What is the difference between the Bill of Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

... and has often been thought of as an archenemy of the United States . So the battle began. Granduncle Lazaro did not want Elian to return to his birth father in Cuba. When his parents divorced, Elian's father was named the legal custodial parent. That meant the ...

Table of Contents Show

International Bill of Human Rights
The rights covered by the Covenants
Responsibilities of States
Examples of violations
Ratification status of the Covenants by country
How the Covenants are monitored

... , and cheating are just a few of the complaints that occur at school. Budging, whether in the lunch-line or the bathroom line, is completely unfair. (Unless, of course, you're the person budging.) A line is formed as a way to make everyone wait the same. The whole ...

... of the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center, which puts out the General Social Survey. Other variables also affect handgun sales. America's increasing immigrant population has less of a tradition with firearms: It lacks the iconography of John Wayne and the cultural history of ...

... and there fore against the United States Constitution and once again the fourteenth amendment proclaiming all citizens equal. Fearing that the state may have to recognize same-gender marriages from Hawaii, because of the controversy over DOMA the state legislatures of ...

... 10 - 12 percent of the United States population (The Death Penalty , 1987). Of course, these statistics alone do not reveal elements of judicial bias in the administration of criminal law. What is at issue is whether, among persons who have been convicted of capital crimes, a statistically ...

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a historic document which outlined the rights and freedoms everyone is entitled to.

It was the first international agreement on the basic principles of human rights.

It laid the foundation for the human rights protections that we have in the UK today.

It formed the basis of the European Convention on Human Rights, which in turn was incorporated in UK law by the Human Rights Act 1998.

Nearly every state in the world has accepted the Declaration.

It has inspired more than 80 international conventions and treaties, as well as numerous regional conventions and domestic laws.

It has been the catalyst for improving human rights protections for groups such as disabled people, indigenous peoples and women.

It has been translated into more than 360 languages.

International Bill of Human Rights

The International Bill of Human Rights is an informal name given to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights along with the following UN human rights treaties:

You can find out more about the International Bill of Human Rights in this United Nations factsheet (PDF).

Last updated: 19 Nov 2018

Following the second world war, a series of declarations and covenants began to articulate universal human rights.

In 1948, for the first time, countries agreed on a comprehensive list of inalienable human rights. In December of that year, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a milestone that would profoundly influence the development of international human rights law.

In December 1966, the UN General Assembly adopted two international treaties that would further shape international human rights: the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). These are often referred to as “the International Covenants.”

Together, the UDHR and these two Covenants are known as the International Bill of Human Rights.

Learn more about the UDHR

Learn about the specific rights covered by the ICESCR and the ICCPR, the responsibilities of States, and how the Covenants are monitored below.

The rights covered by the Covenants

The ICESCR and the ICCPR set out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights that everyone is entitled to:

ICCPR

ICESCR

Freedom from discrimination
Right to equality between men and women
Right to life
Freedom from torture
Freedom from slavery
Right to liberty and security of person
Right to be treated with humanity in detention
Freedom of movement
Freedom of non-citizens from arbitrary expulsion
Right to fair trial
Right to recognition before the law
Right to privacy
Freedom of religion and belief
Freedom of expression
Right of peaceful assembly
Freedom of association
Right to marry and found a family
Right of children to birth registration and a nationality
Right to participate in public affairs
Right to equality before the law
Minority rights

Freedom from discrimination
Right to equality between men and women
Right to work
Freedom to choose and accept work
Right to just and favourable conditions at work
Right to form trade unions
Right to strike
Right to social security
Right of mothers to special protection before and after birth
Freedom of children from social and economic exploitation
Right to an adequate standard of living
Freedom from hunger
Right to health
Right to education
Freedom of parents to choose schooling for their children
Right to take part in cultural life
Right to enjoy benefits of science
Right of authors to moral and material interests from works
Freedom to undertake scientific research and creative activity

Responsibilities of States

The Covenants identify the responsibilities placed on States to respect, protect and fulfill those rights:

Respect

States must refrain from interfering directly or indirectly with your rights. For example, the State must not torture you or make you a slave. The State cannot force you to work in an area you have not freely chosen or stop you from speaking your language.

Protect

States must take measures to make sure that others, such as businesses, political groups or other people do not interfere with your rights. For example, the State must stop people using hate speech against you because of where you are from or who you are. And the State has to make sure that private companies provide a fair wage for your work and do not give different salaries to men and women who do the same job.

Fulfil

States must take steps to realize rights. For example, the State has to provide interpretation during trials if the accused cannot speak the language spoken in Court. The State must provide budgets to make sure everyone can access medicines and be free from hunger.

Examples of violations

Your civil, political, economic, cultural, and social rights can be violated through various means. Violations occur when a Government fails in its obligations to respect, protect and fulfil these rights. Often a violation of one of these rights is linked to a violation of other rights. Examples include:

Ratification status of the Covenants by country

The International Bill of Human Rights is a powerful statement of your rights and should persuade all Governments to respect your rights. For the two Covenants to become binding in your country, your Government must ratify them. This means your Government must expressly agree to abide by them.

Check if your Government has ratified the Conventions

How the Covenants are monitored

The UN Human Rights system uses different mechanisms to monitor how well the world is doing to ensure that everyone enjoys the rights set out in these Covenants.

The human rights treaty bodies are among those mechanisms. The treaty bodies are committees of independent experts that monitor implementation of the 10 core international human rights treaties, including the CCPR and the CESCR.

The following treaty bodies are responsible for monitoring the CCPR and the CESCR:
● The Human Rights Committee monitors the CCPR, and
● The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights monitors the CESCR.