Chapter 2 • The Major Universal Human Rights Instruments and the Mechanisms for Their Implementation 2.1.5 The implementation mechanisms The implementation of the Covenant is monitored by the Human Rights Committee, which consists of eighteen members serving in their individual capacity (art. 28). The monitoring takes three forms, namely, the submission of periodic reports, inter-State communications, and individual communications: v the reporting procedure: according to article 40 of the Covenant, the States parties “undertake to submit reports on the measures they have adopted which give effect to the rights” recognized therein and “on the progress made in the enjoyment of those rights”, first within one year of the entry into force of the Covenant for the States parties concerned, and thereafter, whenever the Committee so requests, that is to say, every five years. The reports “shall indicate the factors and difficulties, if any, affecting the implementation of the ... Covenant”, and the Committee has developed careful guidelines aimed both at facilitating the task of the States parties and rendering the reports more efficient. In July 1999 the Committee adopted consolidated guidelines for the submission of the reports of the States parties;28 v inter-State communications: as noted in section 2.1, States parties to the Covenant may at any time declare under article 41 that they recognize “the competence of the Committee to receive and consider communications to the effect that a State Party claims that another State Party is not fulfilling its obligations under the present Covenant”; in other words, the possibility of bringing inter-State communications is only valid as between States parties having made this kind of declaration. During the initial stage of the proceedings, the communication is only brought to the attention of one State party by another, and it is only if the matter is not settled to the satisfaction of both States parties within a period of six months that either State party has the right to bring the matter before the Committee itself (art. 41(1)(a) and (b)). The Committee has to follow a procedure prescribed in article 41(1)(c)-(h), but, since it was never used during the first 25 years of the Committee’s existence, it will not be dealt with further here; v individual communications: under article 1 of the Optional Protocol, a State Party thereto “recognizes the competence of the Committee to receive and consider communications from individuals subject to its jurisdiction who claim to be victims of a violation by that State Party of any of the rights set forth in the Covenant”. However, according to article 2 of the Optional Protocol, individuals claiming violations of their rights must first exhaust all remedies available to them at the domestic level; further, the Committee shall consider inadmissible any communication which is anonymous, or which it considers to amount to an abuse of the right of submission of communications or to be incompatible with the provisions of the Covenant (art. 3). If the communication raises a serious issue under the Covenant, the Committee submits it to the State party concerned, which has the possibility to submit its written explanations within a period of six months. The procedure before the Committee is therefore exclusively written and the discussions in the Committee on the communications take place behind closed doors (arts. 4-5). At the end of its consideration of a communication, the Committee adopts its “Views” thereon, which are sent both to the State party and to the individual concerned (art. 5(4)). 28 See UN doc. CCPR/C/66/GUI. 38 Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A Manual on Human Rights for Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers