Selected principal United Nations bodies relevant to law enforcement General Assembly Economic and Social Council Commission on Human Rights Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights Periodic Congresses on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders flict (including the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the two Protocols additional to the Conventions). All of these instruments are fully legally binding on States that are party to them. 4. Who makes the rules? The international legal system, as outlined in the Charter of the United Nations, is built around a community of States. The law governing that system is therefore law for, by and about States. It is the States themselves who make the rules, through the development of custom, the development of treaties and the development of international declarations, guidelines and bodies of principles. States agree on the content of these sources and agree to be bound by them. In the case of human rights, while it is individuals and groups who are protected, it is the conduct of States (and State actors) that is regulated. 5. 6. Who monitors human rights? Of course, merely listing a set of rules is not enough to ensure their application. Accordingly, the implementation of human rights standards is closely watched at several levels. At the national level, human rights are monitored by: ● ● Where are the rules made? Human rights standards are developed and codified in various international forums through a process whereby representatives of States members of those forums meet, usually repeatedly over a period of years, to work out the form and content of international human rights instruments, article by article and line by line. In United Nations forums, all States are invited to attend and participate in the drafting so as to ensure that the final document reflects the views and experience of all regions of the world and all major legal systems. Whether for a binding treaty or for an authoritative declaration, every proposal is closely scrutinized and debated until a final text is agreed on. Even then, in the case of treaties, a State is not bound by the instrument until it has signed and ratified (or acceded to) it. Instruments of universal application are drafted and adopted in United Nations bodies, especially the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, the Commission on Human Rights and the periodic United Nations Congresses on the prevention of crime. Additionally, expert studies on various human problems, which may lead to the development of new human rights standards, are undertaken each year by the United Nations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. Lastly, a number of important regional human rights instruments have been developed by the major regional organizations, which are the Council of Europe, the Organization of American States and the Organization of African Unity. ● Concerned government agencies and services, including the police; National human rights institutions (such as a human rights commission or an ombudsman); Human rights and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs); ● The courts; ● Parliament; ● The media; ● Professional organizations (such as lawyers, doctors, etc.); ● Trade unions; ● Religious organizations; and ● University centres. At a second level, regional organizations have developed mechanisms to monitor human rights within the relevant countries. Such mechanisms include the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the European Commission of Human Rights, the European Court of Human Rights and the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. At the international (global) level, human rights are monitored by a number of international NGOs and by the United Nations. Within the United Nations, four principal types of monitoring are carried out. The first is “conventional” 14