mauro Politi	Italy	2018 b
José Manuel Santos Pais	Portugal	2020 c
Anja Seibert-Fohr	Germany	2020 c , d
Yuval Shany	Israel	2020 c
Margo Waterval	Suriname	2018 b

Note : Information on current and past membership of the Committee can be found at www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CCPR/Pages/Membership.aspx .

a In accordance with article 28 (3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights , the members of the Committee shall be elected and shall serve in their personal capacity.

b Member elected during the 34th meeting of States parties, held in New York on 24 June 2014.

c Member elected during the 35th meeting of States parties, held in New York on 23 June 2016.

d Member has resigned, effective 1 March 2018.

The following officers of the Committee were elected for a term of two years at the meeting held on 6 March 2017, during the 119th session:

Chair : Yuji Iwasawa

Vice-Chairs : Ahmed Amin Fathalla

Ivana Jelić

Yuval Shany

Rapporteur : Margo Waterval

Annex II

Status of submission of reports under article 40 of the Covenant (as at 30 March 2017)

A.States parties the initial report of which is overdue (15 States parties)

	State party	Date due	Years overdue	Considered in the absence of a report	Remarks
1.	Andorra	22 December 2007	10		Deadline in last reminder letter (rule 70 of the rules of procedure) to submit report by 31 August 2016
2.	Bahamas	23 March 2010	8		Deadline in last reminder letter (rule 70 of the rules of procedure) to submit report by 31 August 2016
3.	Dominica	16 September 1994	23	List of issues adopted at the 102nd session (July 2011; consideration was postponed)
4.	Equatorial Guinea	24 December 1988	29	Seventy-ninth session (October 2003)	Deadline in concluding observations to submit initial report by 1 August 2004
5.	Eritrea	22 April 2003	14		Deadline in last reminder letter (rule 70 of the rules of procedure) to submit report by 31 August 2016
6.	Grenada	6 September 1991	26	Ninetieth session (July 2007)	Deadline in concluding observations to submit initial report by 31 December 2008
7.	Guinea-Bissau	1 February 2012	6		Deadline in last reminder letter (rule 70 of the rules of procedure) to submit report by 31 August 2016
8.	Papua New Guinea	21 October 2009	8		Deadline in last reminder letter (rule 70 of the rules of procedure) to submit report by 31 August 2016
9.	Samoa	15 May 2009	8		Deadline in last reminder letter (rule 70 of the rules of procedure) to submit report by 31 August 2016
10.	Seychelles	4 August 1993	24	101st session (March 2011)	Deadline in concluding observations to submit initial report by 1 April 2012
11.	Somalia	23 April 1991	26
12.	South Sudan	9 July 2012	5		Bearing in mind that Sudan has been a party to the Covenant since 1986, and that South Sudan became independent from it in July 2011, the Committee, in the light of its general comment No. 26 (1997) on the continuity of obligations (see Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-third Session, Supplement No. 40, vol. I (A/53/40 (vol. I)), annex VII), is of the view that the people of South Sudan remain under the protection of the Covenant, and thus South Sudan should submit an initial report under article 40 (1) (a) of the Covenant. The Committee decided, on two occasions, to invite South Sudan to submit an initial report (see para. 61 above and A/69/40, vol. I, para. 75).
13.	State of Palestine	3 July 2015	2		Accession on 2 April 2014
14.	Timor-Leste	19 December 2004	13		Deadline in last reminder letter (rule 70 of the rules of procedure) to submit report by 31 August 2016
15.	Vanuatu	21 February 2010	8		Deadline in last reminder letter (rule 70 of the rules of procedure) to submit report by 31 August 2016

B.States parties the periodic report of which is overdue by 10 years or more (13 States parties)

	State party	Type of report	Date due	Years overdue	Accepted simplified reporting procedure	New due date	Remarks
1.	Afghanistan	Third	15 May 1996	21	12 May 2011	31 October 2013	List of issues prior to reporting adopted at the 105th session (July 2012)
2.	Congo	Third	31 March 2003	15
3.	Democratic People’s Republic of Korea	Third	1 January 2004	14
4.	Egypt	Fourth	1 November 2004	13
5.	Gabon	Third	31 October 2003	14
6.	Guyana	Third	31 March 2003	15
7.	India	Fourth	31 December 2001	16
8.	Lesotho	Second	30 April 2002	15
9.	Mali	Third	1 April 2005	13
10.	Nigeria	Second	28 October 1999	18
11.	Senegal	Fifth	4 April 2000	18
12.	Trinidad and Tobago	Fifth	31 October 2003	14	12 January 2018
13.	Zimbabwe	Second	1 June 2002	15

