On this page, you will find guidance to access the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for individual communications in Refugee and Asylum cases.
How to make an individual application alleging a violation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), thanks its Optional Protocol allowing individuals to submit complaints against States responsible for an alleged violation of their rights. Only States which are parties to the Optional Protocol can receive individual complaints.
Which States are parties to the Optional Protocol permitting to file such complaints?
107 States are parties. The list of States can be found here.
Who can file a complaint to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities?
Individuals claiming to be a victim of a violation of the CRPD by a State Party. It is therefore the individual (or a group of individuals) or his (their) representative that must file the complaint, with appropriate authorization.
A complaint can also be submitted on behalf of a victim (or group of victims) with their express written consent, unless the authors can justify acting on their behalf without such consent.
See Article 1(1) of the Optional Protocol and Rule 67 of the 2024 Rules of Procedure.
What human rights can the Committee protect?
The Committee can only deal with the rights contained in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It includes a number of rights, such as
- Equality and non-discrimination (Article 5)
- Protection of women with disabilities (Article 6)
- Protection of children (Article 7)
- The right to life (Article 10).
- The right to be protected during situations of risks (Article 11).
- Equal recognition before the law (Article 12).
- The right to be free from torture (Article 15).
The Convention has no explicit provision on non-refoulement, but the Committee has previously stated that Article 10 (right to life) and Article 15 (right not to be tortured) impose a prohibition of non-refoulement, meaning that a person cannot be sent back to a country when his right to life or to be freed from torture would be at risk (N.L. v Sweden §6.4)
What rules must be observed for the complaint to be admissible ?
- Anonymity and abuse of right
The Committee does not consider anonymous submissions and those that constitute an abuse of right (Article 2(a) & (b)) Optional Protocol.
- Exhaustion of domestic remedies
An individual should first seek protection from the national courts. The Committee is considered a body of last-resort and can therefore only be sought once the complainant has exhausted all available domestic remedies (Article 2(d)).
The rule on domestic remedies does not apply if the remedies are unreasonable prolonged or unlikely to bring effective relief to the person who is a victim of a violation of the Convention (Article 2(d)).
- No time limit.
There is no explicit time limit regarding the time elapsed since the exhaustion of domestic remedies to file complaint before the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
- Examination of the complaint by another procedure
The complaint will not be considered if it has been previously materially assessed by another procedure of international investigation or settlement (regional human rights Court or other human rights Bodies) (Article 2(c)).
How to request interim measures to be taken to avoid irreparable damage
In addition to individual communications, the Committee can order interim measures in order to avoid “irreparable damage to the victim”. This can be requested at any time during the proceedings, before a determination on the merits has been reached.
The ordering of interim measures does not imply a determination on the admissibility or the merits of the case.
Failure to respect these measures will be incompatible with the obligation to respect in good faith the procedure of individual communication.
See Article 4 of the Optional Protocol and Rule 64 of the 2024 Rules of Procedure.
Important considerations
Complaints must only address matters that have happened after the entry into force of the Optional Protocol in the State concerned (Article 2(f)). This is 29 days after the State ratifies or accedes to the Optional Protocol (Article 13).
An exception to the rule is when the violation started before the entry into force of the Protocol but continued after that date (Article 2(f)).
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Last updated March 2025
