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I. INTRODUCTION
A striking feature of recent analysis on the international human rights regime has been the emphasis placed on its perceived limitations and even its continuing relevance. Whether based on concerns about rights inflation, politicization, neo-imperialism, or linkage to neo-liberalism, there has been an apparent tidal wave of criticism of international human rights law and the institutions by which it is generated.1 Constructive critique is useful as it provokes debate2 and reflection on what may be regarded as a phenomenon of rights-expectation—the apparently creeping notion that human rights should be the panacea for all ills. At a more practical level, it prompts us to consider ways and means of enhancing the international human rights regime so that it can potentially address some of the more reasonable criticisms leveled against it.
A key issue in terms of the value of international human rights law relates to the effectiveness of its institutions and the procedures through which they operate. The purpose of this article is to contribute to this aspect of the debate by focusing on persistent concerns raised about the operation of the United Nations (UN) human rights treaty system. Commonly regarded as a cornerstone of the United Nations overall human rights infrastructure, the treaty system has long since been deemed ineffective because of deficiencies in its procedural operation as well as the quality of its outputs.3 Yet despite numerous attempts to address these deficits, reform efforts implemented over the years from within the UN system have at best achieved minimal gains or, at worst, completely floundered. Drawing on theoretical insights from the emerging field of enterprise transformation, the purpose of this article is to analyze the reasons why reform of the treaty system has proved so intractable. By doing so, the article aims to focus debate on how current plans to revisit the issue of treaty reform by the UN in 2020 might profitably be redirected and indeed reconceptualized. It begins by providing some background and context to the establishment and operation of the treaty system; the challenges that have been encountered over the years in making it more effective in practice; and the fate of reform efforts generated to date.
II. OVERVIEW OF TREATY BODY PROCEDURES
The ten...