United Nations - International treaty bodies

UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies

 

The United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies are committees of experts created to monitor governments’ implementation of specific human rights conventions. Currently, ten of the human rights agreements drafted under the auspices of the United Nations are overseen by treaty bodies. Each committee’s mandate is defined in the treaty it oversees or in a protocol to that treaty.

Each committee – with the exception of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture – issues concluding observations based on its review of each State party’s reports regarding its implementation of the treaty’s provisions, which generally must be submitted every few years. The same nine treaty bodies are also authorized to publish general comments (also called “general recommendations”) interpreting the scope of each treaty’s provisions or providing guidance on issues related to its mandate. Some treaty bodies also organize general or thematic discussions, which focus on a particular right or aspect of each convention.

Currently, eight of the ten UN treaty bodies may also receive and decide individual complaints (also called “communications”) regarding violations allegedly committed by those States that have authorized the committee to receive complaints against them. States generally can accede to the individual complaints mechanism by signing the relevant protocol or submitting the necessary declaration to the treaty. The committee issues a decision regarding each individual complaint, and while these decisions are not generally considered binding on States, they do represent a reasoned interpretation of the relevant treaty to which the States parties have agreed to be legally bound.

One additional UN treaty body – on the rights of migrant workers – will be authorized to receive individual complaints after 10 States have ratified the necessary instrument.

Some treaty bodies also receive inter-State complaints, which is when one State alleges that another State has violated the relevant treaty.

Finally, some treaty bodies have the competence to consider requests for urgent action or early-warning procedures, which are aimed at preventing or halting serious violations of the relevant convention. Some bodies may initiate confidential inquiries when it receives information regarding grave or systematic violations, so long as the State concerned agrees.

The United Nations Treaty Bodies

• The Human Rights Committee oversees implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and may receive individual communications relating to States parties to the First Optional Protocol to the ICCPR.

• The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) monitors compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and may receive individual complaints relating to States parties to the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR (entered into force in 2013).

• The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) oversees implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and may receive individual complaints against States parties that have made the relevant declaration under Article 14 of the ICERD.

• The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW Committee) monitors compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and may receive individual communications relating to States parties to the Optional Protocol to CEDAW.

• The Committee Against Torture (CAT) oversees implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (Convention against Torture) and may accept individual complaints against States parties that have made the relevant declaration under Article 22 of the CAT.

• The Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT), which was established pursuant to the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OP-CAT), visits places of detention and advises States and National Preventive Mechanisms on best practices to prevent torture and ill-treatment.

• The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) monitors compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its two protocols. Beginning in April 2014, it may accept individual complaints against States parties that have ratified the Third Optional Protocol on a Communications Procedure.

• The Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW) oversees implementation of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (ICMW). An individual complaints mechanism is pending and will begin operating when 10 States parties have made the relevant declaration pursuant to Article 77 of the CMW.

• The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) monitors compliance with the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (ICRPD) and may receive individual complaints against States parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention.

• The Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) monitors implementation of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED) and may consider individual complaints against States parties that have recognized the Committee’s competence pursuant to Article 31 of the Convention.

Additional Resources

For further information about the mandate, outputs, and jurisdiction of each UN human rights treaty body, see the IJRC page on each committee (linked to above).

Each treaty body’s decisions, concluding observations on States’ reports, and general comments on treaty provisions can be most effectively searched through the UN Treaty Body Database, treaty body Jurisprudence Database, and other resources listed in the Jurisprudence & Documents Databases section of this Online Resource Hub.

The UN also maintains a list of general comments issued by the treaty bodies.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) publishes a quarterly Newsletter on the treaty bodies’ activities, and also maintains information on the current status of States’ ratification and reporting on its Human Rights Bodies page.

The UN Dag Hammarskjöld Library’s UN’s Treaty Based Bodies Research Guide provides useful information on researching, citing, and identifying documents published by the treaty bodies.

What do the treaty bodies do?

