Resources and Tools

This research paper attempts to answer what States do when confronted with a violation of a treaty under the individual complaints procedures and what internal mechanisms they have in place to implement these decisions. It provides brief information on the follow-up procedures, the impact of treaty body complaints procedures, and challenges to implementation, including the legal status of decisions, and the translation of States' international legal obligations into national law.

This article explains the innovative system recently adopted by the Committee against Torture (CAT) to follow up, assess, and grade States' implementation of CAT recommendations. The new follow-up procedure offers a range of opportunities for human rights defenders and practitioners both to increase the visibility of the implementation of CAT recommendations and to encourage States parties to do more to comply with those recommendations.

This document lays out the working methods of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). See section K on page 5 for information on early awareness and urgent action procedures.

In this guidance, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) explains the requirements for submitting requests for urgent action and provides a template for such requests.

This short document explains how relatives of a disappeared person, their legal representatives, their counsel or any person authorized by them, as well as any person having a legitimate interest in searching and locating the disappeared person, can present a petition for Urgent Action to the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED).

These guidelines outline the background of the early warning and urgent action procedures of the CERD and explain how the Committee handles and responds to the use of such procedures.

The San José Guidelines outline and standardize measures for confronting attacks against defenders engaging with treaty bodies.

This handbook combines in a single volume a clear, concise and accurate guide to the procedural requirements of a wide range of international courts, commissions, committees and other bodies concerned with the protection of human rights.

This publication focuses on the consideration of complaints from individuals alleging a violation of their rights. Individual communications procedures (ICPs) were developed to enforce the rights enshrined in the corresponding treaties and provide victims of violations with an effective remedy before an international body.

This UN document reviews all avenues through which civil society actors can engage with the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED). It explains the Committee’s methodology of interaction with civil society actors during the reporting process as well as the follow-up and review procedures. The document also clarifies the role of civil society actors in relation to country visits by the Committee.