The First Optional Protocol is procedural in nature and provides a mechanism for the Committee to receive and consider individual complaints alleging violations of the Covenant, in other words, violations of the substantive rights provided for in Part III, if necessary, taking into account the provisions of Parts I and II. As its name clearly implies, this Protocol is not binding, but after a State party to the Covenant becomes a party to the Protocol, any person under the jurisdiction of the State party may submit a written complaint to the Human Rights Committee (subject to any permissible reservations). The complaint procedure is not limited to citizens or persons located on the territory of States, and is applicable to all persons who are directly subject to the powers of the State exercised by its authorities. For example, a citizen of a State party residing abroad, to whom that State has refused to issue a passport, has the right to file a complaint with the Committee.
Articles 1, 2, 3 and 5 of the Protocol define the direct and indirect admissibility requirements that a complaint must satisfy before considering its validity or merits. Article 4 of the Protocol sets out the main procedural requirements related to the consideration of the complaint. In accordance with article 6, the Committee submits an annual report to the General Assembly on its activities in connection with the consideration of complaints, and articles 7-14 contain standard protective and technical provisions concerning accession to it, its entry into force, notification procedures, amendments, denunciation, etc. In article 10, as in the Covenant itself, It is envisaged that the Protocol, without any exceptions, also applies to all parts of the federal States. Article 12 allows the denunciation of the Optional Protocol by a State party.
The purpose of the Second Optional Protocol is reflected in its full title as a Protocol "aimed at the abolition of the death penalty". Its only substantive provision, contained in article 1, explicitly states that no person under the jurisdiction of a State party is subject to the death penalty and that each State Party shall take all necessary measures to abolish the death penalty.
Article 2, subject to certain procedural requirements, allows only one reservation, namely, the reservation on the application of the death penalty in wartime after admission of guilt in the commission of the most serious crimes of a military nature committed during wartime. Article 6 provides that no derogation from these provisions is permitted and, as substantive provisions, they apply as additional provisions to the Covenant. Articles 3-5 establish, in relation to the Protocol, a similar reporting procedure and complaint procedures, which are discussed below in relation to the Covenant, as well as in relation to the filing of complaints under the first Optional Protocol.
Final articles 7-11 contain the provisions discussed above concerning federal States, as well as generally accepted treaty mechanisms related to entry into force, amendments, etc.