Treaty Bodies

Ireland has actively engaged in strengthening the UN’s ability to monitor and encourage national implementation of human rights obligations.

There are nine core international human rights treaties. All UN Member States have ratified at least one core treaty, and 80 percent have ratified four or more. These human rights treaties cover topics such as eliminating racial discrimination, eliminating discrimination against women, or upholding the rights of persons with disabilities.

There are ten human rights treaty bodies, which are committees of independent experts. Nine committees monitor implementation of the core treaties while the tenth is the Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture, which monitors places of detention in States parties.

Ireland has actively engaged in strengthening the UN’s ability to monitor and encourage national implementation of human rights obligations. We played a prominent role, including with civil society and more broadly across the UN, in lengthy negotiations which succeeded in reinforcing the system of UN human rights treaty bodies which monitor implementation by states of a variety of human rights obligations.