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Monitoring state compliance
Each of the six core human rights treaties has its own monitoring body (known collectively as the treaty bodies), established to oversee compliance by States Parties with their obligations under that treaty. These bodies comprise committees of independent experts elected by UN Member States. There are six such committees:
- The Human Rights Committee, which monitors the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which monitors the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- The Committee against Torture, which monitors the implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
- The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which monitors the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
- The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
- The Committee on the Rights of the Child, which monitors the Convention on the Rights of the Child
States Parties are required to report at regular intervals to these monitoring committees on the implementation of their treaty obligations. The committees review States Parties’ reports and may make observations or recommendations to the state designed to improve the implementation of the treaty. State Parties are expected to undertake the necessary measures to implement the recommendations of the treaty bodies.
In addition, the committees have each adopted a series of General Comments or General Recommendations. These are interpretations of specific aspects of the treaties that clarify in greater detail the content of the rights and obligations in the particular treaty. On occasions, they also outline potential violations of those rights and offer advice to States Parties on how best to comply with their obligations under the treaties.
Minimum core obligations
In its General Comment No.3, adopted in 1990, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights confirmed that States Parties have a core obligation to ensure the satisfaction of, at the very least, ‘minimum essential levels’ of each of the rights enunciated in the Covenant. Violations of the Covenant occur when a state fails to satisfy these minimum essential levels.
Clarification of the right to water
It is another such document, General Comment No. 15 adopted by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in November 2002, that has confirmed that water is a human right protected by the ICESCR and further articulated the meaning of this human right and the obligations of states in this regard.
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