International judicial institutions can be divided into courts, arbitral tribunals and quasi-judicial institutions. Courts are permanent bodies, with near the same composition for each case. Arbitral tribunals, by contrast, are constituted anew for each case. Both courts and arbitral tribunals can make binding decisions. Quasi-judicial institutions, by contrast, make rulings on cases, but these rulings are not in themselves legally binding; the main example is the individual complaints mechanisms available under the various UN human rights treaties.

Institutions can also be divided into global and regional institutions.

The listing below incorporates both currently existing institutions, defunct institutions that no longer exist, institutions which never came into existence due to non-ratification of their constitutive instruments, and institutions which do not yet exist, but for which constitutive instruments have been signed. It does not include mere proposed institutions for which no instrument was ever signed.

Global institutions - Courts

Global institutions - Arbitral Tribunals Global institutions - Quasi-judicial Institutions - check whether the names below are correct, and if the below institutions are the optional procedure ones
  • Human Rights Committee
  • Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination
  • Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women

Regional institutions - Europe Regional institutions - the Americas Regional institutions - Africa
  • ...