Chapter 10

Creating Order through International Organizations

IN THIS CHAPTER

Coming together in Europe

Creating a League of Nations

Establishing the United Nations

The modern state system created in 1648 brings about a need for continuous contact between states, especially the great powers of Europe. Both international law and diplomacy (see Chapter 9) and the creation of international organizations fill this need.

This chapter covers the first true international organization regulating relations between states, the Concert of Europe. It provided the foundation for future international organizations, such as the League of Nations and the United Nations.

Next the chapter looks at the League of Nations, the predecessor to the United Nations, and discusses its failures and final dissolution in 1946. Most of the chapter then deals with the United Nations, established in 1945,covering its origins, its purpose, and its structure. The final section of the chapter deals with the protection of human rights in the current international arena.

Getting Together in Europe — The Concert of Europe

After Europe had been at war for more than 20 years, the great European powers — Great Britain, France, Russia, Prussia, and Austria — decided that it was time to restore peace in Europe and come up with a set of rules to prevent future conflicts. They held a Congress (meeting) in Vienna from 1814 until 1815, and here they established what is today called the Concert of Europe. The Concert of Europe lasted until the outbreak of World War I and provided Europe for almost a century with peace (despite some minor conflicts).

The Concert of Europe was based on following international law to solve conflict peacefully and on maintaining the balance of power in Europe (see Chapter 8). Some of the greatest diplomats of the time, such as Prince Metternich of Austria, oversaw the system. The idea behind the Congress System was simple: As long as all great powers in Europe were similar in size and power and followed established rules, no conflict would occur. Whenever a problem or conflict arose, the five great powers would call for a Congress and get together to discuss the issue and resolve it peacefully.

Between 1815 and 1884, there were 17 Congresses held by the great powers to help resolve disputes and maintain peace in Europe. Among the most famous and influential Congresses held was the 1878 Congress of Berlin, which prevented war in the Balkans and resulted in the creation of many Eastern European states such as Bulgaria and Romania. The second Congress of Berlin, held in 1884, still impacts the world today. It divided up Africa among the major European powers to avoid conflict over colonies and established most current African countries and their borders.

Calling for a League of Nations

The outbreak of World War I in 1914 changed everything. By 1914, the five great powers had formed a rival two-alliance system in Europe consisting of the Triple Entente (Great Britain, France, and Russia) and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy). These two alliances slowly undermined and then destroyed the Concert of Europe, which was based on the balance of power in Europe and on resolving conflicts peacefully. By 1914, the two-alliance system had replaced the Concert of Europe and the concert system collapsed. World War I was the result.

By 1918, when World War I ended, the world was in shock. World War I was supposed to last for only a few months, and most Europeans believed it would be a traditional war fought by professional militaries. Nobody foresaw the use of poison gas or new weapons like the tank and airplanes. Many politicians, including U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, decided that war had become so horrible that it could not occur again. Woodrow Wilson, therefore, proposed the creation of an international organization, called the League of Nations, to prevent future wars.

In January of 1918, President Woodrow Wilson outlined his famous Fourteen Points as a condition for peace in Europe. After Germany surrendered in November of 1918, he was ready to put his points into place. Right away, he ran into problems.

Coming up with 14 points

President Wilson proposed 14 points as a condition for peace in Europe and believed, if implemented, these policies would outlaw war in the future. The most famous of his 14 points were:

• Abolition of secret diplomacy: Many politicians and academics had blamed secret diplomacy for the outbreak of World War I. Wilson proposed that all diplomatic activity be made public so that everybody had a chance to scrutinize it.
• Reduction of armaments: The reduction was through arms control, where countries limited the amount of weapons they possessed, and disarmament, where countries destroyed existing weapons.
• Removal of international trade barriers: Wilson was an idealist (see Chapter 8), who believed that closer economic cooperation between states resulted in less conflict among nations.
• The restoration of the Belgium state (occupied by Germany) and the creation of a new Polish state: Poland had ceased to exist as a state since the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763), where it had been divided between Germany, Russia, and Austria.
• Creation of a League of Nations: The League was to be an international organization open to all sovereign countries in the world. This new organization was based on the concept of collective security, where an attack on one member equaled an attack on all members, thereby outlawing war.

Although President Wilson was successful in implementing some of his points, he failed with others. He did succeed in restoring Poland and Belgium and creating the League of Nations.

