CCPR/C/112/D/1968/2010
Annex
Views of the Human Rights Committee under article 5,
paragraph 4, of the Optional Protocol to the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (112th session)
concerning
Communication No. 1968/2010*
Submitted by:
Bronson Blessington and Matthew Elliot
(represented by Human Rights Law Centre)
Alleged victim:
The authors
State party:
Australia
Date of communication:
14 April 2010 (initial submission)
The Human Rights Committee, established under article 28 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
Meeting on 22 October 2014,
Having concluded its consideration of communication No. 1968/2010, submitted to
the Human Rights Committee by Bronson Blessington and Matthew Elliot under the
Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
Having taken into account all written information made available to it by the authors
of the communication and the State party,
Adopts the following:
Views under article 5, paragraph 4, of the Optional Protocol
1.
The authors of the communication dated 14 April 2010 are nationals of Australia,
Bronson Blessington, born on 21 October 1973, and Matthew Elliott, born on 16 April
1972. At the time of submission of the communication they were serving sentences of life
imprisonment at the Mid North Coast Correctional Centre and the Junee Correctional
Centre, New South Wales, respectively. They claim to be victims of violations by Australia
of articles 7, 10, paragraph 3, 15, paragraph 1, and 24, paragraph 1 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The authors are represented.1
* The following members of the Committee participated in the examination of the present
1
2
communication: Yadh Ben Achour, Lazhari Bouzid, Christine Chanet, Ahmad Amin Fathalla,
Cornelis Flinterman, Yuji Iwasawa, Walter Kälin, Gerald Neuman, Victor Manuel Rodríguez-Rescia,
Fabián Salvioli, Anja Seibert-Fohr, Yuval Shany, Konstantine Vardzelashvili, Margo Waterval,
and Andrei Paul Zlătescu.
The Optional Protocol entered into force for Australia on 25 December 1991.