The United Nations Human Rights Commission this week-end voted to recommend the establishment of a seven-member fact-finding body to investigate all charges of violations of the proposed Covenant on Human Rights. Although the Commission decided that the investigating body should not be a direct U.N. group, it was agreed that its seven members would be nationals of states which ratify the covenant.
The inquiry commission will hear complaints of violations of the pact from states which have ratified the covenant. It decided not to consider pleas from individuals, non-governmental agencies or from non-ratifying nations. States accused of committing violations have three months to reply to the charges. Then, the inquiry committee would, if the matter were still unsettled, look into the facts and would use its good offices.
One of the major complaints against the implementation procedure is that it does not provide for direct United Nations action, since the fact-finding body will not be a U.N. group. The Consultative Council of Jewish Organizations, consisting of U.S., French and British groups, favors the appointment of a U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights to assist in implementing the covenant.
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