UN Treaty Bodies
How the committees that monitor compliance with international human rights treaties work, and why they matter for accountability.
The Treaty Body System
The UN human rights treaty body system consists of ten committees of independent experts that monitor implementation of the core international human rights treaties. Each major treaty has a corresponding body: the Human Rights Committee monitors the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights monitors its counterpart covenant, the CEDAW Committee monitors the women's rights convention, and so on.
States that ratify a treaty are required to submit periodic reports to the relevant committee describing their implementation efforts. The committee reviews the report, engages with the state party in a constructive dialogue, and issues 'concluding observations' with recommendations. Some treaties also allow individual complaints: people who believe their rights have been violated can petition the committee after exhausting domestic remedies. The committee's views are not legally binding judgments, but they carry significant moral and legal authority.