International Bill of Human Rights:

The International Bill of Human Rights refers to a collection of three international documents: the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and their two Optional Protocols.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is an ideal standard held in common by nations
around the world, but it bears no force of law. Thus, from 1948 to 1966, the UN Human Rights Commissions
main task was to create a body of international human rights law based on the Declaration, and to establish the
mechanisms needed to enforce its implementation and use. In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly
adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), establishing the vision and principles which
recognize the interdependence and indivisibility of all human rights: a vision that guarantees people civil and
political freedom as well as social and economic well being.

The Human Rights Commission produced two major documents: the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
Both became international law in 1976. Together with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, these two
covenants comprise what is known as the International Bill of Human Rights.

The Bill influences the decisions and actions of Government, State and Non-State actors to make economic,
social and cultural rights a top-priority in the formation and implementation of national, regional and
international policy and law.

International Covenant On Civil And Political Rights[ARTICLE-16-27.]

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United
Nations General Assembly,1966, and in force from March 23, 1976. It commits its parties to respect the civil
and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of
assembly, electoral rights and rights to due process and a fair trial.

The ICCPR is part of the International Bill of Human Rights, along with the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is monitored by the Human Rights Committee (a
separate body to the Human Rights Council which replaced the Commission on Human Rights, under the UN
Charter in 2006) with permanent standing, to consider periodic reports submitted by member States on their
compliance with the treaty.

The Covenant provide that the rights being dealt with shall not be subject to any restrictions except those which
are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect national security, public order, or the rights and freedoms of
others.

Articles 6 to 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

recognize the rights to work ;to the enjoyment of just and favourable conditions of work; to form and
join trade unions ; to social security, including social insurance; to the widest possible protection and
 assistance for the family, especially mothers, children and young persons; to an adequate standard of
living ; to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health ; to
education and to take part in cultural life.

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights states that the rights provided for therein
may be limited by law, but only in so far as it is compatible with the nature of the rights and solely to promote
the general welfare in a democratic society (art. 4).

The Covenant provide that the rights being dealt with shall not be subject to any restrictions except those which
are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect national security, public order, or the rights and freedoms of
others.

The first Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights enables the
Human Rights Committee, set up under that Covenant, to receive and consider communications from
individuals claiming to be victims of violations of any of the rights set forth in the Covenant.

The Human Rights Committee considers the admissible communications, at closed meetings, in the light of all
written information made available to it by the individual and the State party concerned. It then forwards its
views to the State party and to the individual (art. 5).

The Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming
at the abolition of the death penalty, was adopted by the General Assembly by its resolution, 1989.

The Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is a key human
rights treaty that strengthens access to justice in relation to peoples economic, social and cultural rights.

SUBSEQUENT UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS DOCUMENTS

In addition to the covenants in the International Bill of Human Rights, the United Nations has adopted more
than twenty principal treaties further elaborating human rights.

These include

Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1951)

Children (Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989).

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD)

Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

Other conventions cover racial discrimination, prevention of genocide, political rights of

women, prohibition of slavery and torture.

Each of these treaties has established a committee of experts to monitor implementation of the treaty provisions
by its State parties.
 HUMAN RIGHTS INSTRUMENTS FOR THE AMERICAS, AFRICA AND ASIA

In North and South America, Africa and Asia, regional documents for the protection and promotion of
human rights extend the International Bill of Human Rights.

The American Convention on Human Rights pertains to the inter-American statesthe Americasand
was entered into force in 1978.

African states have created their own Charter of Human and Peoples Rights (1981), and Muslim states
have created the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (1990).

The Asian Human Rights Charter (1986) was created by the Asian Human Rights Commission,
founded that year by a group of jurists and human rights activists in Hong Kong. The Charter is
described as a peoples charter, because no governmental charter has been issued to date.

Human rights [IMPLEMENTATION MECHANISM]

Human rights treaties are legally binding treaties. The parties to the treaties (state parties) are responsible for
their implementation, and under an obligation to do so. Thus, the state and its agencies are called duty
bearers.

To implement human rights treaties domestically, duty bearers have to:

adapt existing laws or pass new laws;

change or adapt administrative or financial measures;
issue national action plans and similar programmes;
guarantee and facilitate access to legal protection if someone feels violated in his or her human rights;
regularly review and evaluate the results of these measures.

