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JAN LHOTSKÝ CYIL 5 ȍ2014Ȏ
Treaty Body Adoption Treaty
Abbreviation
Entry into
Force
Number of
States Parties 6
Human Rights Committee 1966 ICCPR 1976 168
Committee on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights 1966 ICESCR 1976 162
Committee on the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination 1965 ICERD 1969 177
Committee on the Elimination
of Discrimination Against
Women
1979 CEDAW 1981 188
Committee Against Torture 1984 CAT 1987 155
Committee on the Rights of the
Child 1989 CRC 1990 194
Committee on Migrant Workers 1990 CMW 2003 47
Committee on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities 2006 CRPD 2008 147
Committee on Enforced
Disappearances 2006 CED 2010 42
2.2 Powers of Treaty Bodies
If we do not take into account the fact that some treaty bodies can pursue
inquiries and receive inter-state complaints, the fact that they have two main types of
authority has to be stressed.
First, they receive and review state reports. When a particular state ratifies one
of the treaties, it is obliged to elaborate and submit an initial report and, afterwards,
periodic reports (mostly every four years) on the human rights situation in relation
to the content of the particular treaty. The treaty body examines the report, discusses
important issues with the delegation of the state and finally issues ‘Concluding
Observations’, which is a set of recommendations for the state to implement within
the next period.
Second, the treaty bodies also have quasi-judicial powers. That means that states
parties can allow individuals to refer their case to be decided on the international
level by a treaty body. With regard to several treaties the states parties have to ratify
an optional protocol for this purpose; other treaties contain an option to trigger the
quasi-judicial authority by a simple declaration (opt-in). In this case, if an individual
feels that his or her human right has been violated, he or she can lodge an individual
Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, which, however, differs from the other treaty bodies by its
preventive function.
6 Data valid in May 2014. The up-to-date number can be viewed at United Nations Treaty Collection,
available at: