In general terms, reclamation has the same meaning as communication, petition, complaint, appeal or request. This term has been used in particular in the ILO Constitution to indicate the means by which workers’ or employers’ organizations submit complaints to the Organization against any State that did not execute, in a satisfactory manner, any Convention to which it is a State Party. Examination of reclamations is entrusted to a tripartite committee, made up of representatives of States, workers’ and employers’ organizations. Following the report of the Committee, the Governing Body may ask the State to make a declaration. It may also make public the reclamation and the State’s response.
The meaning of the word “recommendation” varies according to the context in which it is used. As a generic term, it is used to designate texts by international organizations that are not binding upon States. Hence, resolutions adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, are recommendations.
As opposed to the universal system of the United Nations, the regional system refers to the totality of human rights agreements and implementation mechanisms produced by one specific region. It, therefore, refers to the American system, African system or European system.
A request is a demand. The word is used by the European Convention on Human Rights to signify individual appeals. It is also used to designate the totality of appeals by the Protocol relating to the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights.
A reservation signifies a unilateral declaration, however it may be named, by which a State Party to a treaty manifests its wish to exclude or modify the effect or effects that a provision or several provisions may have on its application to that State (Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties). Reservations are always possible as long as they are not explicitly ruled out by the treaty itself (as is the case, for example, with ILO Conventions) and are not incompatible with the objective and aim of the treaty. In some cases, the treaty itself lists the provisions that may be subject to reservations. In this case, reservations are possible only to these provisions. As a general rule, reservations can be withdrawn at any moment by the concerned State.
This term is used to describe decisions adopted by a number of international organizations ; for example, the United Nations General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, the Commission on Human Rights and the Sub-commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by a Resolution of the United Nations General Assembly.
This term, that same as the term limitations, signifies the possibility of States to curtail the exercise of individual human rights and fundamental freedoms. The legal framework for this limitation was provided for in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 29, para. 2 of the Universal Declaration stipulates that “In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society”. This possibility was also provided for in the principal human rights conventions. It can be found as a general clause that authorizes the restriction, or if an article is devoted to a specific right, the first paragraph defines the right and the limitation possibilities are stated in the following paragraph.
Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the right to education : “Everyone has the right to education” and Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights sets out is terms. Before examining these terms, it is necessary to state that with regard to all the rights recognized by this Covenant, States Parties are not bound by the results but they are bound by the means. Article 2 states that “Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes to take action … to the maximum of its available resources, with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the rights recognized in the present Covenant …”.
The signing of a treaty is the act that takes place after the negotiation and writing of the specific treaty and which approves it. It also expresses the will of the signatory States to continue the process to its final stage, that is, ratification of the treaty. All the same, signature does not mean that the signatory State has already become a State Party to the treaty. Only ratification produces this result. It is to be noted that for certain agreements, known as the simplified form, ratification is not required.
This is a process created by the Commission on Human Rights. A person, usually an independent expert, is mandated to study in detail a specific issue or a specific country regarding human rights. The Commission appointed a Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education in August 1998. She has submitted a number of reports ; in particular, her Preliminary Report of 13 January 1999 (E/CN.4/1999/49), her Intermediary Report of 1 February 2000 (E/CN.4/2000/6), and her last Report of 11 January 2001 (E/CN.4/2001/52). Education, moreover, is substantially present in the work of two other Special Rapporteurs : the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance and the Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance.
The Sub-commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, which is frequently referred to simply as the "Sub-commission", was created in 1947. It is composed of 26 independent experts nominated by the Commission on Human Rights. It was mandated to conduct studies on diverse matters of human rights and it may, in order to carry out its work, appoint Special Rapporteurs or Working Groups. It also conducts the preparatory work for the Commission on Human Rights under the procedure provided for in Resolution 1503.
This is the act of bringing a complaint to an international body competent to express its views in the field relating to the complaint. The term has been generalized to apply to all bodies mandated with the protection of human rights. Either individuals or States can submit complaints to them. We speak of a submission to the Human Rights Committee, to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, etc. Self-submission is the situation when the body itself files a complaint on a specific issue, as happens in the Commission on Human Rights.
