International Human Rights and the International Human Rights System A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions Chapter 10: The treaty-based system: An overview KEY QUESTIONS • What is the treaty-based system? • What are the human rights treaties? • What are the treaty monitoring bodies? • What roles can NHRIs play in the work of the treaty monitoring bodies? 1. INTRODUCTION The first component of the international human rights system is the United Nations (UN) Charter-based system. The second component is the treaty-based system.197 The Charter-based system applies equally to all UN Member States, by virtue of their membership of the UN and the obligations they acquired on ratifying the UN Charter. The treaty-based system, which is built on a series of nine separate but related human rights treaties, applies on a treaty-by-treaty basis and only to those States that have ratified that treaty. Nonetheless, every State has ratified at least one human rights treaty and the great majority of States have ratified at least seven of them. So the treaty-based system has universal elements too, as every State is involved in one way or another. 2. THE TREATIES The nine core human rights treaties that constitute the treaty based system are: • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) 1966 • International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) 1966 • International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) 1965 • Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) 1979 • Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) 1984 • Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) 1989 • International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (ICRMW) 1990 • Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) 2006 • Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CPED) 2006. 197 For an overview of the treaty system, see: www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/docs/OHCHR-FactSheet30.pdf. Chapter 10: The treaty-based system: An overview | 63