Individual Communications Procedure under the CRPD Optional Protocol

The individual communications procedure allows individuals and groups of individuals whose government has ratified the Optional Protocol to submit a complaint to the CRPD Committee alleging that the State has breached one of its obligations under the CRPD.

The complaint is known as an “individual communication” and the person or group who submits the complaint is referred to as the “author.”

An individual communication can only be filed after all domestic remedies have been exhausted (meaning that the authors have attempted to address the alleged violation using all the avenues available under national law) and the authors still believe that the State Party is violating the CRPD.

What the process entails (see box below):

  • When the Committee receives an individual communication, it gives the State Party the opportunity to respond to the allegations. Depending on the State Party’s response, the Committee may request additional information from the authors of the communication.
  • After collecting all relevant information, the Committee examines the complaint and then formulates its views and recommendations, if any, on the communication and sends them to the State Party in question. The views and recommendations appear in the Committee’s public report to the General Assembly.
  • According to Article 5 of the Optional Protocol and rule 75 of the Committee’s rules of procedure, the State party is required to submit within six months a written response that describes any action taken in the light of the views and recommendations of the CRPD Committee.

Individual communications procedures are a paper process only - in other words, neither the complainant nor the State Party appears before the CRPD Committee in person. Not all communications are admissible. A communication will be considered inadmissible where:

  • It is anonymous;
  • It is an abuse or incompatible with the provisions of the CRPD;
  • The same complaint has already been examined by the Committee;
  • The same complaint has been or is being examined under another international investigations procedure;
  • All available domestic remedies have not yet been exhausted – in other words the complainant has attempted to obtain a remedy through the legal system of the State prior to lodging a complaint at international level with the CRPD Committee (although if no remedies exist at the domestic level, this requirement may be waived);
  • It is ill-founded or not sufficiently substantiated; or
  • The issue in question preceded the State party’s ratification of the Optional Protocol.

The Individual Communication Procedure Step-by-Step

The individual communications procedure is composed of the following steps:

  1. The CRPD Committee receives the complaint.
  2. The CRPD Committee considers the admissibility of the complaint. Sometimes the admissibility of the complaint is considered at the same time as its merits, in other words a decision is made that the complaint is admissible (admissibility) and a decision is made at the same time whether the State party is or is not in breach of its obligations (merits).
  3. The CRPD Committee submits the complaint confidentially to the State.
  4. Within six months the State party submits written explanations or statements clarifying the issue and indicating what remedial or other steps, if any, have been taken.
  5. The complainant is given an opportunity to comment on the State’s observations.
  6. The CRPD Committee may ask the State to take interim measures to protect the rights of the complainant.
  7. The CRPD Committee examines the complaint in closed session.
  8. The CRPD Committee submits suggestions and recommendations, if any, to the State and the complainant, and often requests States to provide information on the action it has taken as a result.
  9. The CRPD Committee publishes its suggestions and recommendations in its report.
  10. The State reports to the CRPD Committee within six months on actions taken in response to their views and recommendations.

 

Country Checkpoint

Are you aware of disability rights issues that might warrant the initiation of individual communications procedures in your country (perhaps because the legal framework does not provide a remedy or because the remedy provided violates the CRPD)?