INTRODUCTION This Fact Sheet provides a general introduction to the core international human rights treaties and the committees, or “treaty bodies”, that monitor their implementation by State parties.1 The nine core international human rights treaties covered in this Fact Sheet set international standards for the protection and promotion of human rights to which States can subscribe by becoming a party. These treaties are: • The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; • The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; • The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; • The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; • The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; • The Convention on the Rights of the Child; • The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families; • The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; • The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Each State party has an obligation to take steps to ensure that everyone in the State can enjoy the rights set out in the treaty. The treaty body helps them to do this by monitoring implementation and recommending further action. Although each treaty is a separate legal instrument, which States may or may not choose to accept, and each treaty body is a committee of experts independent from the others, this Fact Sheet presents them as the United Nations human rights “treaty system”. The extent to which the treaties and the treaty bodies can function together as a system depends on two factors: first, States need to accept all the core international human rights treaties systematically and put their provisions into operation (universal and effective ratification); and, second, the treaty bodies It has become accepted to describe the committees established under the treaties as the human rights “treaty bodies”, even though the provisions of each treaty refer exclusively to its “committee”. It should be noted that the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is not technically a treaty body, since it was not established directly under the terms of the Covenant but was created by Economic and Social Council resolution 1985/17. 1 1