Guide to International Human Rights Mechanisms - Brookings

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Overview of International Human Rights Law and Mechanisms
the interpretation of treaty provisions. To varying degrees, they also have the authority to accept individual
communications concerning rights violations in states that have accepted this procedure.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights serves as secretariat to the Human
Rights Council and its sub-bodies and to most of the treaty bodies, in addition to carrying out its
own human rights promotion, education, technical assistance and monitoring functions.
The International Committee of the Red Cross plays a unique role in promoting and monitoring
compliance with humanitarian law, including certain direct services to protect civilians at risk. The
International Criminal Court is designed to deter war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
The World Bank,which provides loans and guarantees to development projects to address world
poverty, also has complaints mechanisms to respond to the problems caused by these projects.
aT The regional level
In africa, the primary human rights mechanisms are the African Commission on Human and
Peoples’ Rights, its special rapporteurs, the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the
African Committee of Experts on the Welfare of the Child. In the Americas, the main bodies are
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, its special rapporteurs, the Inter-American
Court of Human Rights, and the Inter-American Commission of Women.
In both Africa and the Americas, the “Commissions” are expert bodies formed by treaties that
act in many ways like the treaty bodies at the universal level, considering state reports, addressing
individual complaints, and issuing interpretive guidelines. Both also play a gate-keeping function
for their respective “Court,” as the Commissions must generally address all complaints before the
Courts take them up. Also in both regions, the special rapporteurs of the Commissions are almost
all members of the Commissions themselves.
europe has created a number of human rights mechanisms associated with its varying parallel
systems of regional cooperation, including the Council of Europe, the European Union and the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The flagship of these mechanisms is the
European Court of Human Rights, which can address individual complaints of violations of civil
and political rights provided by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) and its protocols. Europe has a number of mechanisms that
target issues of racism and minority rights, including the Advisory Committee of the Framework
Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the European Commission against Racism
and Intolerance, and the High Commissioner on National Minorities. It also has several bodies
that can address social and economic rights issues, including the European Committee of Social
Rights, and the European Parliamentary Committee on Petitions.
asia has no regional human rights-specific mechanisms; persons in this region must therefore turn
to the universal mechanisms if domestic remedies are ineffective.
Guide to International Human Rights Mechanisms
for Internally Displaced Persons and their Advocates