The International Law Commission defines an "expert treaty body" as:"a body consisting of experts serving in their personal capacity, which is established under a treaty and is not an organ of an international organization.
"[1]A research guide published by the UN library lists key characteristics of human rights treaty-based bodies:[2] Notably, the experts conforming treaty bodies usually serve in their personal capacity (i.e., not representing their country).
Treaty bodies are distinct from "international organizations" as such, like United Nations agencies, programs, or other sui generis international organizations.
There are a number of treaty bodies, in particular in relation with international human rights law.
[3][4] However, there are also treaty bodies related to non-human rights instruments such as the UPOV or the INCB.