The system of individual communications presented under UN treaties on human rights

The empirical construction of the United Nations human rights treaty systemwas based on a minimum consensus among states. Treaty bodiesand monitoring procedures of treaty obligations are part ofthis consensus. Besides there porting procedure, States parties have reached consensus on an individual complaints procedure. The procedure emerged after polarization andhesitation among States over the establishment of aninternational human rights court and the status of the individual in international law and was reproduced in without major modifications. So individual complaints procedures under United Nations human rights treaties have common procedural and institutional features. Furthermore, treaty bodies have engaged in a process of harmonization of their working methods giving us reason to beoptimistic about the unity of United Nations human rightstreaty system.  Besides common institutional and procedural aspects, the latest treaties establishing individual complaints procedures codify the evolutionary practice of older treaty bodies, especially the Human Rights Committee. By affirming their determination to protect the object and purpose of human rights treaties and to guarantee the effectiveness of individual complaints procedures, treaty bodies strengthen implicitly the judicial aspects of the procedure. However, in the absence of judicial authority and other institutional tools for imposing on Statesparties' treaty obligations, the treaty bodies are forced to seek the right balance between firmness and diplomacy without being able to ensure States parties' cooperation.