CCPR
UNITED NATIONS
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
Distr. GENERAL
CCPR/C/118
... September 1996
ORIGINAL : ENGLISH

Note by the Secretary-General

1. The fifty-eighth session of the Human Rights Committee will be held at the United Nations Office at Geneva from 21 October to 8 November 1996. The first meeting will be convened on Monday, 21 October 1996 at 10.30 a.m.

2. In accordance with rule 6 of the Committee's rules of procedure, the Secretary-General has prepared, in consultation with the Chairman of the Committee, the attached provisional agenda for the fifty-eighth session. Annotations to the provisional agenda are also attached.

3. Pursuant to rule 33 of the Committee's rules of procedure the meetings of the Committee will be held in public unless the Committee decides otherwise or it appears from the relevant provisions of the Covenant or the Optional Protocol that the meetings should be held in private.

4. The attention of States parties is drawn, in particular, to the annotations to item 4 which contain the tentative timetable for the consideration of reports at the fifty-eighth session. In accordance with rule 68 of the Committee's rules of procedure, representatives of States parties may be present at the meetings of the Committee when their reports are examined.

5. At its fifty-seventh session, the Committee decided that two working groups, established under rules 62 and 89 of its rules of procedure, should meet for a period of one week prior to its fifty-eighth session. The working groups are scheduled to meet at the United Nations Office at Geneva from 14 to 18 October 1996.

PROVISIONAL AGENDA

1. Adoption of the agenda.

2. Organizational and other matters.

3.Submission of reports by State parties under article 40 of the Covenant.

4. Consideration of reports submitted by State parties under article 40 of the Covenant.

5. General Comments of the Committee.

6. Consideration of communications under the Optional Protocol to the Covenant.

7.Follow-up on views adopted pursuant to article 5, paragraph 4, of the Optional Protocol to the Covenant

ANNOTATIONS

1. Adoption of the agenda.

Under rule 8 of the Committee's rules of procedure, the first item on the provisional agenda for any session shall be the adoption of the agenda. In accordance with rule 9, during a session, the Committee may revise the agenda and may, as appropriate, defer or delete items; only urgent and important items may be added to the agenda.

2. Organizational and other matters.

Under this item, the Committee will consider its programme of work for the session. In this connection, it may be noted that the Committee decided at its fifty-seventh session to set up, in addition to the pre-sessional working group on communications, a working group under article 40 of the Covenant to prepare concise lists of issues concerning periodic reports scheduled for consideration at the fifty-eighth session, to consider any draft general comment that may be put before it, and to further review the Committee's procedures under article 40 of the Covenant, in the light of the discussion on that subject during an informal meeting that took place in Geneva from 26 to 28 July 1996.

3. Submission of reports by State parties under article 40 of the Covenant.

Reports received

In addition to the reports which are scheduled for consideration by the Committee at its fifty-eighth session (see the timetable for consideration of reports under item 4 below), the Secretary-General has received the reports of the following States parties :

