International Human Rights and the International Human Rights System A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions 4. TREATY LAW Treaties are binding in international law whereas declarations are only persuasive. They are “hard law”, creating legal obligations on States that accept them through accession or ratification, while declarations are “soft law” and not directly binding in themselves. The UDHR is a UN declaration and, at the time of its adoption, it was no more than a statement of aspirations.33 At that time the UN intended to move swiftly to adopt a treaty on human rights to incorporate human rights into binding obligations on States. This work, however, took almost two decades before it resulted in the adoption in 1966 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Together with the UDHR, these two covenants constitute the International Bill of Rights. 4.1. Treaties are binding law Treaties are agreements between States that constitute binding international law. They set out obligations and entitlements with which States parties to them are required to comply. Treaties have different names. A treaty can be called: • a charter, as in the Charter of the United Nations • a covenant, as in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights • a convention, as in the Convention on the Rights of the Child • an optional protocol, as in the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women • an agreement, as in the Agreement concerning the Relationship between the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons • a statute, as in the Statute of the International Court of Justice • a treaty, as in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The original copy of the Charter of the United Nations. UN Photo by Mark Garten. 33 Over the following 60 years, the UDHR has acquired such strong international endorsement on so many occasions that much, if not all, of it is now considered to have become part of binding international customary law. See p. 17 for further discussion. Chapter 3: What is international human rights law? | 13