The International Human Rights Regime

International Human Rights Regime

A group of international organizations mandated to hold states accountable for human rights.

Monitoring

The collection, verification, and analysis of information regarding human rights violators.

an institution dealing with monitoring

the UN Human Rights Council

Enforcement

The use of international human rights legal frameworks to investigate and prosecute human rights violators.

an institution dealing with enforcement

the International Criminal Court

Advocacy

The communication of monitoring results to raise awareness about human rights violations.

an institution dealing with advocacy

U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea

Universal Periodic Review

A review of the human rights record of all 193 UN member countries conducted every four years.

Information Gathering

The process of collecting reports from member states, UN institutions, and human rights organizations.

Review Session

An interview between the Human Rights Council and the member state under review regarding the reports submitted.

Outcome Report

A summary of discussions with the member state that includes recommendations to improve its human rights situation.

International Criminal Court (ICC)

An independent court from the UN established by the Rome Statute, prosecuting individuals, not states, for human rights violations.

Individual Focus

The ICC's mandate to investigate and prosecute individuals for human rights violations.

Special Mandate

The ICC focuses on the most serious human rights violations, such as genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

an example of a special mandate

Thomas Lubanga Dyilo prosecuted by the ICC for recruiting child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Limited Jurisdiction

The ICC can only investigate and prosecute individuals from member countries under the Rome Statute.

an example of limited jurisdiction

Hague Invasion Act protects US service members from ICC

Exception 1 of limited jurisdiction

UN Security Council can refer cases to the ICC even if the individual's country is not a member (ex. referred Libya to ICC for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes)

Exception 2 of limited jurisdiction

The ICC can take a case if individual from a non-member state committed human rights violations in the territory of one of the ICC’s member states (ex. arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Sinwar, and other senior Israeli and Hamas officials)

Court of Last Resort

The ICC may take cases when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute human rights violations.

Targeted Monitoring

Specialized research on specific human rights violations and policy recommendations.

Promotion

The communication of specific human rights violations and recommendations to gain public support.