Saturday, October 10, 2015

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 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 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 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 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.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)