Recent Developments on Extraterritoriality of ICCPR and HRC Reporting

There have been recent developments that help to highlight aspects of our discussion this week about the extraterritorial application of the ICCPR, and on the monitoring and reporting function of the Human Rights Committee! This week the Human Rights Committee held, in its Concluding Observations to Australia's latest Periodic Report, that Australia was responsible for the human rights violations suffered by refugee claimants being held in Manus Island, part of Papua New Guinea. It did so on the basis that Australia was exercising "effective control" over their situation. More background on the crisis on Manus Island can be found here.