Human rights conventions and declarations

The Charter of the United Nations is the first international treaty with aims which are expressly based on universal respect for human rights. This has served as the basis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), signed on 10 December 1948.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted in the form of a General Assembly resolution, A/RES/217(III), and is not, in principle, legally binding. It is, however, considered one of the most important documents of the 20th century, serving as a fundamental authority in multilateral debates in the United Nations and elsewhere and as a powerful factor in establishing the advancement of international human rights law.

The UDHR became the starting point for the development of many human rights instruments internationally and regionally, and the United Nations has made considerable efforts to ensure the protection and promotion of human rights by drawing up conventions and declarations.

Millennnium declaration

The United Nations Millennium Declaration (A/RES/55/2)- built upon the outcome of the twelve major summits and conferences of the 1990s at which Governments agreed on development goals - was adopted at the Millennium Summit 2000, where all UN member states were represented. Part V of the declaration formulates goals for the promotion of internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms.

High Commissioner for Human Rights

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has the mandate from the international community to promote and protect all human rights. OHCHR supports the work of the United Nations human rights mechanisms, such as the Human Rights Council and the core treaty bodies.

Core international human rights treaties

There are nine core international human rights instruments. Each of these instruments has established a committee of experts, so called human rights treaty bodies, to monitor implementation of the treaty provisions by its States parties. Some of the treaties are supplemented by optional protocols dealing with specific concerns.

For the human rights treaty bodies' conventions, optional protocols, working methods, reporting and ratifications see links below.

See also DagDok on Conventions and declarations.

Conventionen	Date	Monitoring body
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination	Adopted in 1966, entered into force in 1976	CERD
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights	Adopted in 1966, entered into force in 1976	CCPR
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights	Adopted in 1966, entered into force in 1976	CESCR
Convention on The Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women	Adopted in 1979, entered into force in 1981	CEDAW
Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment	Adopted in 1984, entered into force in 1987	CAT
Convention on the Rights of the Child	Adopted in 1989, entered into force in 1990	CRC
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families	Adopted in 1990, entered into force in 2003	CMW
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance	Adopted in 2006, entered into force in 2010	CED
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities	Adopted in 2006, entered into force in 2008	CRPD

More on UN and Human Rights conventions and declarations

Millennium Declaration, A/RES/55/2. The main document, unanimously adopted at the international Millennium Summit 2000, contains a statement of values, principles and objectives for the international agenda for the twenty-first century.
International Human Rights Law. At OHCHR website human rights declarations and conventions are posted.
Monitoring the core international human rights treaties. Learn more about the treaty bodies: What they are and how they work.

UN document symbols

The UN document symbols for documents from the core treaties' monitoring bodies:

CCPR/	Human Rights Committee (treaty body for ICCPR)
CERD/	Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (treaty body for Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination)
CEDAW/	Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (treaty body for Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women)
CAT/	Committee against Torture (treaty body for Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment)
CAT/OP/	Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (treaty body for Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture)
CRC/	Committee on the Rights of the Child (treaty body for Convention on the Rights of the Child)
CRPD/	Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (treaty body for Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol)
CMW/	Committee on Migrant Workers (treaty body for International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families)
CED/	Committee on Enforced Disappearances (treaty body for International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance)

For more information about the Treaty Bodies, see the DagDok pages: