The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a new and unique mechanism of the Human Rights Council (HRC) which started in April 2008. It consists of the review of every State in the world (192) by other States once every four years. This means that 48 States are reviewed per year, divided into three sessions of two weeks. The subject of the review is the States’ human rights practices and the respect for their human rights obligations. Read more>>

Treaty bodies are committees of independent experts that monitor the implementation of the provisions on the core United Nations human rights treaties by States parties. The Human Rights Committee (HRC) is the committee of most relevance in the scene of enforced disappearances of all treaty bodies. The HRC was established to monitor the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and its Protocols in the territory of States Parties. Read more>>

The UN Human Rights Commission established the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances in 1980. The purpose of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID) is to ensure that cases of enforced disappearances are investigated by domestic authorities. Cases of enforced disappearances are brought to the attention of the Working Group by family members of the disappeared people. Read more>>

The International Convention against Enforced Involuntary Disappearances provides for the establishment of a Committee on Enforced Disappearances to execute the functions of the Convention. The Committee will be active when the Convention Against Enforced Disappearances has entered into force (after 20 ratifications). The Committee will only accept cases from a state party that started after the ratification of that state party. Read more>>

Special Rapporteur is a title given to individuals working on behalf of the United Nations who bear a specific mandate from the former UN Commission on Human Rights to investigate, monitor and recommend solutions to human rights problems in specific countries or territories (country mandates), or specific human right violations worldwide (thematic mandates). Special rapporteurs have the ability to respond quickly to allegations of human right violations occurring anywhere in the world at any time. 

It is important to note Special Rapporteurs work as Special Rapporteurs besides their normal work, and are not remunerated for their work. They only have  a couple of staff members at the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights to assist them in their work. Read more>>