1. The UN-Treaty Based System
Since 1945, numerous steps have been taken in the development of a comprehensive interna-
tional human rights system. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights92 represented the first
step in the development of this system and includes a broad range of civil and political rights on
the one hand and economic, social and cultural rights on the other hand. Nowadays, there is a
wide variety of monitoring and enforcement mechanisms within the U.N. human rights system.93
Unlike Charter-based bodies, which apply to all UN Member states, treaty-based bodies super-
vise states parties' compliance with a particular human rights treaty. The so-called treaty-based
procedures, established under the major U.N. human rights treaties, all include reporting proce-
dures, individual complaint procedures, inter-state complaints procedures, and inquiry proce-
dures. The committees also issue "general comments",94 which are interpretations of the provi-
sions of the human rights treaties clarifying the obligations of State Parties. Furthermore, in the
early 1990s the treaty bodies started adopting conclusions and recommendations after examining
the specific country reports. This practice, along with the increasing acceptance of the role of
NGOs as information-providers to the treaty bodies, has resulted in a relatively objective system
of treaty monitoring. The treaty bodies are composed of independent experts elected in their in-
dividual capacities, although proposed by governments.
Some of the procedural features are common to all treaty-based procedures, which allows to treat
them together at that point: None of the views given by the respective committees are binding for
the respective state. All procedures require for admissibility that all available domestic remedies
have been exhausted.95 Furthermore, the cost provisions are uniform: None of the treaty-based
92 G.A. Res. 217A (III), U.N. GAOR, 3rd Sess., at 71, U.N. Doc. A/810 (1948).
93 The complaint mechanisms under individual treaties are complemented by complaint procedures before the
Commission on Human Rights and the Commission on the Status of Women. See for the relationship
between those mechanisms: Nigel S. Rodley, “United Nations Non-Treaty Procedures for Dealing with
Human Rights”, in: Hurst Hannum (ed.), Guide to International Human Rights Practice, 1999, Ardsley, 61-
84. The two procedures, involving political bodies composed of State representatives, have a different focus
from complaints under the international treaties, which provide individual redress through quasi-judicial
mechanisms. Under the best-known procedure, which became known as the "1503 procedure" from the
number of the resolution of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) by which it was established in
1970, the Commission on Human Rights receives on a confidential basis information on gross and systemic
violations of human rights from victims, NGOs, and others in specific countries. Complaints to the
Commission focus on more systemic patterns and trends of human rights violations and may be brought
against any country in the world.
94 See the compilation of General Comments at
<www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/0/ca12c3a4ea8d6c53c1256d500056e56f?Opendocument>.
95 E.g. for the CCPR, see Art. 5 para. 2 (b) FOP and rule 90(f) of the Rules of Procedure of the HRC in
accordance with Article 39 of the CPPR; United Nations, International Human Rights Instruments,
Compilation of Rules of Procedure. Adopted by the Human Rights Treaty Bodies, Note by the Secretariat,
U.N. Doc HRI/GEN/3/Rev.1 (2003), available at:
<http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G03/414/12/PDF/G0341412.pdf?OpenElement> (hereinafter:
HRC Rules of Procedure).
But unlike the other treaties, e.g. Art. 5 para. 2 (a) FOP, Art. 14 of the CERD does not require that the same
matter is not being examined under another procedure of international investigation or settlement. See for the
matter of forum shopping in IHRL Laurence R. Helfer, “Forum Shopping for Human Rights”, University of
Pennsylvania Law Review 148 (1999), 285-400, at 304 et seq.
24