Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
On August 2, 2016 United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, published the first biennial report on efforts to strengthen the UN treaty bodies, as part of an ongoing process to harmonize working methods, improve State compliance, and ensure adequate resources for these independent human rights monitoring bodies. [OHCHR Press Release; IJRC] The report covers the implementation of General Assembly Resolution 68/268, which called on various stakeholders to take specific actions to strengthen the treaty bodies’ efficiency and effectiveness, from April 2014 through June 2016. [OHCHR Press Release]
The report noted that significant progress has been made in the first two years; the treaty bodies increased the number of State party reports and individual communications reviewed, concluded more field visits per year, and reduced the backlog in State party reports. See UN Secretary General, Status of the Human Rights Treaty Body System: Report of the Secretary General, UN Doc. A/71/118, 18 July 2016, para. 88. Additionally, capacity building efforts have resulted in training States parties on submitting their required reports to treaty bodies. See id. at paras. 11-12. However, a significant increase in individual communications submitted to the bodies will require more of the treaty bodies’ meeting time to be dedicated to assessing particular complaints rather than reviewing State reports in the future, which will also require additional staffing resources. See id. at paras. 21, 24, 41-43. Accordingly, the Secretary General made a few recommendations to the UN General Assembly regarding adjusting the allocated meeting time for treaty bodies and providing sufficient staff and resources. See id. at paras. 90-91.
State Reporting
In the context of streamlining the State reporting process to improve efficiency and effectiveness, the Secretary General reported on States’ fulfillment of reporting requirements and efforts to improve compliance, treaty bodies’ ability to reduce their backlog on reviewing State reports, and adherence to newly established documentation requirements. See UN Secretary General, Status of the Human Rights Treaty Body System: Report of the Secretary General.
States parties are rarely in full compliance with their reporting requirements under their various treaty obligations despite efforts to establish capacity-building programs. States are required to periodically submit reports on their compliance with international human rights treaties to which they are a State party and that have a reporting requirement. Only 13 percent of States, however, have met all of their reporting requirements on time, leaving 172 States that have not fully complied. See id. at para. 5. The report noted that predicting the numbers of State reports that will be submitted is difficult with inconsistent reporting across treaty bodies and year-to-year differences, but the Secretary General also reported feeling confident that the numbers will increase in the long-term. See id. at para. 18.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recently established a capacity-building program to increase State party capacity for reporting. See id. at para. 9. Although it has not made a notable difference in reporting so far in the short time it’s been in existence, the program has already launched over 50 instances of direct assistance to States and several regional trainings. See id. at paras. 11-12. Additionally, as a result of the program, several guides on treaty reporting have been launched or in the process of being created. See id. at 15.
Treaty bodies, though, have experienced significant improvement in their capacity to consider State reports. See id. at para. 33. Overall the backlog of State party reports decreased by 15 percent, with some treaty bodies decreasing their backlog around 50 percent. See id. at paras. 33-34. However, for three treaty bodies, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED), Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee), the backlog actually increased. See id. at para. 35.
In its 2014 resolution, the UN General Assembly imposed word limits on both documents produced by treaty bodies and submissions from States to the bodies. See UN General Assembly, Resolution 68/268, Strengthening and enhancing the effective functioning of the human rights treaty body system, UN Doc. A/RES/68/268, 21 April 2014, paras. 15 and 16. The word limits imposed on States are intended to make the time needed to review a report more predictable. See UN Secretary General, Status of the Human Rights Treaty Body System: Report of the Secretary General, para. 70. All treaty bodies are fully compliant with the resolution’s word limits and have been enforcing the State reports’ word limits by returning reports that are not in compliance. See id. at paras. 67, 69. The report notes, however, that no word limit exists for States’ replies to lists of issues. See id. at para. 70.
