The International
Human Rights System
Agata Wnukiewicz-Kozłowska based on
http://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/c.php?g=273364&p=1824722
Brief Overview
• The international system for the protection of human rights, also known as the universal human rights system, traces its origins to
adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.
• The multilateral human rights treaties drafted under the auspices of
the UN that have entered into force during the decades that followed
the adoption of the Declaration form the backbone of this system.
Ratification of human rights treaties
The Charter of the United Nations
• Chapter IX of the UN Charter includes the following provisions:
• Article 55(c) states that the United Nations shall promote "universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or
religion."
• Article 56 provides that "[a]ll members pledge themselves to take joint and separate action in cooperation with the Organization [the UN] for the achievement and purposes set forth in Article 55."
• Together, these two provisions create an obligation on the part of member states to observe and respect human rights and fundamental freedoms.
• During the decades that followed the ratification of the Charter, the General Assembly has
established several institutional mechanisms, known as charter bodies, to monitor member states's compliance with their human rights obligations under the Charter and to document gross and
systemic violations of those obligations.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by resolution of the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1948. Although it is not a legally binding instrument, the
Declaration was adopted for the purpose of defining the "human rights" and
"fundamental freedoms" referenced in Article 55(c) of the UN Charter, which all UN member states are obligated to observe and respect.
• The Declaration has proven to be enduring and influential. Many UN member states have incorporated the principles set forth in the Declaration in their national constitutions.
These principles also provide a foundation for many of the core human rights treaties subsequently drafted under the auspices of the UN and for regional treaties and national laws enacted to safeguard human rights.
• The Declaration and two of the core human rights treaties -- the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and
Cultural Rights -- are sometimes referred to collectively as the International Bill of Rights
Table of Core International Human Rights Treaties
& Treaty Monitoring Bodies
• Of the many human rights instruments drafted under its auspices, the UN has
designated nine of them as core international human rights treaties. They include a treaty on civil and political rights; a treaty on economic, social, and cultural
rights; treaties to combat racial and gender-based discrimination; treaties
prohibiting torture and forced disappearances; and treaties protecting the rights of children, migrant workers, and persons with disabilities.
• For each of these core treaties, the UN has established a panel of independent experts, known as a treaty body, that is responsible for monitoring the
implementation of the treaty by the state parties that have ratified it.
• The table below provides quick links to the full text of each of the core international human rights treaties, as well as any optional protocols
(supplements) thereto, and a link to the website of the corresponding treaty body.
TREATY NAME (Date of Signature)
PROTOCOL(S) (If Any and Date(s) of Signature) ACRONYM TREATY MONITORING BODY
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
(21 Dec., 1965)
ICERD Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discriminat
ion (CERD)
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (16 Dec., 1966)
Optional Protocol (16 Dec., 1966) (individual complaint procedure)
Second Optional Protocol (15 Dec., 1989) (abolition of the death penalty)
ICCPR ICCPR-OP1
ICCPR-OP2
Human Rights Committee (HRC)
International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cul tural Rights
(16 Dec. 1966)
Optional Protocol (10 Dec. 2008) (individual complaint procedure)
ICESCR
ICESCR-OP
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR)
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discriminati on Against Women
(18 Dec., 1979)
Optional Protocol (10 Dec., 1999) (individual complaint procedure)
CEDAW
OP-CEDAW
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against W omen (CEDAW)
Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment and Punishment
(10 Dec., 1984)
Optional Protocol (12 Dec., 2002)
(establishment of subcommittee on prevention & consent to inspections)
CAT
OP-CAT
Committee Against Torture (CAT)
Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture (SPT)
Convention on the Rights of the Child (20 Nov., 1989) Optional Protocol (25 May, 2000)
(involvement of children in armed conflict) Optional Protocol (25 May, 2000)
(sale of children, prostitution, and pornography) Optional Protocol (14 April, 2014)
(individual complaints procedure)
CRC OP-CRC-AC OP-CRC-SC OP-CRC-IC
Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
International
Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and Memb ers of Their Families
(18 Dec., 1990)
ICMW Committee on Migrant Workers (C
MW)
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
(13 Dec., 2006)
Optional Protocol (13 Dec., 2006) (individual complaints procedure)
CRPD
OP-CRPD Committee on the Rights of Persons w ith Disabilities (CRPD)
International Convention for the Pr otection of All Persons From Enforc ed Disappearances
(20 Dec., 2006)
CPED Committee on Enforced Disappearan
ces (CED)
Hard and soft law
• The UN has designated nine of these treaties as
core international human rights instruments, but there are many additional treaties and soft law instruments in place to safeguard
human rights. The underlying rationale for these instruments is that international law has a legitimate role to play in protecting human rights. By ratifying these instruments, state parties assume
obligations under international law to respect the rights guaranteed
therein and to hold themselves accountable for failing to do so.
