National Reporting in the Framework of Human Rights Treaties: Analysis of the Core Universal Treaties

Abstract

The key input into the monitoring of the implementation of universal human rights treaties is provided by national implementation reports. In spite of the importance of these reports, there is a large variation in the quantities of these reports submitted by individual states. The existing research on this issue is considerably limited, especially in its empirical scope. This text tests several explanatory hypotheses offered by the contemporary literature on the participation of states in human rights treaties and on the external transparency of states. The empirical analysis carried out in the text involves the most recent data related to the core universal treaties. This analysis reveals that the explanatory factor that is by far the most statistically and substantively significant for the examined topic is the level of report submission for each region.