it cannot subsequently invoke its national laws, constitution or traditional practices to justify a breach of this treaty. As discussed in Chapter One of this Guide, Uganda’s 1995 Constitution sets out a number of human rights guarantees that are broadly consistent with those contained in international law. A number of human rights treaty bodies have been created that monitor implementation of the different human rights treaties. These are committees of independent experts, who are often lawyers, academics or other professionals, and who serve in a voluntary capacity. The committees are created in accordance with the provisions of the treaty that they monitor and this also specifies their various functions. These often include: • • •
Consideration of reports submitted by States that are a party to the treaty; Consideration of individual complaints or communications from people who claim that some of the rights enshrined in that treaty are being violated; Publishing General Comments on the particular treaty to further explain some of the rights contained within it.
The treaty bodies discuss the reports that States submit with the representatives of the State concerned. They may receive information on a country’s human rights situation from other sources, including UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, (NGOs) other intergovernmental organizations, academic institutions and the press. They may also carry out fact-finding missions to the country in question. Based on the information that they receive, each treaty body publishes a report on how, or whether, the State is fulfilling its obligations. These reports are called Concluding Observations and provide an objective standard against which a government’s record can be judged. Some of the treaty bodies also hear complaints about alleged individual violations of human rights contained within the treaty. These complaints may either be brought by other States, or by the individuals concerned. The procedure for taking an individual case is described in more detail below. Treaty-monitoring bodies may only address an issue if it is contained in the particular treaty and if the State concerned has ratified the treaty and agreed to be bound by all of its provisions. A variety of regional human rights mechanisms have been created under the auspices of the Council of Europe, the Organization of American States and the African Union. These perform similar functions to the UN mechanisms within their own specific region. The UN has also created a variety of ‘non-treaty mechanisms’, which are primarily concerned with monitoring broad patterns of human rights violations. These can examine the records of particular States, and receive complaints about them, irrespective of whether they have ratified a particular convention.
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