Universal-Womens-accesss-to-justice-Publications-Practitioners-Guide-Series-2016-ENG

318 PRACTITIONERS GUIDE No. 12
II. Procedures of international mechanisms
1. Universal Treaty Bodies 820
The procedures of the UN treaty bodies, while rather similar,
have not been harmonised. 821 Differences arise in the most
recently established bodies. Procedures are set out both in their
constituting treaties and in their rules of procedures. The
communications must be presented in one of the official
languages of the United Nations, which are Arabic, Chinese,
English, French, Russian and Spanish.
a) Preparatory Stage
The rules related to the preparatory phase of the procedure are
similar for all the four human rights treaty bodies that receive
individual communications and have established rules of
procedure. The UN Secretariat receives the communication and
verifies that all formal requirements have been satisfied. The
Secretariat may ask for clarifications on these requirements
and on the intention of the complainant effectively to seize the
Committee of the communication. Once these preliminary steps
are satisfied, the communication is registered with and
transmitted to the Committee. 822
820
Further practical information on how to submit a petition to the UN
treaty bodies may be found at
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/petitions/index.htm
821
A process of harmonisation of the procedures of UN treaty bodies
under the initiative of the United Nations is undergoing. For more
information
see,
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/treaty/reform.htm.
822
See, Rules 84-87, CCPR Rules of Procedure; Rules 103-105, CAT
Rules of Procedure; Rules 83-84, CERD Rules of Procedure; Rules 56-
58, CEDAW Rules of Procedure. In this section we address the
procedures of universal human rights mechanisms which have been
tested in individual communications. For procedures of the most
recently established treaty bodies see their rules of , available at
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.asp