UN HRC: denial of UN HRC competence breaches UN law, Korneenko v Belarus, 1226/2003

On 25/01/2002, Viktor Korneenko, chairman of the Gomel regional association Civil Initiatives, was fined $ 615 for use of “untied foreign aid” (computer equipment. 5 computers and 2 printers of his NGO were confiscated (§ 2.7). After the exhaustion of domestic remedies, he addressed the UN Human Rights Committee.

The Belarusian Government declares that under the Optional Protocol the State parties have no obligation to recognise the Committee’s Rules of Procedure and its case law (§ 6.2). The Committee replies that Article 39(2) of the Covenant authorizes it to establish the Rules of Procedure. Any State party to the Optional Protocol transfers the respective competence to the Committee (Preamble and Article 1). This kind of declaration breaches Article 1 of the Optional Protocol to the Covenant.