The human rights committee : a regime analysis

The UN Human Rights Committee was established in 1976 upon entry into force of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on 23 March 1976. Since that time the Committee has earned a reputation as the preeminent international, treaty-monitoring body. Composed of eighteen individuals serving in their individual capacity, the HRC has played an essential role in the transformation of the UN-centered regime from a promotional to an implementation regime. Through its consideration of obligatory state reports and of individual communications, the Committee has developed an international jurisprudence of human rights that provides determinacy to the norms of the regime. The determinacy bestowed upon the norms by the HRC is a crucial element in the legitimation process of the regime's norms. Its impartial and judicious application of the rules and norms of the regime has increased their determinacy and so, also, their legitimacy. In turn, this legitimacy creates a stronger pull towards compliance. As a result, the regime is able to take more forceful action in monitoring compliance with the rules and norms of the regime. This transformation of the. regime is mirrored in the work of the HRC itself, which has progressively strenthened its procedures to monitor the implementation of the Covenant. Thus, the UN-centered regime may now be considered an implementation regime.

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