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The human rights treaty bodies are committees of independent experts that monitor implementation of the core international human rights treaties. They are created in accordance with the provisions of the treaty that they monitor.
There are seven human rights treaty bodies:
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The Human Rights Committee (HRC) monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966 and its optional protocols;
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The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966;
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The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) monitors implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination 1965;
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The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) monitors implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women 1979;
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The Committee Against Torture (CAT) monitors implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment;
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The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) monitors implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 and its optional protocols; and
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The Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW) monitors implementation of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families 1990.
Each treaty body receives secretariat support from the Treaties and Commission Branch of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva except CEDAW, which is supported by the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW). CEDAW meets at United Nations headquarters in New York; the other treaty bodies generally meet at the UN Office in Geneva, although the Human Rights Committee usually holds its March session in New York.
The treaty bodies perform a number of functions in accordance with the provisions of the treaties that created them. These include:
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Consideration of State parties' reports
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Consideration of individual complaints or communications
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They also publish general comments on the treaties and organize discussions on related themes.
Consideration of State parties' reports
When a country ratifies one of these treaties, it assumes a legal obligation to implement the rights recognized in that treaty. But signing up is only the first step, because recognition of rights on paper is not sufficient to guarantee that they will be enjoyed in practice. So the country incurs an additional obligation to submit regular reports to the monitoring committee set up under that treaty on how the rights are being implemented. This system of human rights monitoring is common to most of the UN human rights treaties.
To meet their reporting obligation, States must submit an initial report usually one year after joining (two years in the case of the CRC) and then periodically in accordance with the provisions of the treaty (usually every four or five years). In addition to the government report, the treaty bodies may receive information on a country’s human rights situation from other sources, including non-governmental organizations, UN agencies, other intergovernmental organizations, academic institutions and the press. In the light of all the information available, the Committee examines the report together with government representatives. Based on this dialogue, the Committee publishes its concerns and recommendations, referred to as “concluding observations”.
Consideration of individual complaints or communications
In addition to the reporting procedure, some of the treaty bodies may perform additional monitoring functions through three other mechanisms: the inquiry procedure, the examination of inter-state complaints and the examination of individual complaints.
Four of the Committees (HRC, CERD, CAT and CEDAW) can, under certain conditions, receive petitions from individuals who claim that their rights under the treaties have been violated. More information.
General Comments
The Committees also publish their interpretation of the content of human rights provisions, known as general comments on thematic issues or methods of work.
For a comprehensive overview of the United Nations human rights treaty system, download UN Fact Sheet 30 here.
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