The Committees on Human Rights and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Abstract

The Human Rights Committee and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights are treaty-implementing—and not treaty-making—bodies. However, they have an essential role to play in monitoring states’ compliance with their respective treaties and developing the standards under these instruments. In fact, it can be argued that innovative approaches taken by these two bodies have aided significant leaps in the protection of human rights internationally and have led the two committees to play a leading role in terms of treaty development. This chapter explores the ways in which the two bodies, through their various methods of work, have contributed to the further development of the conceptual framework of human rights as a “special” treaty regime.