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Human Rights Oversight

A number of distinct monitoring bodies oversee States’ implementation of, and compliance with, their specific obligations under international human rights law. These monitoring bodies may be judicial (national, regional or international courts), quasi-judicial (bodies that are not courts, but do decide individual complaints), political (bodies led by States), or supervisory (bodies that document and assess human rights conditions). For an explanation of the history of these bodies, and the standards they enforce, see the Overview of the Human Rights Framework.

Jurisdiction and Geography

These tabs provide an overview of human rights oversight (i.e. oversight bodies and mechanisms) by jurisdiction and/or geography: (1) United Nations oversight, (2) regional oversight, (3) national oversight, and (4) other international oversight.

United Nations

At the universal level, the United Nations has established a number of institutions and procedures to monitor human rights in the 193 countries that belong to the UN. These mechanisms include the:

United Nations human rights treaty bodies
United Nations independent experts (special procedures)
Universal Periodic Review
United Nations Human Rights Council

In addition, the International Labour Organization (ILO) creates international standards related to workers’ rights and social justice issues, and supervises their implementation in the ILO’s 185 Member States.

Regional Oversight

At the regional level, intergovernmental organizations have established regional human rights systems, with widely different mandates, in each of the following regions:

Other Supranational Courts

The international community has also created a variety of other international courts and organizations that are not exclusively focused on international human rights standards, but whose work often addresses human rights concerns.

These include the International Court of Justice, which settles a wide variety of disputes between States, and the following courts that prosecute individuals for violations of international law:

National Oversight

Additionally, national governments may address human rights conditions and alleged violations through:

Other International Oversight

Treaties

Body :

wdt_ID	wdt_created_by	wdt_created_at	wdt_last_edited_by	wdt_last_edited_at	[Filter]	Name	Core Substantive Treaty	Treaty Short Name	States
1	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	26/03/2025 06:58 PM	United Nations	UN Human Rights Committee	International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights	ICCPR	173
2	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	26/03/2025 06:57 PM	United Nations	UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights	International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights	ICESCR	171
3	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:11 PM	United Nations	UN Committee against Torture	Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment	CAT	171
4	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:11 PM	United Nations	UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination	International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination	ICERD	182
5	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:14 PM	United Nations	UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women	Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women	CEDAW	189
6	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:17 PM	United Nations	UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture	Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture	OP-CAT	90
7	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:26 PM	United Nations	UN Committee on the Rights of the Child	Convention on the Rights of the Child	CRC	196
8	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:31 PM	United Nations	UN Committee on Migrant Workers	International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families CORE	ICMW	56
9	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:40 PM	United Nations	UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities	International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities	ICRPD	182
10	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:40 PM	United Nations	UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances	International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance	ICPPED	63
11	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:41 PM	Americas	Inter-American Commission on Human Rights	American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man / American Convention on Human Rights		35
12	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:41 PM	Americas	Inter-American Court of Human Rights	American Convention on Human Rights	ACHR	20
13	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:41 PM	Americas	Working Group on the Protocol of San Salvador	Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights	Protocol of San Salvador	17
14	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:42 PM	Americas	Inter-American Committee for the Prevention and Elimination of Racism	Inter-American Convention Against All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance		2
15	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:42 PM	Americas	Committee of Experts	Inter-American Convention on Protecting the Human Rights of Older Persons		7
16	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:43 PM	Americas	Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities	Inter-American Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities		19
17	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:43 PM	Africa	African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights	African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights	ACHPR	54
18	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:43 PM	Africa	African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights	African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights	ACHPR	32
19	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:44 PM	Africa	African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child	African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child	ACRWC	50
20	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:45 PM	Africa	Commission of the African Union	African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance	ACDEG	34
21	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:45 PM	Europe	European Court of Human Rights	European Convention on Human Rights	ECHR	47
22	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:45 PM	Europe	European Committee of Social Rights	European Social Charter / European Social Charter (Revised)		43
23	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:46 PM	Europe	GREVIO	Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence	Istanbul Convention	34
24	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:46 PM	Europe	Lanzarote Committee	Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse		48
25	joel	26/03/2025 06:39 PM	joel	27/03/2025 02:46 PM	Europe	GRETA	Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings		47
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Functions

This diagram provides an overview of the functions of key human rights oversight bodies. From the PDF, click on the names of an oversight body to learn more about it. This diagram was created by the International Justice Resource Center and was last updated in March, 2025.

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Quick Reference Chart

This chart provides an overview of (1) principle UN and regional human rights oversight bodies, (2) their composition, (3) the core substantive treaties for which these bodies are responsible, (4) the treaties’ short names (5) the competencies of the oversight bodies, and (5) links to additional information. This table was developed by the International Justice Resource Center and was last updated in March, 2025.