The treaty bodies perform a number of functions in accordance with the provisions of the treaties that established them. These include consideration of State parties' periodic reports, consideration of individual complaints, conduct country inquiries and they also adopt general comments interpreting treaty provisions and organize thematic discussions related to the treaties (see below).
Consideration of State parties' reports
When a country ratifies a treaty, it assumes a legal obligation to implement the rights recognized in that treaty. However, becoming a party to a treaty is only the first step, because recognition of rights on paper is not sufficient to guarantee that they will be enjoyed in practice.
So, in addition to their obligation to implement the substantive provisions of the treaty, each State party is also under an obligation to submit periodic reports to the relevant treaty body (except under the OPCAT) on how the rights are being implemented.
In addition to State parties’ report, the treaty bodies may receive information on a country’s human rights situation from other sources, including national human rights institutions (NHRIs), civil society organizations (CSOs), both international and national, United Nations entities, other intergovernmental organizations, and professional groups and academic institu­tions. Most committees allocate specific plenary time to hearing submissions from CSOs and UN entities.
In the light of all the information available, the relevant treaty body examines the report in the presence of a State party’s delegation. Based on this constructive dialogue, the Committee publishes its concerns and recommendations, referred to as “concluding observations”.
Consideration of individual complaints
Six of the Committees (CCPR, CERD, CAT, CEDAW, CRPD, and CED,) can, under certain conditions, receive petitions from individuals. Any individual who claims that her or his rights under the treaty have been violated by a State party to that treaty may bring a communication before the relevant committee, provided that the State has recognized the competence of the committee to receive such complaints and that domestic remedies have been exhausted. In addition, three treaties (the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure) con­tain provisions for individual communications to be considered by their respective committees, but these are not yet operative.
Conduct country inquiries
Six of the Committees (CESCR, CAT, CEDAW, CRPD, CED, and CRC – when the relevant optional protocol enters into force) may, under certain conditions, initiate country inquiries if they receive reliable information containing well-founded indications of serious, grave or systematic violations of the conventions in a State party.
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. These cover a wide range of subjects, from the compre­hensive interpretation of substantive provisions, such as the right to life or the right to adequate food, to general guidance on the information that should be submitted in State reports relating to specific articles of the treaties.
Meeting of chairpersons
The treaty bodies are continually seeking ways to enhance their effectiveness through streamlining and harmonization of working methods and practices.
The annual Meeting of Chairpersons of the Human Rights Treaty Bodies provides a forum for members of the ten human rights treaty bodies to discuss their work, share best practices, and consider ways to enhance the effectiveness of the treaty body system as a whole.
Treaty body strengthening process
In 2009, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights highlighted that the overall success of the human rights protection system, marked by the increase in the number of human rights instruments and corresponding monitoring bodies, together with greater compliance by States parties with reporting obligations, posed greater demands on the treaty bodies and her Office. She called on States parties as well as on other stakeholders to initiate a process of reflection on how to streamline and strengthen the treaty body system to achieve better coordination among these mechanisms and in their interaction with special procedures and the universal periodic review.
In response to the High Commissioner's call, 19 consultations by stakeholders have taken place between 2010 and 2012.
On 22 June 2012, the High Commissioner has published a report compiling the various proposals made during the consultation process.
For a comprehensive overview of the United Nations human rights treaty system, download OHCHR Fact Sheet 30 here.

Right To Education

Education is a fundamental human right and essential for the exercise of all other human rights. It promotes individual freedom and empowerment and yields important development benefits. Yet millions of children and adults remain deprived of educational opportunities, many as a result of poverty.

Normative instruments of the United Nations and UNESCO lay down international legal obligations for the right to education. These instruments promote and develop the right of every person to enjoy access to education of good quality, without discrimination or exclusion. These instruments bear witness to the great importance that Member States and the international community attach to normative action for realizing the right to education. It is for governments to fulfil their obligations both legal and political in regard to providing education for all of good quality and to implement and monitor more effectively education strategies. 

Education is a powerful tool by which economically and socially marginalized adults and children can lift themselves out of poverty and participate fully as citizens.

1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

2. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

The right to education means that the State should make adequate provision for educating its citizens. Education sharpens intellect, equips individuals with the capacity to work and trains them in the art of citizenship.

Citizenship has been defined “as the contribution of one’s instructed judgment to the public good.”

