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INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS:

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS:. TREATY. AND. NON-TREATY. MECHANISMS. International treaties. Regional treaties. Covered already. TREATY. 1. Composition, election and membership. TREATY. 2. Tools. Who sits on the committees?.

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INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS:

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  1. INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS: TREATY AND NON-TREATY MECHANISMS

  2. International treaties Regional treaties Covered already TREATY

  3. 1 Composition, election and membership TREATY 2 Tools

  4. Who sits on the committees?

  5. Composition and MembersExample: Human Rights Committee; CCPR, Art. 28 • The ”Human Rights Committee … shall consist of eighteen members.” • “The Committee shall be composed of nationals of the States Parties to the present Covenant.” • ”The Committee shall be … persons of high moral character and recognized competence in the field of human rights.” • ”[C]onsideration [should be] given to the usefulness of the participation of some persons having legal experience.” • ”The members … shall serve in their personal capacities.”

  6. What tools do treaty bodies possess? Periodic Reports & Concluding Observations Inter-State Complaints General Comments Inquiry Procedures Individual Complaints Statements

  7. Purpose: To institute a sincere and constructive dialogue Current problems Periodic Reports & Concluding Observations State reports and shadow reports Failure to submit reports State reports and Concluding Observations are published in full text Failure to comply with Concluding Observations • Reform issues: • Standardizing reports • Single reports «Treaty body strengthening process» – to be discussed later

  8. CEDAW CCPR CMW CESCR CRPD CERD CRC CAT CED General Comments A treaty body’s general interpretation of convention provisions GCs give easily accessible, and fairly authoritative, information Sometimes uncertain legal basis, but there has never been any opposition

  9. Ratione personae CCPR CMW Ratione loci CERD CRC CAT CESCR Ratione temporis CEDAW CRPD Ratione materiae CED Jurisdiction Procedural requirements Substantive requirements Opt-in / opt-out Individual Complaints Collective complaints? Admissibility criteria Committee’s «views» States’ duty to comply

  10. If a Committee receives well-founded indications of serious or systematic violations of the conventions in a State party SPT • Established by OPCAT 2002/2006 • Operational 2007 • Mandate: • Operational function • Advisory function Inquiry Procedures CAT CRC CEDAW Confidential procedures Opt-in / opt-out

  11. “With a view to assisting States parties to the Covenant, the Committee adopts statements to clarify and confirm its position with respect to major international developments and issues bearing upon the implementation of the Covenant.” Similar function as General Comments: Statements give easily accessible, and fairly authoritative, information Statements CESCR CEDAW (CAT)

  12. The treaty body strengthening process Non-exhaustive list of proposals

  13. Time for discussion, if time allows • Consider the following statement: «Regional and international human rights treaty bodies are unable to respond adequately to systematic and large-scale human rights violations.» True or false?

  14. Conflicts of norms • Conflicts between norms in different treaties: Read Article 14 CRPD (http://ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRPD/Pages/ConventionRightsPersonsWithDisabilities.aspx#14) and Article 9 ICCPR (http://ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CCPR.aspx). Can persons with a mental illness be deprived of their liberty for the purpose of forced treatment/medication or because they represent a danger to themselves or to others? • Conflicts between norms in the same treaty: Read Article 8 and 10 ECHR (http://echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf). Can a tabloid paper publish paparazzi photos of a celebrity wedding against the celebrity’s will? Read the ECtHR’s judgment in Lillo-Stenberg and Sæther v. Norway (http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-140015) (or the more high profile cases relating to Princess Caroline of Monaco, but those cases are a bit longer, see e.g. von Hannover v. Germany (no. 2), http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-109029).

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