BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS / Šturma, Mozetic (eds)

5 United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies’ Approach to States’ Obligations in the Context of Business Activities The United Nations human rights treaty system consists of nine core human rights treaties 1 and their optional protocols. The mandate of monitoring how the State parties comply with these treaties and protocols is assigned to the nine committees 2 and one sub-committee 3 – generally known as the “human rights treaty bodies”. Except the Sub-Committee on Prevention of Torture, which has a specific mandate on monitoring places of detention, all treaty bodies perform three main functions. Firstly, they review State party reports about a treaty implementation and issue recommendations, called “concluding observations”. Secondly, they consider individual complaints on alleged violations of a treaty, provided that the respective State party accepted such mandate, and issue “views” or “decisions” on whether rights under a treaty have been violated in an individual case, and if so, recommend a relevant remedy. Thirdly, treaty bodies adopt “general comments” 4 interpreting treaty obligations and assisting State parties in fulfilling their reporting obligations. This chapter discusses how the human rights treaty bodies have approached State parties’ obligations in the context of business activities, in particular the duties of States to prevent and address the adverse impacts of business activities on human rights. It does not aim to offer an exhaustive and detailed analysis but rather to show a few examples of some trends and developments and to demonstrate the relevance of the United Nations * JUDr. Ivana Machoňová Schellongová D.E.A. is Human Rights Officer in the Human Rights Treaties Branch of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). She is also a lecturer of the international human rights law in the Webster University in Geneva. The views expressed in the article are the author’s own and do not reflect the views of OHCHR. 1 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (ICMW), International Convention from the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances (ICPPED) and Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). 2 Human Rights Committee (HRCttee), Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), Committee against Torture (CAT), Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), , Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW), Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED), Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). 3 The Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment (SPT). 4 CEDAW and CERD adopt general recommendations. Ivana Machoňová Schellongová*

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