[psych-hr] UN Human Rights Committee adopts findings on individual complaints

UN PANEL ADOPTS FINDINGS ON INDIVIDUAL COMPLAINTS OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
New York, Sep 30 2002  5:00PM

Having heard cases brought by individuals against States parties to an
international treaty on civil and political rights, a United Nations panel
has found violations in seven cases while determining no breaches of the
accord in three others, including one involving a complaint against a court
ban in France on dwarf tossing.

After meeting in July to hear cases involving the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, the Geneva-based Human Rights Committee
released summaries of its findings last week.

In addition the 10 cases in which it determined whether violations
occurred, the Committee also declared seven cases inadmissible and one
other admissible.

Under the Covenant's First Optional Protocol, the Committed can examine
complaints from individuals who claim to be victims of violations of the
rights contained in the accord and who have exhausted domestic procedures
of redress.

In the dwarf tossing case, the complainant, a dwarf employed in
discotheques in France, claimed that he was unable to continue his
employment because French courts had banned the practice.

The Committee upheld the ban, saying that it was satisfied that the
prohibition on dwarf tossing was not abusive but "necessary in order to
protect public order - including considerations of human dignity which are
compatible with the aims of the Covenant."

The other two cases in which the Committee found no violations concerned
the ability to participate in self-determination processes and the absence
of any Covenant provision applicable to homosexual marriages. One case in
which a violation was found involved a father who could not exercise
visiting rights with his son following separation from his wife.


UN News Centre




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