Mechanisms
• To facilitate accountability, the UN has established a variety
mechanisms for monitoring the compliance of state parties with their human rights obligations. These mechanisms fall into one of two
categories.
• Charter bodies assess the compliance of all UN member states with their human rights obligations under the UN Charter.
• Treaty bodies do the same with respect to the obligations of state
parties under each of the core international human rights treaties.
Work in progress
• The international system for the protection of human rights remains a work in progress. The UN's charter bodies and treaty bodies have
raised awareness and helped to foster a culture of greater respect for human rights by conducting on-site visits and investigations, engaging in dialog with national governments and civil society organizations, issuing periodic monitoring reports, and evaluating individual
complaints. Perhaps not surprisingly, their record is less impressive
when it comes to holding nation states accountable for gross and
systematic human rights abuses.
Status of Human Rights Treaties
• Once you have located the text of a human rights treaty, you may need to determine its current status. For example:
• Has the treaty entered into force and, if so, on what date?
• Which countries are state parties to the treaty?
• Has a state party ratified the treaty subject to any declarations or reservations?
• Are there any subsequent protocols (supplements) to the treaty text?
Status of International Human Rights Treaties
•Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General (MTDSG)
MTDSG is the most comprehensive resource for updating the status of multilateral treaties,
•covering over 560 treaties that have been deposited with the UN secretary-general since 1946.
• Treaties are arranged chronologically by subject.
•Chapter IV covers human rights treaties.
•Note that protocols (supplements) to treaties are listed separately. Each treaty record contains:
•Basic Information about the treaty, including:
•Its date of entry into force.
•The current number of signatories and state parties.
•The volume number of the U.N. Treaty Series in which the text of the treaty is published.
•A link to download the text of the treaty in PDF format.
•An alphabetical list of participating countries, including dates of signature
•and dates of ratification, accession, and succession;
•The full texts of all declarations, reservations, and objections made by each state party.
Core International Human Rights Treat ies - Ratification Information
• This database provides up-to-date ratification information for the core
international human rights treaties and their protocols. To browse by
country, select the name of the desired country from the pull-down
menu of jurisdictions. Or use the treaty menu to view ratifications for
a specific treaty.
Core International Human Rights Treat ies - Interactive Ratification Map
• This interactive tool also covers the core international human rights
treaties and their protocols. To browse by country, click on the color-
coded map or use the alphabetical country list displayed to the left of
the map. To browse by treaty, use the pull-down menu located above
the map.
International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Treaties
• The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) maintains this
database of IHL treaties, which govern the conduct of warfare and the treatment of prisoners and non-combatants. It includes current
status information for all IHL treaties.
International Labor Standards Conventions
• The International Labour Organization's NORMLEX database offers the
most comprehensive collection of treaties on labor standards. Scroll
to the bottom of a treaty text for a link to ratification information by
country.
Status of African Human Rights Inst ruments
• The African Commission on Human Rights and Peoples' Rights maintains this directory of pan-African human rights treaties and
related soft law instruments. To access treaty ratification information, begin by clicking on the name of a treaty. After the page refreshes,
scroll down below the map and click on the link to view complete
ratification information.
