The Path Less Taken? Interstate Conciliation and Human Rights

Though provided for in several treaties, including three universal human rights treaties, resort to interstate conciliation has been sparse. In 2018, however, the first three human rights interstate conciliations were initiated under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (cerd). While two of these have been suspended by mutual agreement, the third, Palestine v. Israel, is ongoing after the cerd Committee has concluded that it has jurisdiction to establish a conciliation commission. This article examines how suited conciliation is to advance the goals of interstate communications in human rights treaties, as well as conciliation more broadly. It also tries to identify critical factors that may determine the success or failure of such conciliations, particularly by drawing on lessons learned from the recent conciliation between Timor Leste and Australia under the UN Convention for the Law of the Sea, which successfully concluded with a delimitation treaty.