The Human Rights Committee (HRC) is part of the United Nations human rights system. The HRC is a “treaty body” – one of those groups of international experts that oversee the implementation of the international human rights treaties by the states that have ratified them.
Currently, there are nine of such treaties. The Human Rights Committee oversees the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), together with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provide the fundament of the international human rights law.
The ICCPR lists and explains a number of human rights. For example, the right to life, the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, the right to a fair trial, the right to liberty and security etc., which the states have to guarantee for every person within their territory and control. The Slovak Republic has agreed to observe these rights.
The Human Rights Committee has the power to examine your complaint about a violation of any rights listed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Its decisions are not legally binding, but they have serious political weight and the states usually take these findings into account.
The Human Rights Committee works on the basis of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.