Education is an indispensable condition to free individual development and makes man fit for the tasks of citizenship. Laski says, “In the long run, power belongs to those who can formulate and grasp ideas.”
An uneducated individual can neither understand politics nor can he become vigilant about his interests and consequently his actual participation in the affairs of the State is generally negligible.
Such a citizen is bound to be the slave of others. He will not have the opportunity to rise to the fall stature of his personality. “He will go through life a stunted being whose impulses have never been ordered by reason into creative experiment.”
This means the failure of democracy, for the people who are ultimate masters will not be able to exercise their franchise intelligently or perform their other civic duties satisfactorily. Hence, the democratic slogan is: “Educate the masters.” Apparently, the right to education is a civil right, but really, it is a political right as it safeguards them.
Right to education does not, however, mean an identical intellectual training for all citizens. It only means provision for that type of education which should give an equal opportunity to all citizens in that branch of knowledge for which they have an aptitude. Then, there should be a compulsory minimum level of education below which no one may fall, if he is to conform to the standard of a good citizen.
Every citizen should have at least as much education as may enable him to weigh, judge, choose, and decide for himself. “He must be made to feel that this is a world in which he can by the use of his mind and will shape at once outline and substance.”

International Human Rights Law

International Human Rights Law

The international human rights movement was strengthened when the United Nations General Assembly adopted of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on 10 December 1948. Drafted as ‘a common standard of achievement for all peoples and nations', the Declaration for the first time in human history spell out basic civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights that all human beings should enjoy. It has over time been widely accepted as the fundamental norms of human rights that everyone should respect and protect. The UDHR, together with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its two Optional Protocols, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, form the so - called International Bill of Human Rights.
A series of international human rights treaties and other instruments adopted since 1945 have conferred legal form on inherent human rights and developed the body of international human rights. Other instruments have been adopted at the regional level reflecting the particular human rights concerns of the region and providing for specific mechanisms of protection. Most States have also adopted constitutions and other laws which formally protect basic human rights. While international treaties and customary law form the backbone of international human rights law other instruments, such as declarations, guidelines and principles adopted at the international level contribute to its understanding, implementation and development. Respect for human rights requires the establishment of the rule of law at the national and international levels.
International human rights law lays down obligations which States are bound to respect. By becoming parties to international treaties, States assume obligations and duties under international law to respect, to protect and to fulfil human rights. The obligation to respect means that States must refrain from interfering with or curtailing the enjoyment of human rights. The obligation to protect requires States to protect individuals and groups against human rights abuses. The obligation to fulfil means that States must take positive action to facilitate the enjoyment of basic human rights.
Through ratification of international human rights treaties, Governments undertake to put into place domestic measures and legislation compatible with their treaty obligations and duties. Where domestic legal proceedings fail to address human rights abuses, mechanisms and procedures for individual complaints or communications are available at the regional and international levels to help ensure that international human rights standards are indeed respected, implemented, and enforced at the local level.

Child Labour

What is child labour?
Considerable differences exist between the many kinds of work children do. Some are difficult and demanding, others are more hazardous and even morally reprehensible. Children carry out a very wide range of tasks and activities when they work.

Defining child labour

Not all work done by children should be classified as child labour that is to be targeted for elimination. Children’s or adolescents’ participation in work that does not affect their health and personal development or interfere with their schooling, is generally regarded as being something positive. This includes activities such as helping their parents around the home, assisting in a family business or earning pocket money outside school hours and during school holidays. These kinds of activities contribute to children’s development and to the welfare of their families; they provide them with skills and experience, and help to prepare them to be productive members of society during their adult life.

The term “child labour” is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development.

It refers to work that:

    is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and
    interferes with their schooling by:
    depriving them of the opportunity to attend school;
    obliging them to leave school prematurely; or
    requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.

In its most extreme forms, child labour involves children being enslaved, separated from their families, exposed to serious hazards and illnesses and/or left to fend for themselves on the streets of large cities – often at a very early age. Whether or not particular forms of “work” can be called “child labour” depends on the child’s age, the type and hours of work performed, the conditions under which it is performed and the objectives pursued by individual countries. The answer varies from country to country, as well as among sectors within countries. 
The agriculture sector comprises activities in agriculture, hunting forestry, and fishing.

The industry sector includes mining and quarrying, manufacturing, construction, and public utilities (electricity, gas and water).

