ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to analyse the origins and the current workings of UN human rights treaty bodies as well as their effectiveness and the challenges that they face in carrying out the functions they are mandated to perform. A central element of the treaty body system is the reporting by States parties to the treaty concerned, and the creation of a constructive dialogue between the representatives of the State and independent experts in human rights. Of all the UN human rights mechanisms, the treaty bodies are in effect quasi-judicial non-political entities. Some committees perform additional monitoring functions through three other mechanisms: the inquiry procedure, the examination of inter-State complaints and the examination of individual complaints. The ways and means of enhancing the UN treaty body system has been on the UN agenda since the establishment of the first treaty body, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
