Breach of international human rights – making a complaint to a UN treaty body
Summary: Rights in United Nations treaties, declarations and guidelines that apply to people around the world.
There are international treaties (also called conventions) about human rights and the treatment of people around the world, including people in prison.
Treaties are an agreement between the United Nations (UN) and countries around the world. The UN is an international organisation that brings most of the world’s countries together to discuss common problems and try to find solutions to issues around the world.
If countries support a treaty, they can either sign or ratify it. If they sign the treaty, they agree with it. If they ratify the treaty, it becomes legally binding, and they become a member country of that treaty.
UN treaty bodies are committees of independent experts that make sure member countries are implementing the treaties. Each committee has a particular treaty they make sure is being followed.
Some committees also take complaints about individual breaches of their treaty by governments in member countries.
Important:
- Treaty bodies only take complaints from people who have tried every option available in their country to deal with the issue. In Australia, this might mean speaking with the prison, making a complaint to the Ombudsman, and taking a case to VCAT or court
- Complaints to a UN treaty body can take a long time to be reviewed, and even longer to get a decision
- Decisions made by UN treaty bodies are not legally enforceable in Australia. That means that while complaints can help shine a light on an issue, and decisions can be very helpful for convincing governments to change, the UN cannot force governments to act on their decision
The Committees that take complaints about human rights breaches by governments in Australia are:
| Committee | Treaty |
| UN Human Rights Committee | International Convention on Civil & Political Rights (ICCPR) |
| UN Committee against Torture | Convention against Torture & Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 1987 (CAT) |
| UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities | Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2006 (CRPD) |
| UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination | Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) |
| UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women | Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) |
Use the links on the left side of this page for more information about:
- Who can make a complaint to a treaty body?
- How to make a complaint to a treaty body
- What happens after you make a complaint to a treaty body?
- Decisions by a treaty body