The Systems That Exist, and the Ones That Do Not

In one line

Europe, the Americas and Africa each have a treaty, a supervisory body and a court; the Arab region and Southeast Asia have instruments and commissions without adjudication; and Asia as a whole, containing more than half the world's population, has no regional human rights system at all.

The three working systems

Europe

Organisation: the Council of Europe, founded 1949, distinct from the European Union.

Instrument: the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, signed at Rome on 4 November 1950, in force 3 September 1953, with sixteen protocols adding rights and reforming procedure.

Body: the European Court of Human Rights, permanent since Protocol 11 took effect on 1 November 1998, with the Committee of Ministers supervising execution.

Access: any person, non-governmental organisation or group of individuals claiming to be a victim may apply directly, and acceptance of that right is compulsory for parties.

The Americas

Organisation: the Organization of American States, Charter of Bogotá, 1948.

Instruments: the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, adopted in April 1948, some months before the Universal Declaration, and the American Convention on Human Rights, signed at San José on 22 November 1969, in force 18 July 1978.

Bodies: the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, established 1959 and operating from 1960, and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, seated in San José.

Access: any person, group of persons or recognised non-governmental entity may petition the Commission, and the petitioner need not be the victim, which no other system allows. Only States Parties and the Commission may bring a case before the Court.

Africa

Organisation: the Organisation of African Unity, replaced by the African Union in 2002.

Instrument: the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, adopted at Nairobi in 1981, in force 21 October 1986.

Bodies: the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, and the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, created by a Protocol of 1998 in force in 2004.

Access to the Court by individuals and non-governmental organisations requires a separate declaration under the Protocol, which few States have made and some have withdrawn.

The two without adjudication

The Arab region

Organisation: the League of Arab States.

Instrument: the Arab Charter on Human Rights, first adopted in 1994 and never brought into force, revised in 2004 and in force in 2008.

Body: an Arab Human Rights Committee receiving State reports. A statute for an Arab Court of Human Rights was adopted in 2014 and has not entered into force.

The revised Charter has been criticised for provisions inconsistent with universal standards, and its committee has no complaints procedure.