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Human Rights Reports

International human rights treaties help to address a wide range of social justice concerns, including reproductive rights, poverty, health care, violence against women, climate change, Indigenous issues and voting rights among others.

By signing and then ratifying the treaties, governments commit themselves to implementing the rights outlined in the treaties within their country. All major international human rights treaties require governments to submit a report to the supervisory committees every two to five years on how the government is fulfilling its treaty obligations. Each report contains information on what efforts the government has made to realize the human rights contained in the treaty, where the government has made progress, and where it has encountered obstacles.

NGOs and their advocates can create a "shadow report" for committee members, that highlights what a government is doing well or where the government needs to improve its human rights standards. Shadow reports are filed with the Office on the High Commissioner for Human Rights before the Committee reviews the government report. This is an extremely powerful process that gives human rights advocates an opportunity to publicly present the human rights violations happening in their home country. Advocates can also inform Committee members about positive steps the government has taken in addressing or preventing human rights abuses which helps to encourage greater protections.