State party Symbol Report Date due Date received

Georgia CCPR/C/100/Add.1 Initial 1995 21.11.1996

Slovakia CCPR/C/81/Add.9 Initial 1993 09.01.1996

Lithuania CCPR/C/81/Add.10 Initial 1993 16.04.1996

Bolivia CCPR/C/63/Add.4 Second 1990 20.03.1996

Lebanon CCPR/C/42/Add.13 Second 1986 06.06.1996

Congo CCPR/C/63/Add.5 Second 1990 09.07.1996

Portugal (Macau) CCPR/C/70/Add.9 Third 1991 01.03.1996

India CCPR/C/76/Add.6 Third 1992 29.11.1995

France CCPR/C/76/Add.7 Third 1992 15.03.1996

Cyprus CCPR/C/94/Add.1 Third 1994 28.12.1994

Iceland CCPR/C/94/Add.2 Third 1994 23.03.1995

Libyan Arab Jamahiriya CCPR/C/102/Add.1 Third 1995 29.11.1995

Belgium CCPR/C/94/Add.3 Third 1994 21.08.1996

Belarus CCPR/C/84/Add.4 Fourth 1993 11.04.1995

Finland CCPR/C/95/Add.6 Fourth 1994 10.08.1995

Romania CCPR/C/95/Add.7 Fourth 1994 26.04.1996

Senegal CCPR/C/103/Add.1 Fourth 1995 19.09.1995

Iraq CCPR/C/103/Add.2 Fourth 1995 05.02.1996

Poland CCPR/C/95/Add.8 Fourth 1994 07.05.1996

Colombia CCPR/C/103/Add.3 Fourth 1995 09.07.1996

Reports due

The situation with regard to the submission of reports by States parties under article 40 of the Covenant is as follows:

