On 4 September 2012, APT participated in an informal hearing for civil society held by the intergovernmental process on the strengthening of the human rights treaty bodies at the United Nations. The hearing was held simultaneously in New York and Geneva.
APT read an abridged version of this statement at the informal hearings.
The intergovernmental process was established in February 2012 by General Assembly Resolution No. A/66/L.37.
Previously, in 2009, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights launched a multi-year treaty body strengthening process involving over 20 consultations and culminating in a report published in June 2012. For more information on that process and links to the report please click here.
A treaty body is a committee of independent experts that monitors implementation of a human rights treaty. There are 10 treaty bodies at the UN and each monitors a different treaty and has a slightly different mandate. The APT regularly engages with the treaty body system, particularly with the Committee Against Torture and the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture. The APT continues to monitor the various processes and proposals concerning changes to the system.
