A set of committees, working groups, processes, and UN bodies contribute to safeguarding the promotion of respect for human rights.
The UN Human Rights Council (HRC) is an intergovernmental body established by the General Assembly in March 2006 to address human rights concerns and to make recommendations to the General Assembly. The HRC is comprised of 47-member states that are elected by the UN General Assembly. Members of the Council are elected by the General Assembly to three year terms. The Human Rights Council uses several tools to perform its work. Its primary instruments are the Special Procedures, Universal Periodic Review, and the UN Treaty Bodies.
The Special Procedures are a set of mandates that are established and authorized by the Human Rights Council to monitor, investigate, and report on 37 human rights themes globally, and on the human rights situations in 8 countries. Mandates are established by majority vote of the HRC Member States and they appoint individuals,or groups of individuals (also known as working groups) to manage the mandates. These individuals are called Special Representatives or Rapporteurs. Special Procedures usually receive allegations of human rights violations from individuals and/or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are investigated and analyzed by appointees.
The UN Human Rights Council also monitors human rights in all Members of the United Nations through a process known as the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The UPR is a process that allows for the review of the human rights records of all 192 UN Member States . The UPR is a State-driven process, where States are required to submit a self-assessment of its human rights record to the Human Rights Council.
The implementation of human rights treaties is monitored through committees called the Treaty Bodies. Each treaty has its own committee that is assigned to ensure that parties to conventions protect and promote human rights guaranteed in the conventions every five years.
Full Report PDF - 13 February 2001 - Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Radhika Coomaraswamy, in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 2000/45, communications to and from governments submitted 13 February ...
Full Report PDF - 18 January 2000 - Report of the Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights, Maurice Copithorne, on the situation of human rights in Iran submitted pursuant to Commission resolution 1999/13 on 18 January ...
Full Report PDF - 12 February 1998 - Report of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Param Cumaraswamy, submitted pursuant to Commission on Human Rights resolution 1997/23 on 12 February ...
Full Report PDF - 16 January 2001 - Report on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, prepared by the Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights, Maurice Copithorne, pursuant to Commission resolution 2000/28 submitted 16 January ...
Full Report PDF - 21 September 1999 - Interim report on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, prepared by Maurice Copithorne, Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 53/158 and Economic and Social Council decision 228, ...
Full Report PDF - 28 January 1998 - Report of the Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights, Maurice Copithorne, on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran pursuant to Commission resolution 1997/54, submitted 28 January ...
Full Report PDF - 8 September 2000 - Interim report prepared by Maurice Copithorne, Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Iran, in accordance with Assembly resolution 54/177, transmitted to the General Assembly on 17 December ...
Full Report PDF - 28 December 1998 - Report on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, submitted by the Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights, Mr. Maurice Danby Copithorne, pursuant to Commission resolution 1998/80 submitted 28 December ...
Full Report PDF - 28 January 1998 - Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Abid Hussain submitted pursuant to Commission on Human Rights resolution 1997/26 on the question of the human rights of all persons ...