The U.S. Senate refused to ratify the treaty allowing for the United States to join the League of Nations, because it feared the commitment of American troops to fight international aggression. Ironically, President Wilson created the League of Nations, and received a Nobel Peace Prize for doing so, but his own country refused to join the organization.

Starting weak as an international organization

The League of Nations was up and running by January 1920. It was headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and 41 countries joined it. From the beginning, the League was handicapped because some of the most powerful countries in the world had either refused to join or weren’t allowed to join. These included the U.S., Germany, and Russia. For this reason, the two most powerful countries left, Great Britain and France, took over the League and used it as a foreign policy tool to further their own interests. This undermined the credibility of the organization from the beginning.

Structuring the League of Nations

The structure of the League of Nations was very similar to the current United Nations. The League Assembly was the legislative part of the League of Nations. Every member country had one vote, and the assembly met once a year. If there was an act of aggression or any other problem, the League could be called into session at any time. The assembly’s major functions included allowing new states to join the League and control of the budget for the organization. The major problem with the League Assembly was that all voting had to be unanimous, giving each member country an absolute veto. Not much was accomplished because of this.

Using a League Council

The League Council was very similar to today’s Security Council (see the next section). The Council’s main task was to maintain peace globally and punish any type of international aggression. In the beginning, only four countries sat on the Council: Great Britain, France, Japan, and Italy. In 1926, Germany was allowed to join. The Council met five times a year to oversee the state of the world. It also could be called into session during times of crisis.

Failing in times of crisis

Very quickly, problems with the League of Nations became visible. First, unanimous voting allowed for any member to block actions demanded by the rest of the League, which resulted in inaction. Second, the great powers used the League freely to pursue their own political interests, and whenever they committed an act of aggression, it went unpunished.

Italy, a member of the League Council, freely committed acts of aggression that went unpunished. For example, it invaded Ethiopia in 1935. The League verbally condemned the Italian aggression but took no effort to stop it. Japan was the other Council member that violated the League’s rules against aggression. It attacked Manchuria in 1931, and again the League failed to respond. By the 1930s, it had become clear that the League of Nations was a paper tiger without the willingness to punish international aggression.

Third, the League didn’t believe that it had the power to intervene within a country’s internal affairs, even if a country violated its citizens’ human rights. Therefore, the League ignored the genocide committed by Soviet leader Stalin on the Ukraine. The League just stood by as millions died without lifting a finger.

Finally, major powers decided to start to leave the League after noticing its ineffectiveness or for being condemned for an act of aggression that they had committed. This left the League even weaker and more helpless. Germany and Japan left in 1933 and Italy four years later. The Soviet Union was expelled in 1939 after it attacked Finland. Suddenly, the league was left with only two great powers, Great Britain and France.

By the time World War II started in 1939, the League had become a weak organization without any credibility and was powerless to prevent the war.

Needing a United Nations

As early as 1941, before the U.S. even entered World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill decided that a new organization was needed to maintain peace in the world. They believed that the League of Nations was fundamentally flawed and needed to be replaced. For this reason, they signed the Atlantic Charter in 1941, which called for disarmament, economic cooperation after the war, and the creation of a new international organization to keep peace globally. The 26 nations that signed on to the charter further renounced the use of force to make territorial gains.

In January of 1942, these 26 nations signed the Declaration of the United Nations, which became the foundation for the future United Nations. Every country that signed on to the declaration pledged to fight the Axis powers — countries opposing the allies, mainly Germany, Italy and Japan — and to create a new international organization to maintain peace in the world after the war had been won.

After agreeing on the structure of the new United Nations in 1944, 50 countries met in San Francisco to approve the U.N. Charter, establishing the United Nations. The United Nations came into existence on October 24, 1945, and was moved to New York City, where John D. Rockefeller had donated the land to house the newly established organization (see Figure 10-1).

Source: Library of Congress

FIGURE 10-1: United Nations headquarters in New York City.

A few month later, April 26, 1946, the League of Nations was disbanded, and all its assets were transferred to the United Nations.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt coined the term United Nations for the future international organization replacing the League of Nations.

