Extraterritorial obligations in the United Nations system: UN treaty bodies

Abstract

The chapter focusses on the activity of five UN treaty bodies mandated to monitor the implementation of the core international human rights treaties – the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights; the Human Rights Committee; the Committee on the Rights of the Child; the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women; and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – and the manner in which they have reformed international law relating to extraterritorial obligations (ETOs). In particular, it explores the treaty bodies’ interpretation and classification of ETOs; their approach to regulating and enforcing remedial ETOs and global obligations, including obligations of cooperation and assistance; their methods of assigning ETOs to states and non-state actors; and their role as accountability mechanisms capable of holding states responsible for breaching ETOs. The chapter outlines some directions for further development of the treaty bodies’ practices relating to ETOs.