International Human Rights and the International Human Rights System A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions issue. They have been held to constitute the substance of the right to treatment with humanity while in detention, as provided in article 10 of the ICCPR. This assists Governments and government officials to know what the treaty requires of them and it assists monitoring and compliance bodies, including courts and NHRIs, to know the standard by which to measure compliance. Each human rights treaty has a treaty monitoring body that promotes the treaty, interprets it and monitors the compliance of States parties.43 They exercise their interpretative role by issuing general comments or general recommendations, which are “soft law”; not binding in themselves but highly authoritative in defining precisely the nature and content of the international legal obligations the treaty creates. “Soft law” instruments are very important for their persuasive authority and their role in giving substance to general statements of rights. They can be cited regularly in human rights debates, advocacy, advice and opinions. 6. INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMARY LAW International customary law is the set of general principles or norms of international law that bind all States. Treaties are written and, as such, clear and relatively precise. Custom, on the other hand, is vague and its content is subject to argument. It is identified from State practice; how States act and whether they so act because they consider themselves obliged to do so. This task of identification has been made far easier over the past century by the work of international courts and tribunals, especially the Permanent Court of International Justice, before 1945, and the International Court of Justice since then. The towers and gables of the Peace Palace, home of the International Court of Justice in The Hague. UN Photo. 43 See Chapters 11 and 12 of this manual for more information. Chapter 3: What is international human rights law? | 17