10. Jurisprudence (decisions, views and opinions) of human rights treaty bodies (Content Code B25)

Decisions, views and opinions adopted by treaty bodies may be issued as individual documents and/or published in annual reports. Decisions of the Human Rights Committee are compiled and published annually as UN sales publications.

There are two basic types of treaty body jurisprudence: (a) numbered decisions on specific issues; (b) decisions, views and opinions on individual complaints or communications.

a) Numbered decisions on specific issues

Numbered decisions adopted by treaty bodies on specific issues are indexed like decisions of other UN bodies, with content code B01 (see Guidelines for specific types of UN documents and publications: Resolutions and decisions).

If decisions in numerical sequences are contained in sessional reports and not issued as individual documents, they should be indexed as monograph analytic records. In accordance with UNBIS practice, the document series symbol for the treaty body is transcribed before the decision number to create a document symbol in tag 191$a.

 
Example 1: Decision issued as individual document

089 $b B01
191 $a CCPR/C/89/2 $b CCPR/C/ $c 89
245 10 $a Decision on the report of the Working Group on the Harmonization of Working Methods of Treaty Bodies (HRI/MC/2007/2)
610 27 $a UN. Working Group on the Harmonization of Working Methods of Treaty Bodies (1st : 2006 : Geneva)
650 17 $a HUMAN RIGHTS
650 17 $a TREATY-MONITORING BODIES
650 17 $a COMMUNICATIONS PROCEDURES
650 17 $a WORK ORGANIZATION
710 2_ $a UN. Human Rights Committee (89th sess. : 2007 : New York)

 
Example 2: Numbered decision contained in sessional report: analytic record

089 $b B01
191 $a CERD/C/DEC/48/1 $b CERD/C/  $c 48
245 10 $a Decision 1(48) on Bosnia and Herzegovina
500 $a Adopted at the 1153rd meeting, 13 Mar. 1996.
580 $a In: Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. - A/51/18. - 1996. - p. 7-8. - (GAOR, 51st sess., Suppl. no. 18).
610 27 $a Commission on Human Rights for Bosnia and Herzegovina
etc.
650 17 $a RACE RELATIONS
650 17 $a ETHNIC AND RACIAL GROUPS
650 17 $a BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
650 17 $a FORMER YUGOSLAVIA SITUATION
710 2_ $a UN. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (48th sess. : 1996 : Geneva)



b) Decisions, views and opinions on individual complaints or communications

Four of the human rights treaty bodies (CAT, CCPR, CEDAW and CERD) consider and adopt decisions, views and opinions on individual complaints or communications relating to States parties. Those decisions, views and opinions, sometimes issued as restricted documents, may be made public and issued as derestricted documents (code DER is assigned in tag 091).

- While Content Code B01 is assigned to adopted decisions on specific issues (see (a) above), the decisions, views and opinions on individual complaints or communications are a specific category of treaty body documentation and require Content Code B25 (Jurisprudence on individual cases).

- Most documents containing decisions, views or opinions bear a variant title on page 2 or 3 that is more complete and informative than that on the title page, in which case a variant title (tag 246) may be recorded.

- Add General Notes (tag 500) to records for adopted decisions, views and opinions, specifying the name(s) of the individual(s) who submitted the communication (if present on the title page) and the date of adoption.

- If a note about derestriction appears on the title page, cite it in a general note (tag 500) and record DER in tag 091.

- In general, assign only primary subject terms (tag 650 level 1) for the main subject of the treaty concerned as well as for the specific subject(s) of the communication/complaint, the geographic subject term for the State party, and the term WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS as a primary subject term (tag 650 level 1) not linked with the geographic term for the State party.

Indexers should be careful to apply the guidelines for linkage of geographic terms in assigning primary subject terms, particularly since decisions may concern violations of rights.

- Assign the title subject (tag 630) for the treaty concerned.

- Assign the corporate name heading for the treaty body (with sessional information) in tag 710.

Example 1:

089 $b B25
091 $a DER
191 $a CCPR/C/90/D/1419/2005 $b CCPR/C/ $c 90
245 10 ­$a Communication no. 1419/2005 : $b Human Rights Committee, 90th session, 9-27 July 2007 : decision
246 3_ $i Title on p. 3: $a Decision of the Human Rights Committee under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 90th session, concerning communication no. 1419/2005
500 $a Adopted 24 July 2007 on communication submitted by Francesco de Lorenzo.
500 $a "Made public by decision of the Human Rights Committee".
650 17 $a CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS
650 17 $a RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL
650 17 $a ITALY
650 17 $a WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
710 2_ $a UN. Human Rights Committee (90th sess. : 2007 : Geneva)


Example 2:

089 $b B25
091 $a DER
191 $a CCPR/C/89/D/1348/2005 $b CCPR/C/ $c 89
245 10 $a Communication no. 1348/2005 : $b Human Rights Committee, 89th session, 12-30 March 2007 : views
246 3_ $i Title on p. 3: $a Views of the Human Rights Committee under article 5, paragraph 4, of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 89th session, concerning communication no. 1348/2005
500 $a Adopted 20 Mar. 2007 on communication submitted by Rozik Ashurov.
500 $a "Made public by decision of the Human Rights Committee".
650 17 $a CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS
650 17 $a PRISONER TREATMENT
650 17 $a RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED
650 17 $a RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL
650 17 $a TAJISKISTAN
650 17 $a TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL TREATMENT
650 17 $a WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
710 2_ $a UN. Human Rights Committee (89th sess. : 2007 : New York)

Example 3:

089 $b B25
091 $a DER
191 $a CERD/C/72/D/38/2006 $b CERD/C/ $c 72
245 10 ­$a Communication no. 38/2006 : $b Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 72nd session, 18 February-7 March 2008 : opinion
246 3_ $i Title on p. 2: $a Opinion of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination under article 14 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 72nd session, concerning communication no. 38/2006
500 $a Adopted 22 Feb. 2008 on communication submitted by Zentralrat Deutsher Sinti und Roma et al.
500 $a "Made public by decision of the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination".
650 17 $a ROMA
650 17 $a RACE RELATIONS
650 17 $a GERMANY
650 17 $a RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
650 17 $a WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
710 2_ $a UN. Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (72nd sess. : 2008 : Geneva)

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Last updated: 12 August 2009