Resources and Tools

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.

This is a rigorous scholarly commentary on the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (OP-ICESCR) and its provisions. It is divided into three sections which address procedural issues, substantive interpretation, and remedies and enforcement.

This guide provides detailed information on how to effectively use Treaty Body complaint (or communication) and inquiry procedures, including examples of comparative legal arguments, strategies, and jurisprudence from other international human rights enforcement mechanisms. It offers advice on crafting communications and on strategies to ensure that the cases brought forward under the Optional Protocol enhance the efficacy of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and advance accountability, remedies, and enforcement of these rights.

This guide explains how the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) periodic reporting process can be used to apply pressure on States to take steps to improve the enjoyment of human rights. The guide advises how NGOs can attend and participate in periodic review sessions held by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), including submitting a shadow report.

This guide provides a thorough background on the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and state obligations under the treaty. It also details the ways in which civil society may engage with the Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) through the state reporting cycle, by submitting an individual complaint, by utilising early warning measures and urgent procedures, or through thematic discussions.

This guide provides information on the procedures for the examination of reports submitted under the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and its Optional Protocols. It also details how NGOs can effectively interact with the Committee by submitting information and participating in the pre-sessional working group meeting.

This guide outlines the steps and provides advice to NGOs in preparing shadow/alternative reports to the Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).