The material in this section includes information from the beginning of the treaty body system in the 1970's to September 1, 2005.

The information included is organized in four categories:

1. Articles

Specific themes or subjects are related to the articles of each of the human rights treaties.

2. Concluding Observations

The text of the concluding observations found in this section has been summarized by the editors, but the summaries have been kept in a format very close to the original text, and the source document and paragraph is specifically cited. The complete original text is available from the other section of the website under By Category - Concluding Observations, or By State - Concluding Observations.

References to "see also" indicate examples of other concluding observations which are very similar but have not been reproduced because of the repetitiveness of the substantive content. Not all concluding observations which have been made by the treaty bodies are either summarized or appear in the list as "see-also", due to a high degree of repetition of the language of the concluding observations, particularly on the part of some committees.

3. General Comments and Recommendations

General Comments and Recommendations appear without substantive editorial changes in either their complete form or in part. Only those general comments and recommendations which provide substantive commentary on provisions of the treaties have been included.

4. Jurisprudence

The cases decided by the treaty bodies appear without substantive editorial changes, but portions of cases that are not relevant have been omitted. The complete text of cases which appear in part is available from the other section of the website under By Category - Jurisprudence, or By State - Jurisprudence. Only those decisions which provide substantive commentary on provisions of the treaties have been included.

References to "see also" indicate cases which have not been reproduced because of considerable overlap or repetition. The complete text of cases which are listed only as additional examples can be obtained from the other section of the website.