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International human rights instruments are treaties and other international documents relevant to international human rights law and the protection of human rights in general. They can be classified into two categories: declarations, adopted by bodies such as the United Nations General Assembly, which are not legally binding although they may be politically so as soft law; and conventions, which are legally binding instruments concluded under international law. International treaties and even declarations can, over time, obtain the status of customary international law.
International human rights instruments can be divided further into global instruments, to which any state in the world can be a party, and regional instruments, which are restricted to states in a particular region of the world.
Most conventions establish mechanisms to oversee their implementation. In some cases these mechanisms have relatively little power, and are often ignored by member states; in other cases these mechanisms have great political and legal authority, and their decisions are almost always implemented. Examples of the first case include the UN treaty committees, while the best exemplar of the second case is the European Court of Human Rights.
Mechanisms also vary as to the degree of individual access to them. Under some conventions – e.g. the European Convention on Human Rights – individuals or states are permitted, subject to certain conditions, to take individual cases to the enforcement mechanisms; under most, however (e.g. the UN conventions), individual access is contingent on the acceptance of that right by the relevant state party, either by a declaration at the time of ratification or accession, or through ratification of or accession to an optional protocol to the convention. This is part of the evolution of international law over the last several decades. It has moved from a body of laws governing states to recognizing the importance of individuals and their rights within the international legal framework.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights are sometimes referred to as the international bill of rights.
Switzerland, Austria, Italy, United Kingdom, France
United Nations, Genocide, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations General Assembly, World War II
United Nations, Mexico, Jordan, Geneva, India
Council of Europe, European Court of Human Rights, Switzerland, World War II, United Kingdom
United Nations, /anization, Member states of the United Nations, Switzerland, Argentina
Human rights, European Convention on Human Rights, Law, International human rights instruments, International humanitarian law
Right to work, Human rights, Freedom of speech, Privacy, Right to housing
Colombia, Cuba, United States, /anization of American States, Canada
Costa Rica, Canada, San José, Costa Rica, Grenada, United States