Ethical & Legal Instruments
Diliff
Binding treatyEuropean Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) — core principles summary
Adopted by the Council of Europe at Rome in 1950 and in force since 1953, the European Convention was the first human rights instrument to give ordinary people standing to bring a case against their own government internationally, before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, whose judgments bind. Its core rights are the classic civil and political set drawn from the Universal Declaration, extended over time by protocols rather than by reopening the original text. Rights may be limited only where a restriction is prescribed by law, pursues an aim the Convention itself lists, and is necessary in a democratic society, and derogation in emergency can never reach the prohibition of torture or slavery, the right to life, or the rule against punishment without law. It binds all 46 Council of Europe member states and has produced the most developed body of international human rights case law anywhere.
1950 · 5 provisions
AMISOM Public Information
Binding treatyProtocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa ("Maputo Protocol") — core principles summary
A protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, adopted at Maputo in 2003 and, by the African Union's own account, the first regional women's rights instrument of its kind anywhere. It builds on CEDAW, the two international covenants and the Universal Declaration, while going further to name harms those instruments do not address directly: it commits states to eliminate specific harmful traditional practices, female genital mutilation among them by name, and it states reproductive autonomy as a right rather than leaving it to be inferred. Forty-four of the African Union's 55 member states have ratified it, most recently South Sudan in 2023.
2003 · 4 provisions
Rowland Scherman for the U.S. Information Agency; restoration by Adam Cuerden
Binding treatyInternational Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD)
Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1965 and in force since 1969, ICERD rests on the conviction stated in its own preamble that any doctrine of superiority based on racial differentiation is scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous. It defines racial discrimination as any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin that impairs the equal enjoyment of rights in public life. States parties undertake not to discriminate themselves, to ensure their public authorities comply, and to review, amend or rescind laws that create or perpetuate racial discrimination.
1965 · 7 provisions
Russell Watkins / DFID - UK Department for International Development
Binding treatyInternational Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
The companion covenant to the ICCPR, adopted by the UN General Assembly on the same day in 1966 and in force since 1976. It covers the economic, social and cultural side of human rights, and opens by affirming that all peoples have the right of self-determination, may freely dispose of their own natural wealth and resources, and may in no case be deprived of their means of subsistence. Its preamble holds that freedom from fear and want is reachable only when these rights and civil and political rights are secured together.
1966 · 15 provisions
NASA / Apollo 17 crew
Declaration2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development / Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — core principles summary, not full text
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a political declaration adopted by all 193 UN member states in 2015, not a binding treaty. It sets out 17 Sustainable Development Goals broken into 169 measurable targets, organised around five commitments the Agenda itself names People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace and Partnership. It describes those goals as integrated and indivisible, balancing the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. This record holds the Goals and the Agenda's core commitments rather than all 169 targets.
2015 · 23 provisions
A.G. Smith, Toronto, photographer
Binding treatyILO Core Labour Conventions (Nos. 87, 98, 29, 105, 138, 182, 100, 111, 155, 187) — combined core-principles summary
Ten binding treaties of the International Labour Organization held together in one record: the eight conventions named as fundamental by the ILO's 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, plus two governance conventions on occupational safety and health. Between them they cover forced labour, freedom of association and collective bargaining, equal pay for work of equal value, discrimination in employment and occupation, the minimum age for work, the worst forms of child labour, and national policy on safety at work. The ILO is a UN specialised agency with a tripartite structure in which governments, employers' organisations and workers' organisations each hold a voting voice, and the eight fundamental conventions are considered binding in principle on all 187 member states whether or not each has been individually ratified.
1930 · 10 provisions
Patrick Myers / U.S. National Park Service (Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve)
Binding treatyConvention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS / Bonn Convention)
Adopted at Bonn in 1979 and in force since 1983, this treaty of the UN Environment Programme protects wild animals whose populations cyclically and predictably cross national borders. Its premise is that no single state can conserve a species that spends its life cycle in many, and that each generation holds the earth's resources in trust for those that follow. Species in danger of extinction are listed in Appendix I, where range states must conserve and restore critical habitat, remove obstacles to migration, and prohibit taking them except in narrow circumstances that must be reported; species that would benefit from coordinated management are listed in Appendix II, for which range states work toward dedicated agreements.
1979 · 12 provisions
Zeynel Cebeci
Quasi-binding standardWOAH (World Organisation for Animal Health) Terrestrial Animal Health Code, Chapter 7.1 — Guiding Principles for Animal Welfare
Chapter 7.1 of the World Organisation for Animal Health's Terrestrial Animal Health Code, first adopted in 2004 and last updated in 2019, is the closest thing that exists to an officially adopted international statement of animal welfare principles. WOAH is an intergovernmental organisation founded in 1924 with 183 member countries, and since a 1998 agreement it is the World Trade Organization's recognised reference standard-setter for animal health in trade, which gives its codes real weight even though they are formally recommendations rather than a treaty ratified state by state. The chapter defines animal welfare as the physical and mental state of an animal in relation to the conditions in which it lives and dies, and builds its guiding principles on the internationally recognised five freedoms and three Rs.
2004 · 20 provisions
Martin Dorsch via Unsplash and Wikimedia Commons
Binding treatyUnited Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
Adopted in 1982 and in force since 1994, UNCLOS is often called a constitution for the oceans: 320 articles that replaced a patchwork of customary claims and unilateral assertions with one legal framework binding on all parties equally. Sovereignty at sea is graduated by distance from shore rather than absolute, freedom of the high seas is the default beyond national jurisdiction, and the deep seabed and its resources are declared the common heritage of mankind, to be used for the benefit of all with particular consideration for developing states. It places an affirmative duty on states to protect and preserve the marine environment and to conserve living marine resources, and provides compulsory machinery for settling disputes peacefully. This record summarises those core commitments rather than the treaty's boundary and survey mechanics.
1982 · 9 provisions
Photographer not stated by source; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, U.S. National Archives
DeclarationUniversal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
Proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1948, the Universal Declaration is the founding statement of modern human rights and the text that later instruments in this bank repeatedly build on. It is a declaration rather than a treaty, so it binds no state directly, yet its opening premise became the shared ground for the covenants and conventions that followed: that recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.
1948 · 30 provisions
Thérèse Ottawa via Wikimedia Commons
DeclarationUnited Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)
Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007 by 144 votes to 4, with all four opposing states since reversing their position, this declaration sets a standard for the rights of indigenous peoples. It affirms their right to self-determination, to autonomy in their internal and local affairs, and to maintain their own distinct institutions while participating fully in the life of the state. Its preamble names the historic injustices of colonisation and dispossession, and rejects doctrines of superiority as racist, scientifically false, legally invalid and morally condemnable. It is a declaration rather than a treaty, proclaimed as a standard of achievement to be pursued in a spirit of partnership and mutual respect.
2007 · 46 provisions
Pradyumnakp via Wikimedia Commons
Binding treatyConvention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
Opened for signature at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit and in force since 1993, the Convention on Biological Diversity sets three objectives: conserving biological diversity, using its components sustainably, and sharing fairly and equitably the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources. It gives primary emphasis to conserving ecosystems and habitats in place, requires the prior informed consent of the providing country for access to genetic resources, and calls on parties to respect and maintain the knowledge and practices of indigenous and local communities and to share with them the benefits of using that knowledge. Public education and awareness are treaty obligations in their own right.
1992 · 10 provisions