The Treaty Bodies are international committees of independent experts that monitor State parties’ implementation of the core international human rights treaties and their optional protocols.
In this section you will find some tools and information to help you to consider whether the Treaty Bodies would be useful to you – is it the right mechanism for you to achieve your goals?
✔ they highlight situations of concern and promote accountability for violations of human rights ✔ they can take up individual communications or complaints ✔ they work very closely with civil society, relying on NGO input to define the issues and cases they examine and to help monitor State parties’ implementation of treaties ✔ you can easily engage with them, including from your home country, and you don’t need ECOSOC status to do so ✔ they are independent and expert ✔ they contribute to the development of international human rights standards and principles ✔ they are a quasi-judicial mechanism; their recommendations and decisions are concise and thorough, and are based on binding international norms
☒they struggle with non-compliance by States in regard to reporting obligations ☒ they have limited enforcement mechanisms when States do not abide by their obligations ☒they are chronically under-resourced, which means they:
☒ their working methods and procedures are different across Treaty Bodies, and often difficult to understand
⚠ you would be put in too much danger by engaging with the Treaty Bodies ⚠ you have access to other spaces that you can use more effectively to influence your State
Continue to the next section to test your understanding of what you’ve learnt in this chapter!