Next to domestic courts, civil society organisations play an important role in the implementation of human
rights, and so do National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI) and the media. They can
inform about human rights, demand the ratification of human rights treaties, document violations of
human rights as well as monitor, call for and support the implementation of human rights obligations.
There are two distinctive types of supervisory mechanisms:

Treaty-based mechanisms: supervisory mechanisms enshrined in

legally binding human rights instruments or conventions. Within the UN
framework these mechanisms are often called treaty bodies, e.g., the
Human Rights Committee and the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Non-treaty based mechanisms: supervisory mechanisms not based on
legally binding human rights treaty obligations. Generally, this type of
mechanism is based on the constitution or charter of an
intergovernmental human rights forum, or on decisions taken by the
assembly or a representative body of the forum in question. Under the UN
framework, the non-treaty-based mechanisms are referred to as charter-
based mechanisms, which include the Human Rights Council 1503
procedure, the Universal Peer Review and special procedures.

The various supervisory procedures established in human rights treaties can

be divided into four main groups:

Reporting procedures
Inter-state complaint procedure
Individual complaint procedure
Inquiries and other procedures

(a) reporting procedures: States parties to report regularly on the steps they have taken to implement
their obligations under the treaty and to identify difficulties in implementation, states parties shall
submit reports on the measures they have adopted which give effect to the rights recognised herein and
on the progress made in the enjoyment of those rights. The report is analysed by the relevant
supervisory body

(b) individual communications procedures: receive and consider communications from individuals
alleging violations of their rights under the convention by States which have accepted the individual
communication procedure;

(c) inquiry procedure: two treaty bodies may also initiate inquiries on their own initiative if they have
received reliable information about serious or systematic violations of their conventions in a State
party; and

(d) inter-State communications procedures: a number of the treaties provide for one State party to
lodge a complaint with the relevant committee that another State party which has accepted the
procedure alleging that the latter has not carried out its obligations under the treaty.

THREE GENERATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

The division of human rights into three generations was initially proposed in 1979 by
the Czech jurist Karel Vasak.
 His divisions follow the three watchwords of the French Revolution: Liberty, Equality,
Fraternity. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes rights that are thought of as
second generation as well as first generation ones, but it does not make the distinction in
itself .
First-generation human rights, often called "blue" rights, deal essentially with
liberty and participation in political life.
They are fundamentally civil and political in nature: They serve negatively to protect the
individual from excesses of the state.
First-generation rights include, among other things, the right to life, equality before the
law, freedom of speech, the right to a fair trial, freedom of religion and voting rights. They
were pioneered by the United States Bill of Rights and in France by the Declaration of the
Rights of Man and of the Citizen in the 18th century,
They were enshrined at the global level and given status in international law first by Articles 3
to 21 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and later in the 1966 International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Second-generation human rights are related to equality and began to be
recognized by governments after World War II.
They are fundamentally economic, social, and cultural in nature. They guarantee different
members of the citizenry equal conditions and treatment.
Secondary rights would include a right to be employed in just and favorable condition, rights
to food, housing and health care, as well as social security and unemployment benefits
. Like first-generation rights, they were also covered by the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, and further embodied in Articles 22 to 28 of the Universal Declaration, and
the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.

These rights are sometimes referred to as "red" rights. They impose upon the government the duty to
respect and promote and fulfill them, but this depends on the availability of resources. The duty is
imposed on the state because it controls its own resources.

Third-generation human rights are those rights that go beyond the mere civil
and social, as expressed in many progressive documents of international law, including the
1972 Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment,
the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, and other pieces of generally
aspirational "soft law". Because of the present-day tilting toward national sovereignty and the
preponderance of would-be offender nations, these rights have been hard to enact in legally
binding documents.
The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights ensures many of those: right to self-
determination, right to development, right to natural resources and right to satisfactory
environment

The term "third-generation human rights" remains largely unofficial, just as the also-used
moniker of "green" rights, and thus houses an extremely broad spectrum of rights, including:

Group and collective rights

Right to self-determination

Right to economic and social development

 Right to a healthy environment

Right to natural resources

Right to communicate and communication rights

Right to participation in cultural heritage

Rights to intergenerational equity and sustainability