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The UN HRs Treaty System
Treaty Bodies
Treaty-based bodies derive their existence from provisions contained in a specific legal instrument and base their decision-making on consensus. They hold more narrow mandates and address only countries that have ratified the legal instrument.
The treaty bodies are committees of independent experts that monitor implementation of the core international human rights treaties. Independent experts are nominated and elected by State parties. Each State party to a treaty has an obligation to take steps to ensure that everyone in the State can enjoy the rights set out in the treaty.
Currently, there are nine international human rights treaties, and one optional protocol, from which 10 treaty bodies have been established. Nine of these treaty bodies monitor implementation of the core human rights treaties while the tenth treaty body, the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, established under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, monitors places of detention in States parties to the Optional Protocol.
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