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Eunji Lim
April.14th.2013
Week 13 assignment

There are three conventions making up the International Bill of Human Rights; The Universal Declaration of Human Rights; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; International Covenant on Economic, social and Cultural Rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a symbol of freedom, equality, and justice in the world. It was the first international agreement aimed solely at protecting and promoting human rights. Nations with diverse political, religious and cultural backgrounds joined together to make a statement against injustice and inequality. They created a standard of achievement that all nations thereafter would be morally obligated to respect. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was a ground-breaking document that paved the way for the future of international justice and human rights. Many international human rights agreements have emerged since 1948. Thousands of non-governmental human rights organizations have been established in the past 50 years. These organizations have often used the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a way to measure their governments’ human rights performance. It is an instrument used to prompt democratic reform and to demand adherence to international human rights laws. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is a United Nations treaty based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was created in 1966 and entered into force on March 23, 1976. Because the Universal Declaration of Human Rights contained both first generation civil and political rights and second generation economic, social, and cultural rights, it could not garner the international consensus necessary to become a binding treaty. Particularly, a divide developed between democratic nations such as the United States, which emphasized civil and political rights, and socialist or communist nations, which also emphasized economic, social and cultural rights.