Chapter 2 • The Major Universal Human Rights Instruments and the Mechanisms for Their Implementation 1. Introduction 1.1 Scope of the chapter This chapter will provide some basic information about the extent of the substantive protection and the mechanisms for controlling the implementation of some of the major human rights treaties that exist at the universal level. Given that the number of these treaties has grown steadily in recent decades, it will only be possible, within this limited framework, to deal with those conventions that are of general scope in that they recognize a long list of rights, as well as a few conventions that have been adopted with the specific object of focusing on particularly invidious practices such as genocide, torture, racial discrimination and discrimination against women. This choice has been made on the grounds that these are the treaties that judges, prosecutors and practising lawyers are most likely to have to interpret and apply in the course of the daily exercise of their legal responsibilities. The chapter will thus first deal with the major treaties concluded within the framework of the United Nations. Second, it will deal briefly with some of the main resolutions adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, since, although they are not legally binding per se, their contents have, as a very minimum, a significant politico-moral value which constitutes an important source of guidance and inspiration to national judges, prosecutors and lawyers. Next, brief reference will be made to some instruments adopted by the United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders as well as the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Lastly, this chapter will provide some basic information about the United Nations extra-conventional mechanisms for human rights monitoring, which apply to all Members States of the United Nations on the basis of their general legal undertaking “to take joint and separate action in co-operation with the Organization for the achievement of the [purpose of promoting] universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion” (Art. 56 of the Charter of the United Nations read in conjunction with Art. 55(c)). 1.2 The international treaty-based control mechanisms Each of the treaties dealt with in this chapter has a different system for its implementation, ranging from general and specific reporting procedures to quasi-judicial and judicial mechanisms involving the adjudication of complaints brought by individuals or groups of individuals, and, in some instances, even by other States. These various procedures can in many respects be said to be complementary, and, although they have slightly different immediate purposes, the overall goal of human rights protection is identical in each case. Broadly speaking, the reporting procedures have the function of making regular and systematic inventories of progress made in the implementation of the treaty obligations, with the aim of creating a dialogue between the relevant international 28 Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A Manual on Human Rights for Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers