The human rights treaty bodies are committees of independent experts that monitor implementation of the core international human rights treaties. They are created in accordance with the provisions of the treaty that they monitor.

The UN human rights treaty bodies are:

Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) monitors implementation of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006);

Human Rights Committee (CCPR) monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) and its optional protocols;

Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966);

Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) monitors implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965);

Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) monitors implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979) and its optional protocol (1999);

Committee against Torture (CAT) monitors implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (1984);

Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) monitors implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and its optional protocols (2000);

Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW) monitors implementation of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (1990);

Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) monitors implementation of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (2006); and

The Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (SPT) established pursuant to the Optional Protocol of the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) (2002) visits places of detention in order to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

When a country ratifies one of the treaties, it assumes a legal obligation to implement the rights recognized in that treaty and commits to submit regular reports to the monitoring committee set up under that treaty on how the rights are being implemented. To meet their reporting obligation, States must submit an initial report after joining and then periodically in accordance with the provisions of the treaty (usually every four or five years).

While the reporting process might vary slightly from one Committee to the other, the most frequent features of the process are as follows:

  •  A pre-sessional working group of the Committee meets prior to each of the regular sessions of the Committee to produce a list of issues, which contains a number of questions addressed to the State party, formulated on the basis of the documents submitted by the State party (common core document, specific report, annexes to the report) and on information made available to the Committee from all other sources, including NGOs.
  • The State party is requested to provide written replies to the list of issues well in advance of the regular session at which its report is scheduled for consideration.
  • In the light of all the information available, the Committee during its regular session, which are open to the public, engages in a interactive dialogue with the State representatives. Based on this dialogue, the Committee produces its Concluding Observations, which include, among others, recommendations for action.
  • States are supposed to pay special attention in their subsequent report to the implementation of these recommendations. Moreover, most treaty bodies have implemented a so-called follow-up procedure, through which they ask States parties to provide feedback (usually within one year) on the actions taken to implement a selected number of recommendations, which the Committee considers of special relevance.

Mainstreaming the rights of persons with disabilities in the work of all United Nations treaty bodies is a priority of the International Disability Alliance. To this end, IDA supports and facilitates organisations of persons with disabilities to make contributions to treaty bodies- not only the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities but also others for country reviews, general comments, days of general discussion, individual communications and inquiries.

For more information about the activities of the treaty bodies, please visit the OHCHR website.