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Contents

Committee on the Rights of the Child

Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Committee Against Torture

Human Rights Committee

Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

United Nations - Treaty Based Bodies

Universal Human Rights Index of United Nations Documents

"The Universal Human Rights Index provides instant access for all countries to human rights information from the United Nations system. The index is based on the observations and recommendations of the following international expert bodies:

  • the seven Treaty Bodies monitoring the implementation of the core international human rights treaties (since 2000)

  • the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council (since 2006)"

Committee on the Rights of the Child

Adopted by a General Assembly resolution in 1989, the Convention on the Rights of the Child was the culmination of an initiative dating back to the International Year of the Child in 1979. Intended as a binding guarantee of children's rights under international law, the Convention provided for the establishment of a monitoring body whose functions would consist of reviewing and commenting on the periodic State Party Reports which are required to be filed under the terms of the Convention.

Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

Arising out of work initiated by the Commission on the Status of Women in 1972 which was in response to a request by the Secretary General for the Commission to canvass member States as to the form and content of a possible international instrument on the human rights of women. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women was adopted by the General Assembly in 1979. Reflecting the intent that the Convention be seen as establishing binding international principles on the rights of the women, it provided for the establishment of the Committee charged with the function of overseeing the implementation of its provisions. Under the Optional Protocol, which entered into force on December 22, 2000, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women considers complaints of individuals or groups of individuals arising under CEDAW.

  • UNHCHR's Fact Sheet on the Committee
  • Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
  • Optional Protocol to CEDAW
    Provided by the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, the Optional Protocol site provides information related to the Optional Protocol establishing a personal complaints procedure
  • Concluding Observations on State Reports. See the Treaty Body Database described below or go to the University of Minnesota's Human Rights Library . Observations are arranged by reference to an alphabetical list of State Parties. Commencement of coverage varies among the State Parties.
  • Treaty Body Database
    Maintained by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, this database provides access to the full text of State Party Reports, the Committees concluding observations, the reports of other UN bodies that have been submitted to the Committee, and the Committees sessional and annual reports. Click on "Documents" in the menu highlighted in grey and then on "by Treaty", in the sub-menu. In the main menu click on the triangle beside the title, "Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women", in order to access the documents noted above. Commencement of coverage varies depending on the type of document that is bein searched.

Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was established pursuant to article 8 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination to supervise the implementation of the Convention. The Committee was the first body created by the United Nations to monitor and review actions by States to fulfil their obligations under a specific human rights agreement. The Convention establishes three procedures to make it possible for the Committee to fulfill its oversight role: the first is the requirement that all States which ratify or accede to the Convention must submit periodic reports (article 9); secondly the Convention provides for State-to-State complaints (article 11); thirdly the Convention established a procedure making it possible for an individual or a group of persons who claim to be victims of racial discrimination to lodge a complaint with the Committee against their State. The latter procedure is only available where the State concerned is a party to the Convention and has declared that it recognizes the competence of the Committee to receive such complaints.

  • UNHCHR's Fact Sheet on the Committee
  • International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
  • Ratifications and Reservations
     Includes a list of State Parties that have recognized the competence of the Committee to hear individual complaints.
  • Overview of Communication Procedure
     Prepared by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
  • Treaty Body Database
    Maintained by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, this database provides access to the full text of the Committee's jurisprudence, State Party Reports, the Committees concluding observations on the reports, the reports of other UN bodies that have been submitted to the Committee, and the Committees sessional and annual reports. Click on "Documents" in the menu highlighted in grey and then on "by Treaty", in the sub-menu. In the main menu click on the triangle beside the title, "Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination", in order to access the documents noted above. Commencement of coverage varies depending on the type of document that is being searched.

Committee Against Torture

Established in 1988 pursuant to article 17 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, The Committee against Torture not only reviews and comments on periodic state reports but is also empowered, by virtue of article 20 of the Convention, to receive information and to institute inquiries concerning allegations of systematic practice of torture by the States Parties. In addition, Article 22 of the Convention gives private individuals the right to lodge with the Committee complaints regarding the violation of one or more of its provisions by a State Party. However the powers conferred on the Committee by articles 20 and 22 exist only in regards to those State Parties that have recognised the Committee's competence to exercise these powers either by virtue of their failure to object to the Committee's competence (right to investigate reports of the systemic practice of torture) or by reason of their express recognition of the Committee's competence (the right to investigate individual complaints).

  • UNHCHR's Fact Sheet on the Committee
  • Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
  • Ratifications and Reservations
  • Conmittee's comments on State Party Reports
     From the University of Minnesota Human Rights Library. Coverage begins with comments delivered in 1993.
  • Overview of Communications Procedure
     Prepared by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
  • Model Communication
  • Committee Decisions on Individual Complaints
     From the University of Minnesota Human Rights Library. Although these decisions are also posted on the Treaty Body Database (see below), the text of the decisions is not searchable on that site whereas the University of Minnesota site offers the advantage of having a full-text search mechanism, as described above.
  • Treaty Body Database
     Maintained by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, this database provides access to the full text of the Committee's jurisprudence, the Committee's reports on investigations it has undertook in regards to systemic practices of State torture (article 20 investigations), State Party Reports, the Committees concluding observations on the reports, the reports of other UN bodies that have been submitted to the Committee, and the Committees sessional and annual reports. Click on "Documents" in the menu highlighted in grey and then on "by Treaty", in the sub-menu. In the main menu click on the triangle beside the title, "Committee Against Torture", in order to access the documents noted above. Commencement of coverage varies depending on the type of document that is being searched.

Human Rights Committee

The Human Rights Committee was established pursuant to article 28 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights upon the coming into force of the Convention in 1976. Comprised of 18 independant experts in the field of human rights, the Committee meets in three annual sessions to monitor the implementation of the Convention and its two optional protocols. As is the case with the Committee Against Torture, the Human Rights Committee's responsibilities extend beyond the review of state reports to the investigation of complaints by private individuals to the effect that a State Party has violated one or more of the Convention's provisions. The consideration of complaints by private individuals is dependant on the relevant State Party having awknowledged the competence of the Committee to consider such communications by way of ratifying or acceding to the optional protocols.

Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Established by Economic and Social Council Resolution 1985/17, the Committee meets in annual session to consider periodic State Reports that are required to be filed under the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and prepares comments on the reports that are then considered by the Council.

International Seabed Authority (ISA)


An institution created by the Convention on the Law of the Sea, ISA is the body through which States Party to the Convention organize and control activities in the international seabed beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, particularly with a view to administering the resources of that area. The functions, management and membership of the Authority are also governed by the Agreement on the Implementation of Part XI of the Convention (hereinafter the Agreement), which was negotiated after a number of mainly industrialized countries expressed difficulties with the Convention's seabed mining provisions.

International Criminal Court

  • Website
  • Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

    The Statute of the ICC, adopted on 17 July 1998 by the United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the establishment of an International Criminal Court, will enter into force after sixty States have ratified it. The International Criminal Court will have jurisdiction over persons charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The text of the Statute can be accessed from this site.

  • Ratifications and Reservations

 

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