1. Background and Importance of the Mechanisms
When the United Nations General Assembly adopted of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on 10 December 1948, it is the first time in human history that the international human rights – basic civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights – movement was really strengthened. It has over time been widely accepted as the fundamental norms of human rights that everyone should respect and protect. The UDHR, together with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its two Optional Protocols, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, form the so - called International Bill of Human Rights.
A series of international human rights treaties which have been adopted since 1945 have leaded into legal form on inherent human rights and developed the body of international human rights. More or less, these international treaties have been developed and are supposed to be as mechanisms to universal protection of human rights. Therefore, it can not be denied that respect for human rights requires the establishment of the rule of law at the national and international levels.
International human rights law lays down obligations which States are bound to respect. By becoming parties to international treaties, States assume obligations and duties under international law to respect, to protect and to fulfil human rights. The obligation to respect means that States must refrain from interfering with or curtailing the enjoyment of human rights. The obligation to protect requires States to protect individuals and groups against human rights abuses. The obligation to fulfil means that States must take positive action to facilitate the enjoyment of basic human rights.
Until now, there are seven human rights treaty bodies, which are committees of independent experts that monitor implementation of the core international human rights treaties: The Human Rights Committee (CCPR) monitors implementation of the ICCPR and its optional protocols; The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) monitors implementation of the ICESCR; The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) monitors implementation of the CERD; The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) monitors implementation of the CEDAW; The Committee Against Torture (CAT) monitors implementation of the CAT; The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) monitors implementation of the CRC and its optional protocols; and The Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW) monitors implementation of the CMW. They are created in accordance with the provisions of the treaty that they monitor. OHCHR assists treaty bodies in harmonizing their working methods and reporting requirements through their secretariats.
Through ratification of international human rights treaties, the Government of those State parties undertakes to put into place domestic measures and legislation compatible with their treaty obligations and duties.Where domestic legal proceedings fail to address human rights abuses, mechanisms and procedures for individual complaints or communications are available at the regional and international levels to help ensure that international human rights standards are indeed respected, implemented, and enforced at the local level.
2. How to Monitor the Implementation of Such Rights
The treaty bodies perform a number of functions in accordance with the provisions of the treaties that created them.
Firstly, when a state ratifies one of these treaties, it assumes a legal obligation to implement the rights recognized in that treaty. But signing up is only the first step, because recognition of rights on paper is not sufficient to guarantee that they will be enjoyed in practice. So the state si also abliged to submit regular reports to the monitoring committee set up under that treaty on how the rights are being implemented. This system of human rights monitoring is common to most of the UN human rights treaties.
In addition to the government report, the treaty bodies may receive information on a country’s human rights situation from other sources, including non-governmental organizations, UN agencies, other intergovernmental organizations, academic institutions and the press. Based on this dialogue, the Committee publishes its concerns and recommendations, referred to as “concluding observations”.
Secondly, some of the treaty bodies may perform additional monitoring functions through three other mechanisms: the inquiry procedure, the examination of inter-state complaints and the examination of individual complaints.