C.States parties the periodic report of which is between 5 and 10 years overdue (11 States parties)

	State party	Type of report	Date due	Years overdue	Accepted simplified reporting procedure	New due date	Remarks
1.	Barbados	Fourth	29 March 2011	7
2	Botswana	Second	31 March 2012	6	3 August 2017		List of issues prior to reporting adopted at the 122nd session (March 2018)
3.	Brazil	Third	31 October 2009	8
4.	Central African Republic	Third	1 August 2010	7
5.	Libya	Fifth	30 October 2010	7
6.	Luxembourg	Fourth	1 April 2008	10
7.	Panama	Fourth	31 March 2012	6
8.	Syrian Arab Republic	Fourth	1 August 2009	8
9	Tunisia	Sixth	31 March 2012	6	4 July 2017		List of issues prior to reporting adopted at the 122nd session (March 2018)
10.	Uganda	Second	1 April 2008	10
11.	Zambia	Fourth	20 July 2011	6

D.States parties the report of which is less than five years overdue (26 States parties)

	State party	Type of report	Date due	Years overdue	Accepted simplified reporting procedure	New due date	Remarks
1.	Armenia	Third	30 July 2016	1
2.	Belgium	Sixth	29 October 2015	2	28 November 2014	1 August 2017	List of issues prior to reporting adopted at the 117th session (June 2016)
3.	Chad	Third	28 March 2018				List of issues prior to reporting adopted at the 120th session (July 2017)
4.	Djibouti	Second	1 November 2017
5.	Estonia	Fourth	30 July 2015	2	6 January 2015	30 April 2017	List of issues prior to reporting adopted at the 116th session (March 2016)
6.	Ethiopia	Second	29 July 2014	3
7.	Hong Kong, China a	Fourth	30 March 2018
8.	Indonesia	Second	26 July 2017
9.	Iran (Islamic Republic of)	Fourth	2 November 2014	3
10.	Kenya	Fourth	30 July 2015	2
11.	Kyrgyzstan	Third	28 March 2018
12.	Macao, China b	Second	30 March 2018
13.	Maldives	Second	30 July 2015	2
14.	Mexico	Sixth	30 March 2014	4	18 December 2013	31 August 2015	List of issues prior to reporting adopted at the 111th session (July 2014)
15.	Mozambique	Second	1 November 2017
16.	Nepal	Third	28 March 2018
17.	Netherlands (including Antilles and Aruba)	Fifth	31 July 2014	3	12 May 2016	1 April 2018	List of issues prior to reporting adopted at the 119th session (March 2017)
18.	Nicaragua	Fourth	29 October 2012	5
19.	Paraguay	Fourth	30 March 2017	1	23 October 2015	30 November 2017	List of issues prior to reporting adopted at the 118th session (October 2016)
20.	Peru	Sixth	30 March 2018				List of issues prior to reporting adopted at the 120th session (July 2017)
21.	Philippines	Fifth	2 November 2016	1
22.	Sierra Leone	Second	28 March 2017	1
23.	Togo	Fifth	1 April 2015	3	24 February 2016	30 November 2017	List of issues prior to reporting adopted at the 118th session (October 2016)
24.	Turkey	Second	2 November 2016	1
25.	United Republic of Tanzania	Fifth	1 August 2013	4
26.	Yemen	Sixth	30 March 2015	3

a Although China is not itself a party to the Covenant, the Government of China has honoured the obligations under article 40 with respect to Hong Kong, China, which was previously under British administration. For information on the application of the Covenant in Hong Kong, China, see Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-first Session, Supplement No. 40 ( A/51/40 ), chap. V, sect. B, paras. 78–85.

b Although China is not itself a party to the Covenant, the Government of China has honoured the obligations under article 40 with respect to Macao, China, which was previously under Portuguese administration. For information on the application of the Covenant in Macao, China, see Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-fifth Session, Supplement No. 40 ( A/55/40 ), chap. IV.

