UN Human Rights Commission Makes Decision on my Letter of Complaints

At 12:05pm Central Time, my wife brought to me a package containing the decision of the UN Human Rights Commission Petition Unit. I leaped with excitement. The containing the Petition Unit's decision or official response was both good and bad news. The news is the Commission said the following:
                                                                                                                   
"Dear Sir:

Navanethem Pillay - UN Human Rights High Commissioner

After careful consideration of the contents of your communication, we sincerely regret to having to inform you that the Petitions Unit of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is not in a position to assist you in the matter you raise, for the reasons indicated on the back of the this letter...[THE OBJECT OF YOUR PETITION FALLS OUTSIDE THE SCOPE OF THE RELEVANT TREATY]. Accordingly, your petition is being returned to you.

Please accept our apologies for not replying in a more personal manner. You may understand that, while we appreciate your reasons for writing to us, the existing procedures require that it is ascertained whether certain preliminary criteria are satisfied before proceeding with the examination of a petition.

For information about the procedures for the examination of individual petitions on human rights violations, please consult our website: www.ohchr.org

, direct link: http.//www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/petition/index.htm.
In you have difficulty accessing our website, please write to the UNHCHR, Information Office PW-RS-011, 1211 Geneva 10, and ask for Human Rights Facts Sheets Nos. 7, 12, 15 and 17

Yours Sincerely,
The Petitions Unit."

This is one of best communications I have got from any organization recently. The good news is, the UN Human Rights Petitions Unit directed me to where I will read the procedures to refile this petition or other petitions in the future. And when I read, this is what I got:
"Anyone who is a victim of a human rights violation, or who is representing such a victim, can file a complaint under the treaty body complaints mechanism.
If you wish to file a complaint on behalf of someone else or a group, you must submit a written consent from each of the victims you wish to represent. A relative can represent, without written consent, a person who is not in a position to provide an authorization. The reason for this must be explained. The Committees do not examine complaints about a general situation filed on behalf of a general class of persons, who cannot be individually identified."

Now that I know what to do, I will channel my petition through the proper procedure and get the UN Human Rights Commission to help investigate what is going on in Grand Gedeh County. I am elated and I thank the UN for the educational response.

Gibson W. Jerue
Journalist/author