The guide addresses the concept of international human rights protection mechanisms, how to conclude international agreements, the commitment of signatory or ratifying states to these agreements, and their position in relation to national laws. It also presents the main United Nations bodies and organs, such as the General Assembly, the General Secretariat, the Economic and Social Council, the Human Rights Council, and the International Court of Justice, and the nature of their work.
The guide also presents the human rights treaty bodies and the role and jurisdiction of these committees, and discusses the role of special rapporteurs and the mechanism for submitting complaints about human rights violations. The book also devotes an entire chapter to the Human Rights Council, in which it defines the Council, its composition, membership conditions, elections, tasks and jurisdictions, and addresses the Council’s special sessions, in addition to the mechanisms of the universal periodic review of the situations of countries and the standards for the work of the review mechanism and the documents and information on which it is based, and the Advisory Committee of the Human Rights Council.
The guide also discusses the role of governmental organizations in the international human rights protection mechanisms, especially organizations with consultative status in the Council, the criteria for granting this consultative status, and the rights and categories of organizations that enjoy it.
The author of the book devotes an entire chapter to the terms used in dealing with international human rights protection mechanisms, and another chapter to presenting international standards for the protection of human rights, dividing them into agreements that protect a full set of rights, agreements that protect specific categories, agreements that address specific violations, agreements that provide protection in specific situations such as “armed conflict,” agreements to protect international criminal justice, and regional mechanisms for the protection of human rights.
