CYIL vol. 14 (2023)

CYIL 14 (2023) STREAMLINING OR SURVIVAL? OUTCOMES OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS … First, the system is growing, while the capacity of the treaty bodies is limited . As of today, there are 10 human rights treaties at the universal level with expert committees established as their monitoring mechanisms, and there are 193 UN member states. As the first six treaties have been accepted almost universally, 11 the number of states’ obligations towards various treaties that the system needs to periodically review is already very high. Furthermore, it is still rising, especially with respect to the more recent treaties. To be concrete, within the last eight years there has been a 13% increase in ratifications. 12 In addition, many states parties enabled the treaty bodies to consider individual communications, which is also time consuming. It should be emphasized that none of the committees is a permanent body, and their members meet for sessions on top of their civil employments. 13 Therefore, while the needs of the system are growing, its capacity is not able to grow accordingly. Second, and most importantly, states’ compliance with their reporting obligations is extremely low . The main task of the treaty bodies – reviewing state reports and issuing recommendations for implementation – starts with receiving the state report, which describes the level of protection of the respective rights including progress achieved. However, only less than one fifth of the states report in time. 14 More than 80% have at least one overdue report. Moreover, a little more than one quarter of these reports are overdue for more than 10 years. 15 This clearly shows that even though the treaties are legally binding, the system lacks any functional incentives for the states to cooperate with the treaty bodies. As a result, the review cycle for some states is not four years, as is mostly planned, but in reality twice as much or in some cases even more. Third, the number of reports pending review, commonly referred to as the backlog of reports , poses another problem. When a state provides a treaty body with its report, the review with the dialogue of the state delegation should be convened in a timely manner, so that the information is up to date. After the backlog decreased over the last five years, it sharply increased again due to the pandemic period, when the treaty bodies were not fully operational. 16 As of today, it would take the committees approximately 3.2 years to clear the current backlog, even if they did not deal with any new reports. 17 Fourth, the system faces considerable inefficiencies in dealing with individual communications . The option for individuals to claim rights violation by sending a communication to a treaty body is another crucial function in which the committees exercise their quasi-judicial competence. 18 Nevertheless, the OHCHR petitions unit, which 11 Meaning the ICCPR, ICESCR, ICERD, CEDAW, CAT and CRC. 12 Secretary-General report 2022 (n 7) para. 13. 13 The treaty body members also do not receive remuneration and are paid only daily subsistence allowances (DSA) for the days in session. 14 The proportion amounted to 14% according to Secretary-General report 2022 (n 7) para. 14. Two years ago it was 19%, see UNGA ‘Report of the Secretary-General’ (2020) UN Doc A/74/643 para. 11. Another two years back it amounted to 17%, see ‘Report of the Secretary-General’ (2018) UN Doc A/73/309 para. 19. 15 Secretary-General report 2022 (n 7) para. 15. 16 There was a decrease in backlog by 11% according to the Secretary-General report 2018 (n 14) para. 22. Furthermore, a decrease by 20% followed, as indicated by the Secretary-General report 2020 (n 14) para. 15. Subsequently, a sharp increase by 141% took place. See Secretary-General report 2022 (n 7) para. 18. 17 Secretary-General report 2022 (n 7) para. 18 18 This function not only provides relief to victims but also contributes to setting international human rights standards. See PRINCIPI, Kate Fox, ‘Implementation of UN Treaty Body Decisions: A Brief Insight for Practitioners’ (2020) 12 JHRP 191

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