ANNEX 1: THE INTERNATIONAL ­HUMAN RIGHTS TREATY BODIES AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS ROLE OF TREATY BODIES The human rights treaty bodies are committees of independent experts that monitor implementation of the core international human rights treaties. They are created in accordance with the provisions of the treaty that they monitor.1 They normally meet two or three times a year for three weeks at a time.2 The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) provides secretariat assistance to the treaty bodies. There are at present ten treaty bodies: • The Human Rights Committee that monitors the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; • The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that monitors the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; • The Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women that monitors the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women; 1 Excepting the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that was established by ECOSOC Resolution 1985/17 as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, assigned monitoring functions to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). 2 The sessions of the Committee against Torture last four weeks whereas the sessions of the Committee on Migrant Workers and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities only last one week. 118 • The Committee on the Rights of the Child that monitors the Convention on the Rights of the Child; • The Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination that monitors the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination; • The Committee Against Torture that monitors the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; • The Sub-Committee on the Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment that monitors the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture; • The Committee on All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families that monitors the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families; • The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that monitors the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; • The Committee on Enforced Disappearances that monitors the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances.