Strengthening the Human Rights Treaty Bodies: A Modest but Important Step Forward

Abstract

In less than a decade, the size of the treaty body system has doubled without commensurate resources. Such an unprecedented increase generated paralyzing backlogs of States parties’ reports and individual communications. In addition, the proliferation of human rights treaties and monitoring bodies sometimes resulted in divergent interpretation. Thus, measures to enhance state compliance as well as to ensure coherence among the various provisions covering identical issues can no longer be delayed.

In addressing these challenges, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights launched a project for strengthening the treaty bodies in 2012. She submitted a report setting out various recommendations. The key proposals of the report included establishing a comprehensive reporting calendar ensuring strict compliance with human rights treaties and equal treatment of all States parties. In addition, the report suggested the enhancement of visibility of processes, as well as a more careful selection of Committee members. Many of these proposals were endorsed by the General Assembly, while others were ignored. Despite its flaws, this process is the first successful strengthening of the human rights bodies in 50 years, and paves the way to effectively tackle the challenges faced by the treaty bodies even though only through an incremental process.