Status of Inter-American Treaties
• The Department of International Law of the Organization of American States (OAS) provides current ratification and status information
(including the full texts of declarations and reservations) for treaties drafted under the auspices of the OAS. Use the links below the
heading "Signatories and Ratifications" to browse by subject (human
rights) or by country.
Status
of European Human Rights Treaties
& Protocols
• The Council of Europe's Treaty Office maintains this comprehensive list of all human rights treaties drafted by the Council. To determine the current status of a treaty, begin by clicking on the treaty name.
After the page refreshes, scroll down and click on the relevant links
for current information about signatures, ratifications, declarations,
and reservations.
UN Human Rights Charter Bodies
•Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
•
•The Human Rights Council (HRC)
•Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council
•The entities described below, established under the UN Charter, have a broad mandate to promote human rights
•and to monitor the compliance of all UN member states with their human rights obligations under the Charter.
Human rights treaty bodies
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP0fB-_X0l8&feature=emb_rel_e nd
• Watch and listen carefully the lecture above which in very simple way
presents the UN system of the protection of human rights
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
• Part of the Secretariat, the UN's executive arm, the OHCHR is
responsible for coordinating efforts to promote and protect human rights. It provides research, technical expertise, and logistical
support to facilitate the work of the Human Rights Council and other
charter bodies. It also supports the work of the treaty bodies that
monitor compliance with the UN's core human rights treaties.
OHCHR Website
The OHCHR's website is one of the best gateways for accessing UN documentation on human rights issues and includes links to the following resources:
• Human Rights Issues - provides background information, summaries of recent developments, and links to relevant documents.
• Human Rights by Country - access treaty ratification information, as well as reports and findings issued by UN charter bodies and treaty bodies.
• Human Rights Databases maintained by the OHCHR.
• OHCHR Publications -- including fact sheets, in-depth studies, and policy papers. Most are available for download in PDF format.
• A searchable News Database, including press releases and official statements on human
rights topics issued by multiple UN entities.
The Human Rights Council (HRC)
• The UN General Assembly established the Human Rights Council in 2006 to replace the former Commission on Human Rights, which was widely perceived to have been ineffective. It is comprised of 47 UN member states elected by the General Assembly on a rotating basis.
• The HRC functions as an inter-governmental organization, and its
decisions are based on majority voting. Like its predecessor, the HRC
has been criticized for allowing member states with poor human rights
records to serve on the Council, potentially shielding themselves from
heightened scrutiny, and for devoting a disproportionate share of its
resources to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Human Rights Council (HRC)
• Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is the process by which the HRC
evaluates the human rights practices of each UN member state. As part of this process, each member state is expected to submit a self-
assessment ("national report") to the HRC. The Council solicits input from other UN bodies, and from NGOs and civil society organizations, before issuing its own report and recommendations. Visit he HRC's website to access UPR Documentation by Country.
• The HRC also is authorized to conduct on-site
investigations and fact-finding missions, and to consider
individual complaints ("communications") alleging gross and systematic
violations of human rights by any member state.
UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies
• Each of the UN's nine core human rights treaties, as well as the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture, has a corresponding mechanism, known as a treaty body, responsible for
implementing the treaty and for monitoring the compliance of state parties with their obligations under the treaty. Each treaty body consists of a committee of independent experts, who are elected by the state parties.
• A treaty body differs from a charter body in four key respects:
• It derives its authority from the provisions of a particular treaty (or protocol thereto), not from the UN Charter.
• The scope of its authority (mandate) is limited to the set of issues specified in the treaty (or in the relevant protocol thereto).
• Its authority to monitor compliance and to consider individual complaints is limited to the state
parties that have ratified the treaty and any relevant protocols. It does not extend to all UN member states.
• Its decision-making is based on consensus, not majority voting.
