FROM BONDAGE TO FREEDOM 33 that sign and ratify such documents are committed to upholding the obligations within those treaties and/or conventions, unless those obligations are part of customary international law. Treaties like the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966; the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966; the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979; the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 1984; the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 and its Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, 2000; the Slavery Convention, 1926; the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 29 on Forced Labour 1930; ILO Convention No. 105 on Abolition of Forced Labour, 1959; the ILO Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, 1999; all form the basis for the emergence of human rights regime for the prevention and punishment of acts of trafficking and protection of the rights of the trafficked persons. Resolutions and Declaration of International Institutions The resolutions/declarations are not legally binding per se, but can spell out to some extent existing customary rules or contribute to the rapid formation of new ones. The International Judicial Tribunals have accorded considerable weight to these resolutions as evidence of state practice underlying a customary rule73. These resolutions manifest the consensus of nations on particular rules and one can see this effectively in the form that most of the present conventions like the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child have all originated from Declarations of the United Nations General Assembly. Hence, Declarations and Resolutions constitute a very important part of international law. Jus Cogens Lastly, the concept of ‘jus cogens’74 deserves mention. It means the body of peremptory principles or norms from which no derogation is permitted, and may therefore operate to invalidate a treaty or agreement between States to the extent of inconsistency with any such principles or norms. 73 S.K. Verma, An Introduction to Public International Law, Prentice Hall of India Private Ltd., Delhi, 1998. p. 45. 74 See generally on the subject, E. Suy and Others, The Concept of Jus Cogens in International Law, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Geneva, 1967.