Ethical & Legal Instruments
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
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
Anthony M. via Wikimedia Commons
Binding treatyConvention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT)
Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1984 and in force since 1987, this treaty defines torture and commits every state party to prevent it in any territory under its jurisdiction. Its central rule admits no exception: neither war, internal political instability, any other public emergency, nor an order from a superior officer can ever justify torture. It also bars returning anyone to a state where they would be in danger of being tortured, and reaches beyond torture itself to other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
1984 · 16 provisions
AMISOM Public Information (photo: Ilyas Ahmed)
Binding treatyConvention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1979 and in force since 1981, CEDAW defines discrimination against women as any distinction, exclusion or restriction based on sex that impairs women's enjoyment of human rights on equal terms with men, in any field of life. States parties undertake to write equality into their constitutions and laws, to provide legal protection through competent tribunals, and to modify or abolish discriminatory laws, regulations, customs and practices. Its premise is that a country's full development, the welfare of the world and the cause of peace all require women's maximum participation on equal terms.
1979 · 16 provisions
Robert Stansfield / DFID - UK Department for International Development
Binding treatyConvention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989 and the most widely ratified human rights treaty in the world, the Convention sets out the rights of every human being below the age of eighteen. Its organising rule is that in all actions concerning children the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration, and that the rights it lists apply to every child without discrimination, including discrimination based on what a child's parents or guardians do. States commit to implementing them to the maximum extent of their available resources.
1989 · 41 provisions
National Park Service
Binding treatyConvention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2006 and in force since 2008, this Convention exists to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights by persons with disabilities, and respect for their inherent dignity. Its defining move is to treat disability as something produced by the interaction between a person's long-term impairment and the attitudinal and environmental barriers around them, rather than as a defect in the person. Accessibility, individual autonomy and full inclusion in society run through the whole text, with particular attention to women, girls and children with disabilities.
2006 · 33 provisions
W.carter via Wikimedia Commons
Binding treatyInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
One of the two covenants that turned the Universal Declaration into binding law, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1966 and in force since 1976. It carries the civil and political half of that inheritance. Its preamble grounds those rights in the inherent dignity of the human person, and states plainly that the ideal of free human beings enjoying freedom from fear and want is reachable only where civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights are secured together.
1966 · 29 provisions