The International Human Rights Legal System

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the most important nuts and bolts of the international human rights legal system, which generally resides within the structures of the United Nations. It first considers the most prominent international agreements that comprise the International Bill of Human Rights and their two treaty oversight bodies, the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. It then examines other human rights laws and treaties, along with the functions of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human Rights Council. It also looks at universal criminal law and tribunals, regional human rights laws and institutions, and the human rights legal systems in Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Islamic world and Asia. The chapter concludes by explaining why the international law on human rights has been so popular and how the international human rights legal system works.