Following the conclusion of its 98th session, held in New York earlier this month, the Human Rights Committee issued a press release deploring 
the execution of two individuals whose cases are pending before the Committee and on whose behalf the Committee had issued interim measures. During its session, the Committee had requested clarification from Belarus, which was not forthcoming. The Committee stated that “executing individuals whose cases are pending before the Committee amounts to a grave breach of the [First] Optional Protocol [to the ICCPR], in particular where a request for interim protection under rule 92 of the Committee’s Rules of Procedure has been issued.”
The Human Rights Committee meets three times annually to consider individual complaints submitted under the Optional Protocol, as well as State’s reports (to be submitted once every four years) on their compliance with the provisions with the ICCPR. During the 98th session, the Committee considered the sitations in Mexico, Argentina, Uzbekistan and New Zealand based on information provided by NGOs (in the absence of a State report), as well as the State reports submitted by Serbia, Poland, Jordan, Hungary, and Belgium (all available here). See more about the Human Rights Committee in the UN Treaty Bodies section of this blog.