D,
Individual opinions
619. In its -work vmcler the Optional Protocol/ the Committee strives to reach
its decisions by consensus, without resorting to voting. However, pursuant to
rule 94, paragraph 3, of the Committee's rules of procedure, members can add
their individual concurring or dissenting opinions to the Committee's views.
Pursuant to rule 92, paragraph 3, members can append their individual opinions
to the Committee's decisions declaring communications inadmissible.
620, During the sessions covered by the present report, individual opinions
were appended to the Committee's views in cases Nos. 240/1987 (Willard Collins
v. Jamaica), 270/1988 and 271/1988 (Randolph Barrett and Clyde Sutcliffe v.
Jamaica), 277/1988 (Juan Teran Jijon v. Ecuador), 349/1989 (Clifton Wright v.
Jamaica), 395/1990 (M. Th. Sprenger v. the Netherlands), 410/1990
(Csaba Parkanyi v. Hungary) and 415/1990 (Dietmar Pauger v. Austria) and to
the Committee's inadmissibility decisions in cases Nos. 347/1988 (S.G. v.
France), 348/1989 (G.B. v. France) and 397/1990 (P.S. v. Denmark). An
individual opinion was also appended to one decision declaring a communication
admissible.
E.
Issues considered by the Committee
621. For a review of the Committee's work under the Optional Protocol from its
second session in 1977 to its forty-second session in 1990, the reader is
referred to the Committee's annual reports for 1984 to 1991, which, inter
alia, contain a summary of the procedural and substantive issues considered by
the Committee and of the decisions taken. The full texts of the views adopted
by the Committee and of its decisions declaring communications inadmissible
under the Optional Protocol have been reproduced regularly in annexes to the
Committee's annual reports.
622. The following summary reflects further developments of issues considered
during the period covered by the present report.
1.
(a)
Procedural issues
Author's standing fart. 1 of the Optional Protocol^
623. Under article 1 of the Optional Protocol, individuals who claim to be
victims of a violation by a State party of any of the rights set forth in the
Covenant may submit a communication to the Committee. In case No. 397/1990
(P.S. v. Denmark), the Committee had to consider whether the author, the
divorced father of an eight-year-old boy whose custody had been given to the
mother, had standing to present a claim under the Optional Protocol not only
on his own behalf, but also on behalf of his son. While declaring the
communication inadmissible on the ground of non-exhaustion of domestic
remedies, the Committee nevertheless observed that:
"... standing under the Optional Protocol may be determined independently
of national regulations and legislation governing an individual's
standing before a domestic court of law. In the present case, it is
clear that T.S. cannot himself submit a complaint to the Committee; the
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