E.States parties the report of which is not yet due (90 States parties)

	State party	Type of report	Date due	Accepted simplified reporting procedure	New due date	Remarks
1.	Albania	Third	26 July 2018
2.	Argentina	Sixth	15 July 2022	20 September 2013		Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report adopted under the simplified reporting procedure
3	Australia	Seventh	10 November 2023	10 March 2011		Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report adopted under the simplified reporting procedure
4.	Austria	Sixth	6 November 2021
5.	Azerbaijan	Fifth	4 November 2020
6.	Bangladesh	Second	29 March 2021
7.	Benin	Third	6 November 2019
8.	Bolivia (Plurinational State of)	Fourth	1 November 2018
9.	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Fourth	29 March 2022	1 February 2011		Concluding observations on the third periodic report adopted under the simplified reporting procedure
10.	Burkina Faso	Second	15 July 2020
11.	Burundi	Third	31 October 2018
12.	Cambodia	Third	2 April 2019
13.	Cameroon	Sixth	10 November 2022	2 February 2011		Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report adopted under the simplified reporting procedure
14.	Canada	Seventh	24 July 2020
15.	Chile	Seventh	31 July 2019
16.	Colombia	Eighth	4 November 2020
17.	Costa Rica	Seventh	31 March 2021
18.	Côte d’Ivoire	Second	2 April 2019
19.	Croatia	Fourth	2 April 2020	8 January 2014		Concluding observations on the third periodic report adopted under the simplified reporting procedure
20.	Cyprus	Fifth	2 April 2020	16 February 2015
21.	Czechia	Fourth	26 July 2018	5 July 2013		List of issues prior to reporting adopted at the 120th session (July 2017)
22.	Democratic Republic of the Congo	Fifth	10 November 2021
23.	Denmark	Seventh	15 July 2022	2 March 2013		Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report adopted under the simplified reporting procedure
24.	Dominican Republic	Seventh	10 November 2022
25.	Ecuador	Seventh	15 July 2021	1 March 2013		Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report adopted under the simplified reporting procedure
26.	El Salvador	Eighth	April	11 February 2014		Concluding observations on the seventh periodic report adopted under the simplified reporting procedure
27.	Finland	Seventh	26 July 2019	8 January 2016
28.	France	Sixth	24 July 2020
29.	Georgia	Fifth	31 July 2019
30.	Germany	Seventh	2 November 2018	28 March 2013
31.	Ghana	Second	15 July 2020
32.	Greece	Third	6 November 2020
33.	Guatemala	Fifth	April	15 July 2013		Concluding observations on the fourth periodic report adopted under the simplified reporting procedure
34.	Haiti	Second	31 October 2018
35.	Honduras	Third	28 July 2021
36.	Hungary	Seventh	April	15 October 2014		Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report adopted under the simplified reporting procedure
37.	Iceland	Sixth	30 July 2018
38.	Iraq	Sixth	6 November 2018
39.	Ireland	Fifth	31 July 2019
40.	Israel	Fifth	31 October 2018	9 May 2011		Concluding observations on the fourth periodic report adopted under the simplified reporting procedure
41.	Italy	Seventh	29 March 2022
42.	Jamaica	Fifth	4 November 2021
43.	Japan	Seventh	31 July 2018	30 March 2016		List of issues prior to reporting adopted at the 121st session (October 2017)
44.	Jordan	Sixth	10 November 2022
45.	Kazakhstan	Third	15 July 2020
46.	Kuwait	Fourth	15 July 2020
47.	Latvia	Fourth	28 March 2020
48.	Lebanon	Fourth	April 2023
49.	Liberia	Second	April 2023
50.	Liechtenstein	Third	28 July 2023
51.	Madagascar	Fifth	28 July 2021
52.	Malawi	Second	31 July 2018
53.	Malta	Third	31 October 2020
54.	Mauritius	Sixth	10 November 2022
55.	Monaco	Fourth	2 April 2021	5 January 2011		Concluding observations on the third periodic report adopted under the simplified reporting procedure
56.	Mongolia	Seventh	28 July 2022
57.	Montenegro	Second	31 October 2020	27 June 2016
58.	Morocco	Seventh	4 November 2020
59.	Namibia	Third	31 March 2020
60.	New Zealand	Seventh	31 March 2023	28 January 2011		Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report adopted under the simplified reporting procedure
61.	Norway	Eighth	April	5 April 2013		List of issues prior to reporting adopted at the 117th session (June 2016)
62.	Pakistan	Second	28 July 2020
63.	Poland	Eighth	4 November 2021	6 March 2012		Concluding observations on the seventh periodic report adopted under the simplified reporting procedure
64.	Portugal	Fifth	31 October 2018
65.	Republic of Korea	Fifth	6 November 2019
66.	Republic of Moldova	Fourth	4 November 2022	18 March 2011		Concluding observations on the third periodic report adopted under the simplified reporting procedure
67.	Romania	Sixth	10 November 2023	15 July 2013		Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report adopted under the simplified reporting procedure
68.	Russian Federation	Eighth	2 April 2019
69.	Rwanda	Fifth	31 March 2019
70.	San Marino	Fourth	6 November 2022	23 February 2011		Concluding observations on the third periodic report adopted under the simplified reporting procedure
71.	Sao Tome and Principe	Initial	10 April 2018
72.	Serbia	Fourth	29 March 2021
73.	Slovakia	Fifth	4 November 2021
74.	Slovenia	Fourth	31 March 2021
75.	South Africa	Second	31 March 2020
76.	Spain	Seventh	24 July 2020	2 October 2015
77.	Sri Lanka	Sixth	31 October 2017
78.	Suriname	Fourth	6 November 2020
79.	Swaziland	Second	28 July 2021			Replies of Swaziland drawn up in the absence of an initial report considered as an initial report
80.	Sweden	Eighth	31 March 2023	20 June 2013		Concluding observations on the seventh periodic report adopted under the simplified reporting procedure
81.	Switzerland	Fifth	28 July 2022	23 January 2014		Concluding observations on the fourth periodic report adopted under the simplified reporting procedure
82.	Thailand	Third	29 March 2021
83.	The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	Fourth	24 July 2020
84.	Turkmenistan	Fourth	29 March 2020
85.	Ukraine	Eighth	26 July 2018
86.	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland	Eighth	24 July 2020
87.	United States of America	Fifth	28 March 2019
88.	Uruguay	Sixth	1 November 2018	26 November 2010		Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report adopted under the simplified reporting procedure
89.	Uzbekistan	Fifth	24 July 2018
90.	Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)	Fifth	24 July 2018

