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37 Hum. Rts. Q. 579 (2015)
Ratification, Reporting, and Rights: Quality of Participation in the Convention against Torture

handle is hein.journals/hurq37 and id is 595 raw text is: 



HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLY






Ratification, Reporting, and Rights:

Quality of Participation in the

Convention against Torture




Cosette   D.  Creamer* & Beth A. Simmons**


                                 ABSTRACT

    The core international human rights treaty bodies play an important role in
    monitoring implementation of human rights standards through consideration
    of states parties' reports. Yet very little research explores how seriously
    governments  take their reporting obligations. This article examines the
    reporting record of parties to the Convention against Torture, finding that
    report submission is heavily conditioned by the practices of neighboring
    countries and by a government's human  rights commitment  and institu-
    tional capacity. This article also introduces original data on the quality and
    responsiveness of reports, finding that more democratic-and particularly
    newly  democratic-governments  tend to render higher quality reports.


1.  INTRODUCTION

The  ratification of international human rights treaties provokes commentary
and analysis by policymakers, lawyers, advocates, and academics  alike. Some


* Cosette D. Creamer holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and is a Ph.D. Candidate in the
  Department of Government, Harvard University.
** Beth A. Simmons is the Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs in the Department
  of Government, Harvard University.
      For helpful feedback, the authors would like to thank Christopher Fariss, Katerina Linos,
  Yonatan Lupu, Gerald Neuman, Kathryn Sikkink, and participants in the WCFIA-HLS Inter-
  national Law-International Relations Workshop, the Conference on the Domestic Politics of
  International Human Rights Agreements held at the Niehaus Center for Globalization and
  Governance, Princeton University, and the Human Rights and Constitutionalism thematic
  working group at the University of Oslo, Faculty of Law and Norwegan Centre for Human
  Rights. The authors also thank Diana Li for providing invaluable research assistance.

  Human  Rights Quarterly 37 (2015) 579-608 C 2015 by Johns Hopkins University Press

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