1. Understanding the Treaty Bodies

Welcome to this learning module! Over the next 3 chapters we will explore one of the key mechanisms of the UN: Treaty Bodies.

Chapter 1 provides a basic introduction to the Treaty Bodies and why they may be useful to your advocacy.

Chapter 2 provides more context on the composition of Treaty Bodies, the Treaty Body “strengthening” process, and some of the lesser used mandates of the Treaty Bodies.

Chapter 3 focuses on opportunities and strategies to engage – building your advocacy skills.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this module, you should:

• Understand the structure, purpose and mandate of the Treaty Bodies
• Understand why it is (or is not) useful to engage with the Treaty Bodies
• Know the opportunities for civil society to engage with the Treaty Bodies, and be able to employ strategies for effective engagement, including without travelling to Geneva
• Have identified ways to influence your own government using the Treaty Bodies