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International human rights instruments are thetreaties and other international texts that serve as legal sources forinternational human rights law and the protection ofhuman rights in general.[1] There are many varying types, but most can be classified into two broad categories:declarations, adopted by bodies such as theUnited Nations General Assembly, which are by nature declaratory, so not legally-binding although they may be politically authoritative and very well-respectedsoft law,[2] and often express guiding principles; andconventions that are multi-party treaties that are designed to become legally binding, usually include prescriptive and very specific language, and usually are concluded by a long procedure that frequently requires ratification by each states' legislature. Less well known are certain "recommendations" which, while similar to conventions in that they are multilaterally agreed, cannot be ratified and instead serve to establish common standards.[3] There may also be administrative guidelines that are agreed multilaterally by states, as well as the statutes of tribunals or other institutions. A specific prescription or principle from any of these various international instruments can, over time, attain the status ofcustomary international law whether it is specifically accepted by a state or not, just because it is well-recognized and followed over a sufficiently long time.
Internationalhuman rights instruments can be divided further intoglobal instruments, to which any state in the world can be a party, andregional instruments, which are restricted to states in a particular region of the world.
Most conventions and recommendations (but few declarations) establish mechanisms for monitoring and establish bodies to oversee their implementation. In some cases these bodies that may have relatively little political authority or legal means, and may be ignored by member states; in other cases these mechanisms have bodies with great political authority and their decisions are almost always implemented. A good example of the latter is theEuropean Court of Human Rights.
Monitoring mechanisms also vary as to the degree of individual access to expose cases of abuse and plea for remedies. Under some conventions or recommendations – e.g. theEuropean Convention on Human Rights – individuals or states are permitted, subject to certain conditions, to take individual cases to a full-fledged tribunal at international level. Sometimes, this can be done in national courts because ofuniversal jurisdiction.
TheUniversal Declaration of Human Rights, theInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and theInternational Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights together with other international human rights instruments are sometimes referred to as the "International Bill of Human Rights". International human rights instruments are identified by theOHCHR[4] and most are referenced on the OHCHR website.
According to OHCHR, there are 9core international human rights instruments and several optional protocols.[5]
Several more human rights instruments exist. A few examples:
