{"id":11741,"date":"2020-06-12T00:12:34","date_gmt":"2020-06-11T22:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.humanrightscareers.com\/?p=11741"},"modified":"2020-06-26T16:32:01","modified_gmt":"2020-06-26T14:32:01","slug":"what-is-a-human-rights-tribunal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.humanrightscareers.com\/issues\/what-is-a-human-rights-tribunal\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is A Human Rights Tribunal?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, they established a standard for how every human being should be treated. In that specific document, there aren\u2019t any guidelines on how to ensure that happens or what to do if those rights are violated. Human rights only become a reality when legal structures to protect them are put into place. That\u2019s why the world needs human rights tribunals, which are specialized courts that deal with cases concerning human rights issues.<\/p>\n

In the years following the UDHR, the UN established accountability for serious international crimes through event-specific tribunals, like the International Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Now, there is a permanent International Criminal Court. It\u2019s up to the Member States to push for prosecution of crimes. In certain circumstances, the UN still establishes special tribunals (like the Special Tribunal for Lebanon) to deal with specific events.<\/p>\n

How human rights tribunals work <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Many human rights tribunals are established within states. Depending on where the specific human rights tribunal is located and its structure, it will often refer to that state\u2019s leading human rights document. As an example, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal<\/a>, established in 1977 through the Canadian Human Rights Act, reviews cases based on whether a person or organization has participated in \u201cdiscriminatory practice\u201d under the Act. The CHRT is funded by the Parliament of Canada. The Canadian Human Rights Commission, while a separate entity, refers cases to the CHRT. Local or provincial human rights tribunals like the CHRT tend to deal with more day-to-day discrimination and human rights issues.<\/p>\n

Bringing a case<\/u><\/p>\n

Oftentimes, a tribunal will require a person to first file a complaint with a human rights commission. This is the case with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal; the Commission will investigate to see if the complaint is well-founded. Issues include, but are not limited to:<\/p>\n