Inquiries or visits

The CAT, CEDAW, CRPD, CESCR, CED, and CRC - when the procedures come into force - can initiate inquiries or visits to the territory of a State Party if they receive information on serious and systematic violations of the rights protected by the conventions in the country concerned. ¹

Inquiries and visits may only be undertaken in relation to states that have recognised such competence and after having received reliable information on grave and systematic violations of the rights concerned. ²

↥UN, Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, op. cit., art. 20; UN, Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, adopted on 6 October 1999, entered into force on 22 December 2000, art. 8; UN, Optional Protocol to Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted on 13 December 2006, entered into force on 3 May 2008, art. 6 §2; UN, ICESCR Protocol, adopted on 10 December 2008, entered into force on 5 May 2013; A/ReS/63/117, art. 11 §3; UN, Convention against Enforced Disappearances, adopted on 20 December 2006, art. 33.
↥The Convention Against Torture (art. 28) and the Optional Protocol to Convention on the elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (art. 10) also provide the possibility for states to exclude such competence at the time of ratification or accession to the treaties.