Individual Communications and Urgent Actions
The overall number of individual communications submitted to treaty bodies and the number of urgent actions submitted to the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) have sharply increased in the last few years, contributing to the backlog. See id. at paras. 21, 46. In the three year time period between 2012 and 2015, the number of individual communications rose from 170 to 307, an 80 percent increase. See id. at para. 21. The Human Rights Committee bore the greatest increase and as a result, saw a 90 percent increase in its backlog. See id. at paras. 21, 37. Between 2013 and 2015 the backlogs increased by over 30 percent; the worst backlogs occurred in the Human Rights Committee and the Committee against Torture (CAT). See id. at para. 36. Furthermore, the report predicts that treaty bodies will continue to receive increased numbers of individual complaints, particularly in newer treaty body communications procedures, due to a five percent increase in the number of State ratifications and declarations that enable individuals to submit communications. See id. at para. 4.
Urgent actions submitted to the CED also increased dramatically. Urgent actions regarding disappeared individuals leapt from five in 2013 to 211 in 2015. See id. at para. 46. The report indicates that the CED’s staff as it currently stands is insufficient to handle the increased workload. See id. at paras. 46-48.
Treaty Body Members
The report also briefly discussed the demographics of treaty body members, barriers to holding those positions for certain groups, and the requirements of independence and impartiality of the role. The General Assembly in its resolution, advocated for “equitable geographical distribution, the representation of the different forms of civilization and the principal legal systems, balanced gender representation and the participation of experts with disabilities.” See id. at para. 76. The Secretary General’s current report references a previous report in which he discussed the geographical and gender breakdown of the treaty body members. In the current report, he reiterated concern for a lack of gender diversity. See id. at paras. 79 and 80. Furthermore, treaty body members serve on a pro bono basis. See id. at para. 28.
Additionally, the report implies there are barriers for persons with disabilities holding a position on a treaty body. The UN has yet to finish implementing its plans for making its office in Geneva fully accessible for persons with disabilities, and the report states that “only the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities benefits from sign language and captioning.” See id. at paras. 81 and 82.
Eight treaty bodies have committed to the Addis Ababa guidelines on the independence and impartiality of treaty body members. See id. at para. 66. The guidelines require treaty body members to refrain from participating in deliberations about reports or communications in which they have a conflict of interest. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has not adopted the guidelines. See id.
Recommendations
The Secretary General made brief recommendations to the General Assembly at the end of the report. He asked the General Assembly to reassess the meeting time for each treaty body system and to provide the full amount of resources necessary to complete the reviews of reports and communications and to conduct field visits. See UN Secretary General, Status of the Human Rights Treaty Body System: Report of the Secretary General, para. 90. The Secretary General also noted for the General Assembly the lack of a word limit set for lists of issues and asked the General Assembly to consider the amount of resources needed for webcasts. See id. at paras. 90, 92. Furthermore, the Secretary General specifically mentioned the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture’s need for an additional week of meetings each year and the staffing resources to meet the demand of an additional week. See id. at para. 91.
Background Information
There are 10 UN treaty bodies composed of independent experts and with mandates defined in their corresponding treaties or protocols. See IJRC, UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies. Nine of the UN treaty bodies monitor States’ fulfillment of their treaty obligations. See OHCHR, Human Rights Bodies. Those nine treaty bodies issue concluding observations on State parties’ reports and may adopt general comments interpreting treaty provisions. See IJRC, UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies. The Human Rights Committee, CESCR, CERD, CEDAW Committee, CAT, CED, CRC, and CRPD have individual communications procedures based either on a State’s ratification of optional protocols or declarations granting the Committee competence to hear claims against it. See IJRC, UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies.
The Committee on Migrant Workers’ individual communications procedure has not yet entered into force, and the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment does not provide for adjudication of individual claims as its main function is field visits. See IJRC, UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies.
The Secretary General’s report lists several resources that the OHCHR has made available in the last few years. On the OHCHR’s website is a calendar listing treaty body meetings and a list of deadlines for submissions to treaty bodies. Additionally, the OHCHR published the Handbook for Human Rights Treaty Body Members on treaty body members’ responsibilities and has posted information online on treaty body members’ elections. See UN Secretary General, Status of the Human Rights Treaty Body System: Report of the Secretary General, paras. 85 and 86.
Additional Information
For more information on UN treaty bodies or to see IJRC’s calendar of human rights hearings and events, including treaty body sessions, visit IJRC’s Online Resource Hub.