Engaging With The Treaty Bodies
How can I engage with the Treaty Bodies?
There are a variety of ways to engage across the different areas of work of the treaty bodies, however, the methods of engagement and opportunities for civil society to engage varies from one treaty to another.
Although understanding the treaty bodies may at first seem complex, there are a variety of resources that can help you obtain a better understanding of their functioning and opportunities for engagement.
Get informed
- More information on the work of the treaty bodies is available at:
ohchr.org/treaty-bodies/what-treaty-bodies-do
Get involved and participate
- The UN Human Rights Office has developed a training package on reporting to the treaty bodies, covering a range of topics and available in several languages.
- Explore civil society resources on the treaty bodies, how they work and how you can engage.
○ The International Service for Human Rights’s online academy includes a section on the Human Rights Treaty Bodies (available in English, French and Spanish): academy.ishr.ch/learn/treaty-bodies
○ The European Youth Forum’s toolkit on promoting youth rights includes a section on the UN and the treaty bodies (available in English).
- The European Youth Forum has developed an online toolkit on promoting youth rights, which includes a section on the United Nations and refers to the treaty bodies, available only in English
When To Engage These Mechanisms
How and when should I get involved with the different human rights mechanisms to maximize the impact of my work?