Revisiting South Africa’s Reporting Obligations under Human Rights Treaties and Peer Review Mechanisms: Baby Strides Grinding to a Halt?

Abstract

The end results of human rights treaties should be the enjoyment by individuals and groups of the rights stipulated in them. Accordingly, states are required to implement the rights and obligations in treaties they have ratified. However, as Olivier has observed, states ratify treaties without the political will or ability to implement them fully. Watt has also stated that ‘while states have been willing to agree [to] human rights treaties, they have not been as enthusiastic about the monitoring of their own compliance with such agreements’. Monitoring the implementation of human rights treaties and compliance with human rights obligations thus becomes relevant in ensuring enjoyment of rights.