Abstract
From 2014 to 2016, several reports issued by United Nations Treaty Bodies made some very severe criticisms about what they saw as the deficient fulfilment of the obligations that the Holy See had as a party to human rights treaties. In particular, these treaty bodies insisted that the Holy See, as supreme governing body of the Catholic Church, had international obligations of an extraterritorial nature and that it had to discharge those duties making sure that local churches all over the world aligned their actions and teachings with the protection of human rights. In light of the scandals of child abuse, the Treaty Bodies argued that those extraterritorial obligations had been breached. The Holy See responded that it not only did not have such extraterritorial obligations but that its position as supreme governing body of the Church did not allow it to inappropriately interfere in the internal life of local churches and of the states where the churches were located. This chapter is a contribution to the understanding of the human rights obligations of religious actors.