The Human Rights Treaty Body System

This chapter provides an overview of the human rights treaty bodies, including their composition, and the tools they have to encourage states parties to implement their treaty obligations fully. It also traces the development of their working methods relating to reporting, petitions and inquiries, and interface with stakeholders, such as civil society and UN entities. The discussion includes analysis of the composition of the treaty bodies that do this work, their competence to oversee core treaties, and the ways treaty bodies strengthen the human rights treaty body system. Finally, the chapter also touches on the many initiatives that have been launched to strengthen the treaty bodies and create an aligned human rights treaty body system.