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Human Rights Treaty Bodies

last revised: 25 March 2006

The UN Human Rights Treaty System as it is known today first came into existence in 1969 with the entry into force of the UN Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, followed in 1970 by establishment of the Committee assigned to monitor implementation of the same treaty. The system now comprises seven major treaties, several optional protocols (supplements) to those treaties, and three more additional instruments pending in new fields (a new Convention on Disappearances, a new Convention on Disabilities, and an Optional Protocol on inspection of detention facilities under the Convention against Torture).

In 2006, 7 treaty bodies will be meeting, composed of 115 experts, for a combined 57 weeks of sessions, reviewing approximately 100 state reports, and considering approximately 150 individual complaints. Many of these treaties are approaching universal ratification by the 194 member states of the United Nations. Discussions have been ongoing for several years on methods of reform, harmonizing procedures, and simplifying these procedures and structures.

This site will provide an overview of the state reports and other activities to be considered during 2006 in this treaty body system, an overview and analysis of the treaty body reform debate, and a brief description of each of the 11 current and future treaty bodies in the system.

If you are interested in an audio version of some of the material on this site, please see the Project Eleanor Podcasts, giving an overview of the work of each of the seven existing treaty bodies.

Activities of the treaty bodies in 2006

  • Country reports to be reviewed in 2006
  • Treaty body schedule in 2006

    The treaty bodies (present and future)

  • Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
  • Human Rights Committee
  • Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
  • Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
  • Committee Against Torture
  • Committee on the Rights of the Child
  • Committee on Migrant Workers
  • Sub-Committee under the Optional Protocol Against Torture
  • Committee on disappearances
  • Committee on disabilities

    Treaty body reform -- existing practices and future possibilities

  • Concept Paper on a Single Treaty Body by the High Commissioner on Human Rights, March 2006
  • harmonized guidelines for state reports
  • evaluating the impact of universal ratification and universal reporting on the capacity of the human rights treaty body system
  • evaluating the backlog and burden of existing procedures for state reports
  • treaty body reform -- pro's and con's
  • how NGOs can be most effective in working with the treaty body system
  • how to file an individual or group complaint in the human rights system
  • best practices
  • tips to local media on covering the activities of a government's report to a human rights treaty body

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