State party Date due Number of reminders sent

Equatorial Guinea24 December 1988 14

Somalia23 April 1991 9

Zimbabwe12 August 1992 7

Croatia 7 October 1992 5

Grenada 5 December 1992 4

the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 16 September 1992 2

Israel 2 January 1993 6

Albania 3 January 1993 6

Bosnia - Herzegovina 05 March 1993 2

Angola [1] 9 April 1993 2

Benin 11 June 1993 4

Côte d'Ivoire 25 June 1993 3

Seychelles 4 August 1993 4

Cambodia 25 August 1993 2

Lesotho 08 December 1993 1

Czech Republic 31 December 1993 2

Moldova 25 April 1994 3

Ethiopia 10 September 1994 3

Dominica 16 September 1994 3

Armenia 22 September 1994 3

Mozambique 20 October 1994 3

Cape Verde 05 November 1994 1

Malawi 21 March 1995 2

Kyrgystan 6 January 1996 -

Namibia 27 February 1996 -

SECOND PERIODIC REPORTS

State party Date due Number of reminders sent

Syrian Arab Republic 18 August 1984 24

Gambia 21 June 1985 22

Suriname 2 August 1985 21

Kenya 11 April 1986 20

Mali 11 April 1986 20

Jamaica 1 August 1986 18

Guyana 10 April 1987 18

Democratic People's Republic of Korea 13 December 1987 16

Central African Republic 9 April 1989 13

Gabon 20 April 1989 -

Viet Nam31 July 1991 8

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines31 October 1991 9

San Marino17 January 1992 8

Sudan17 June 1992 6

Philippines 22 January 1993 6

Equatorial Guinea [2] 24 December 1993 4

Niger 31 March 1994 4

Algeria 11 December 1995 -

Ireland 7 March 1996 -

Somalia² 23 April 1996 -

Republic of Korea 9 July 1996 -

THIRD PERIODIC REPORTS

State party Date due Number of reminders sent

Lebanon21 March 1988 -

Syrian Arab Republic³ 18 August 1989 13

Trinidad and Tobago20 March 1990 12

Gambia³ 21 June 1990 11

Suriname³ 2 August 1990 11

Barbados11 April 1991 10

Kenya³11 April 1991 10

Mali³11 April 1991 10

Nicaragua11 June 1991 9

Zaire31 July 1991 9

Jamaica³ 1 August 1991 9

Australia12 November 1991 8

Panama31 March 1992 8

Guyana³10 April 1992 8

Rwanda¹10 April 1992 2

Madagascar31 July 1992 7

Central African Republic³ 7 August 1992 7

Democratic People's Republic of Korea³ 13 December 1992 6

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines³ 8 February 1993 6

Austria 9 April 1993 5

Bolivia 11 November 1993 -

Viet Nam [3] 23 December 1993 -

Tanzania 31 December 1993 4

Venezuela 31 December 1993 4

Gabon 20 April 1994 -

Afghanistan 23 April 1994 -

Luxembourg 17 November 1994 2

Bulgaria 31 December 1994 2

Egypt 31 December 1994 2

Guinea 31 December 1994 2

Iran (Islamic Republic of) 31 December 1994 2

Congo 04 January 1995 -

Cameroon 26 September 1995 1

El Salvador 31 December 1995 -

Togo 31 December 1995 -

FOURTH PERIODIC REPORTS

State party Date dueNumber of reminders sent

Lebanon21 March 1993 -

Panama [4] 6 June 1993 5

Madagascar⁴ 3 August 1993 5

Yugoslavia 3 August 1993 5

Ecuador 4 November 1993 5

Dominican Republic 3 April 1994 4

Chile 28 April 1994 3

Syrian Arab Republic^3/4 18 August 1994 3

Uruguay 31 December 1994 2

Trinidad and Tobago⁴ 20 March 1995 2

Canada 4 April 1995 2

Mongolia 4 April 1995 2

Gambia^3/4 21 June 1995 1

India 9 July 1995 -

Costa Rica 2 August 1995 1

Hungary 2 August 1995 1

Suriname^3/4 2 August 1995 1

Venezuela 1 November 1995 1

Denmark 1 November 1995 -

Italy 31 December 1995 -

El Salvador 28 February 1996 -

Barbados 11 April 1996 -

Kenya 11 April 1996 -

Mali 11 April 1996 -

Tanzania 11 April 1996 -

Nicaragua 11 June 1996 -

States parties whose reports are to be submitted between the closing date of the Committee's fifty-seventh session (26 July 1996) and the closing date of its fifty-eighth session (8 November 1996)

Initial reports

State party Date due

Chad 8 September 1996

Uganda 20 September 1996

Second periodic reports

State party Date due

Burundi 8 August 1996

Fourth periodic reports

State party Date due

Jamaica 1 August 1996

Norway 1 August 1996

Portugal 1 August 1996

Sri Lanka 10 September 1996

Japan 31 October 1996

Morocco 31 October 1996

4.Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 40 of the Covenant

A tentative timetable for the consideration of reports at the fifty-eighth session, prepared in consultation with the Chairman and subject to approval by the Committee, is given below:

Timetable for consideration of reports of States parties

In accordance with rule 68 of the Committee's rules of procedure, the Secretary-General has informed the States parties concerned of the tentative dates on which their respective reports are scheduled for consideration by the Committee at its fifty-eighth session.

5. General Comments of the Committee

Under this item, the Committee will consider any draft general comment that may be put before it by its pre--sessional Working Group on article 40.

6.Consideration of communications under the Optional Protocol to the Covenant

In accordance with the provisions of chapter XVII of the rules of procedure, the Committee will consider under this item communications which are or appear to be submitted to it under the Optional Protocol.

One hundred and forty-third communications are pending before the Committee from earlier sessions. Taking into account the deadlines established by the Committee for submission of further information from the parties, 42 cases (earlier declared admissible) may be considered for the adoption of final views and 101 cases may be considered for a decision on admissibility. In addition, the Committee will have before it summaries of a number of recently registered communications and summaries of new communications registered after its last session, together with an indication of any action which may have been taken by the Special Rapporteur for new communications.

In accordance with article 5, para.3, of the Optional Protocol and rule 82 of the Committee's rules of procedure, this agenda item will be considered in closed meetings.

7.Follow-up on views adopted pursuant to article 5, paragraph 4, of the Optional Protocol to the Covenant

Under this item, the Committee will assess the status of follow-up activities under the Optional Protocol and examine periodic reports submitted by the Special Rapporteur for the Follow-Up on Views.

Notes

1. The Committee has requested the Government to submit a special report for discussion by the Committee.

2. The State party's initial report has not yet been received

3. The States Party's second periodic report has not yet been received

4. The States party's third periodic report has not yet been received

5. On 1 November 1995, the Committee requested the Government of the United Kingdom to submit a brief report, by 31 May 1996, on new developments with regard to the enjoyment of human rights in Hong Kong, pursuant to the recommendations contained in its Concluding Observations (CCPR/C/79/Add.55) for consideration by the Committee at its 58th session.

6. The consideration of the third periodic report of Peru was initiated at the 57th session of the Committee.