What are “human rights”? This term is usually employed in a weak form, as when we claim the human right to water or clean air. However, the term has legal support.

It is established a set of legal claims to protection and benefits that are anchored in internationally recognized human rights statements, treaties, and instruments. The most important are:

  1. the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
  2. the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, 1966)
  3. the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, 1966).

Together they form the “International Bill of Rights”,  a set of legal obligations on states and their agents to respect human rights, to protect people in their territories against human rights violations, and to promote human rights.

bill of rights