The UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies are the organisms from the international covenants that monitor the implementation of treaties mandated to review alleged violations, to individuals, of the rights contained in such treaties.
For EHRDs to submit requests or individual claims to a specific Treaty Body, their country of residence must have signed such Treaty Body. In other words, for an EHRD from Honduras, for example, to file an individual claim or request to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, Honduras must have been part of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and must have accepted its communication procedure, or have ratified the optional communications protocol.
To know if your country of residence is part of a convention, click here.
Possible relevant Treaty Bodies for EHRDs to bear in mind:
- Human Rights Committee: responsible to monitor the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
- The Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights Committee: responsible to monitor the implementation of the International Covenant of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.
- The Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: responsible to monitor the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
- The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women: responsible to monitor the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
The UN Treaty Bodies (there are nine today) are experts committees established to monitor the commitment of states with human rights international covenants, as for example, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, or the Convention Against Torture. As for the Special Procedures, most of them, as part of their duty, receive and examine individual claims, and when those claims are considered inadmissible and the State of the alleged victim is a member of the relevant treaty, they contact national authorities to find a way to compensate and issue effective remedies to the victim. Victims from the alleged violation, or their representatives, must have looked for the reparation, thoroughly, in their country before reaching out to the Treaty Bodies system.
You can file your claim to these Treaty Bodies:
By email to: petitions@ohchr.org
Vy fax to: +41 22 917 90 22 (in case of urgency)
Or writing to the section of requests and concerns of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, to the address: 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland.
Please make sure your inquiry includes all relevant and due information.