a Although China is not itself a party to the Covenant, the Government of China has honoured the obligations under article 40 with respect to Hong Kong, China, which was previously under British administration. For information on the application of the Covenant in Hong Kong, China, see Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-first Session, Supplement No. 40 ( A/51/40 ), chap. V, sect. B, paras. 78–85.

b Although China is not itself a party to the Covenant, the Government of China has honoured the obligations under article 40 with respect to Macao, China, which was previously under Portuguese administration. For information on the application of the Covenant in Macao, China, see Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-fifth Session, Supplement No. 40 ( A/55/40 ), chap. IV.

F.States parties the report of which is yet to be considered by the Committee (16 States parties)

	State party	Type of report	Date due	Date of submission	Accepted simplified reporting procedure	Remarks
1.	Algeria	Fourth	1 November 2011	20 January 2017
2.	Angola	Second	30 March 2017	3 October 2017
3.	Bahrain	Initial	20 December 2007	2 March 2017
4.	Belarus	Fifth	7 November 2001	30 March 2017	18 February 2014	List of issues prior to reporting adopted at the 114th session (July 2015) Accordingly, the new due date to submit the report was set as 30 August 2016
5.	Belize	Initial	9 September 1997	8 August 2017
6.	Bulgaria	Fourth	29 July 2015	3 November 2016	20 February 2014	List of issues prior to reporting adopted at the 114th session (July 2015) Accordingly, the new due date to submit the report was set as 30 August 2016
7	Gambia	Second	21 June 1985			List of issues in the absence of a report adopted at the 121st session (October 2017)
8	Guinea	Third	30 September 1994	17 October 2017
9	Lao People’s Democratic Republic	Initial	25 December 2010	24 March 2017
10	Lithuania	Fourth	30 July 2017	10 October 2017		List of issues prior to reporting adopted at the 117th session (June 2016)
11	Mauritania	Second	1 November 2017	22 November 2017
12	Niger	Second	31 March 1994	17 January 2018
13	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Second	31 October 1991			List of issues in the absence of a report adopted at the 121st session (October 2017)
14	Sudan	Fifth	31 July 2017	7 September 2017
15	Tajikistan	Third	26 July 2017	26 July 2017
16	Viet Nam	Third	1 August 2004	22 December 2017

GE.18-11916 (E)