The number of cases registered is an important statistic for judging the value of the communications procedures. Possible reasons for the smaller numbers of cases registered under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination are:

(a)A lack of awareness of the procedures;

(b)The fact that some complaints may have been brought under the first Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights because of its greater visibility.

As a matter of comparison, the European Commission of Human Rights registered more than 2,037 individual applications in 1993. Between 1955 and 1993, 23,114 applications were registered, although only 1,445 were declared admissible.