In international law, a treaty body (or treaty-based body) is an internationally established body of independent experts that monitor how States party to a particular international legal instrument are implementing their obligations under it.

Definitions

The

International Law Commission The International Law Commission (ILC) is a body of experts responsible for helping develop and codify international law. It is composed of 34 individuals recognized for their expertise and qualifications in international law, who are elected by t ...

defines an "expert treaty body" as:

"a body consisting of experts serving in their personal capacity, which is established under a treaty and is not an organ of an international organization."

A research guide published by the UN library lists key characteristics of human rights treaty-based bodies: * They "derive their existence from provisions contained in a specific legal instrument", * They hold more narrow mandates, being often limited to the set of powers codified in the treaty establishing them, * The audiences that treaty bodies address are limited to countries having ratified the legal instrument (as opposed to UN agencies which enjoy a quasi-universal audience), * Their decision-making often involves consensus. Notably, the experts conforming treaty bodies usually serve in their personal capacity (i.e., not representing their country). Treaty bodies are distinct from "international organizations" as such, like United Nations agencies, programs, or other ''

sui generis ''Sui generis'' ( , ) is a Latin phrase that means "of its/their own kind", "in a class by itself", therefore "unique". A number of disciplines use the term to refer to unique entities. These include: * Biology, for species that do not fit in ...

international organization An international organization or international organisation (see spelling differences), also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is a stable set of norms and rules meant to govern the behavior of states an ...

s. There are a number of treaty bodies, in particular in relation with

international human rights law International human rights law (IHRL) is the body of international law designed to promote human rights on social, regional, and domestic levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law are primarily made up of treaties, ag ...

. However, there are also treaty bodies related to non-human rights instruments such as the

UPOV The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants or UPOV (french: link=no, Union internationale pour la protection des obtentions végétales) is a treaty body (non-United Nations intergovernmental organization) with headquar ...

or the

INCB The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) is an independent treaty body, one of the four treaty-mandated bodies under international drug control law (alongside the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, UNODC on behalf of the Secretary-General, an ...

. The mandates of treaty bodies is generally defined in the treaty that establishes them, and sometimes by

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

decisions or resolutions. Treaty bodies sometimes perform additional functions than the sole monitoring of treaty compliance.

List of treaty bodies

References

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Definitions

List of treaty bodies

See also

References