The services sector consists of wholesale and retail trade; restaurants and hotels; transport, storage, and communications; finance, insurance, real-estate, and business services; and community as well as social personal services.
The worst forms of child labour

Whilst child labour takes many different forms, a priority is to eliminate without delay the worst forms of child labour as defined by Article 3 of ILO Convention No. 182:

(a) all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;
(b) the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances;
(c) the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties;
(d) work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.

Labour that jeopardises the physical, mental or moral well-being of a child, either because of its nature or because of the conditions in which it is carried out, is known as “hazardous work”.

Human Rights Violation

Human rights advocates agree that, sixty years after its issue, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is still more a dream than reality. Violations exist in every part of the world. For example, Amnesty International’s 2009 World Report and other sources show that individuals are:

    Tortured or abused in at least 81 countries
    Face unfair trials in at least 54 countries
    Restricted in their freedom of expression in at least 77 countries

Not only that, but women and children in particular are marginalized in numerous ways, the press is not free in many countries, and dissenters are silenced, too often permanently. While some gains have been made over the course of the last six decades, human rights violations still plague the world today.

To help inform you of the true situation throughout the world, this section provides examples of violations of six Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR):

ARTICLE 3 — THE RIGHT TO LIVE FREE

“Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.”

An estimated 6,500 people were killed in 2007 in armed conflict in Afghanistan—nearly half being noncombatant civilian deaths at the hands of insurgents. Hundreds of civilians were also killed in suicide attacks by armed groups.

In Brazil in 2007, according to official figures, police killed at least 1,260 individuals—the highest total to date. All incidents were officially labeled “acts of resistance” and received little or no investigation.

In Uganda, 1,500 people die each week in the internally displaced person camps. According to the World Health Organization, 500,000 have died in these camps.

Vietnamese authorities forced at least 75,000 drug addicts and prostitutes into 71 overpopulated “rehab” camps, labeling the detainees at “high risk” of contracting HIV/AIDS but providing no treatment.

Human Rights

What are human rights?

 

Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible.

Universal and inalienable

Universal human rights are often expressed and guaranteed by law, in the forms of treaties, customary international law , general principles and other sources of international law. International human rights law lays down obligations of Governments to act in certain ways or to refrain from certain acts, in order to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups.
Universal and inalienable

The principle of universality of human rights is the cornerstone of international human rights law. This principle, as first emphasized in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in 1948, has been reiterated in numerous international human rights conventions, declarations, and resolutions. The 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights, for example, noted that it is the duty of States to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems.

All States have ratified at least one, and 80% of States have ratified four or more, of the core human rights treaties, reflecting consent of States which creates legal obligations for them and giving concrete expression to universality. Some fundamental human rights norms enjoy universal protection by customary international law across all boundaries and civilizations.

Human rights are inalienable. They should not be taken away, except in specific situations and according to due process. For example, the right to liberty may be restricted if a person is found guilty of a crime by a court of law.

Interdependent and indivisible
All human rights are indivisible, whether they are civil and political rights, such as the right to life, equality before the law and freedom of expression; economic, social and cultural rights, such as the rights to work, social security and education , or collective rights, such as the rights to development and self-determination, are indivisible, interrelated and interdependent. The improvement of one right facilitates advancement of the others. Likewise, the deprivation of one right adversely affects the others. 

Equal and non-discriminatory
Non-discrimination is a cross-cutting principle in international human rights law. The principle is

The principle applies to everyone in relation to all human rights and freedoms and it prohibits discrimination on the basis of a list of non-exhaustive categories such as sex, race, colour and so on. The principle of non-discrimination is complemented by the principle of equality, as stated in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”
Both Rights and Obligations

Human rights entail both rights and obligations. States assume obligations and duties under international law to respect, to protect and to fulfil human rights. The obligation to respect means that States must refrain from interfering with or curtailing the enjoyment of human rights. The obligation to protect requires States to protect individuals and groups against human rights abuses. The obligation to fulfil means that States must take positive action to facilitate the enjoyment of basic human rights. At the individual level, while we are entitled our human rights, we should also respect the human rights of others.
present in all the major human rights treaties and provides the central theme of some of international human rights conventions such as the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.