Sharing similarities with the League of Nations

The United Nations and the League of Nations share many similarities. Basically, the objective of maintaining peace in the world and avoiding conflict remain the same. The concept of collective security where an attack on one country equals an attack on all member countries also remains intact. Structurally, there are many similarities, too. The League Council was renamed Security Council and was asked to maintain peace in the world. It also had permanent members that received an absolute veto power.

The League Assembly was turned into the General Assembly, where each member state received one vote. The major difference between the League Assembly and the General Assembly of the United Nations was in voting procedures. While the League Assembly had to pass resolutions unanimously, the new General Assembly of the United Nations can pass most policies by a simple majority vote (a few select have to be passed with a two-thirds vote).

Setting up a Charter for the United Nations

The Charter of the United Nations is basically a constitution for the U.N. It consist of 19 chapters and discusses the purpose, structure, and functions of the organization. It’s binding on all member states. All signatories have to agree to

• Equality of all states, regardless of size, military, or economic might
• Respect for international law and renunciation of force to gain territory
• Maintenance of international peace and security
• Development of friendly relations among states
• Respect of equal rights and self-determination of people
• Promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms
• A belief in equal and fundamental rights of all individuals

At the same time, signatories also have to fulfill obligations. These include

• An obligation to enforce the charter by refusing aid to any state that is violating it
• An obligation to settle all international disputes peacefully and not to use force
• The renunciation of the use of force to gain territory from another sovereign state
• Noninterference in a state’s domestic affairs except if allowed by the United Nations

To see the full Charter of the United Nations, check out www.un.org/en/charter-united-nations.

Looking at the six structures of the United Nations

The Charter of the United Nations (see previous section) outlines the structure of the United Nations. According to it, the United Nations consists of six different structures or organs. The following sections outline those structures.

The Security Council

The Security Council is the most powerful of the six structures making up the United Nations.. It was specifically established to maintain peace throughout the world and only it is able to punish aggression and mediate conflict.

The Security Council deals with any threat to peace. This can be open warfare between states or conflict within a state. Today, the Security Council also acts in cases of domestic oppression, human rights violations, and genocide.

Only the Security Council can recommend the use of force to punish aggression or vote to send peacekeepers to hostile parts of the world (for more on peacekeepers, see the section “Keeping the peace,” later in this chapter). The use of force is usually a last resort, and the Security Council has rarely given the go-ahead to initiate military force.

CREATING A SECURITY COUNCIL

The Security Council consists of 15 member states. Five are the permanent members of the Security Council — the U.S., Russia, China, France, and Great Britain. They are the only members that have the power of absolute veto, meaning that they can veto any resolution before the Council and thus prevent any kind of action by the Council.

The other ten members rotate on a two-year basis and are picked by the General Assembly. They don’t have the power of veto. The United Nations has placed some geographical limitations on the ten nonpermanent members. Two have to come from Western Europe and one from Eastern Europe. Two member states have to be from Asia and three from Africa. And, finally, two need to come from Latin America.

All resolutions in the Security Council, if no veto has been cast, are passed by a 60 percent majority vote. In other words, 9 out of 15 votes are required to pass any kind of resolution.

All decisions of the Security Council are binding upon all member states of the United Nations. As soon as the Security Council passes a resolution, all 193 U.N. member states are bound by it.

Other functions of the Security Council, besides maintaining world peace, are to elect new member states to the United Nations, to recommend the Secretary General of the United Nations, and to name justices to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The Security Council shares these functions with the General Assembly.

MAINTAINING INTERNATIONAL PEACE

The Security Council has to follow certain steps before it can initiate the use of force against a country violating international peace. These steps are as follows:

1. Investigate the act of aggression.

   The Security Council has to investigate the act of aggression committed. Then it will attempt to get the two sides to the bargaining table.

2. Dispatch peacekeepers to the situation.

   The Security Council can dispatch peacekeepers to observe the situation and maintain peace by creating a buffer zone between the two countries at war.

3. Levy economic and military sanctions.

   If the aggression continues, or peacekeepers are rejected, the Security Council can levy economic and military sanctions against a country. These sanctions are binding, and not one of the member states of the United Nations is allowed to violate them. In the last decades, the U.N. Security Council has imposed sanctions against Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Serbia, and Iran.

4. Enforce trade bans, arms embargos, and military action.

   Subsequent steps include trade bans and arms embargos. If these measures do not work, military action is the final step. The United Nations does not authorize military action often. Examples include Resolution 84, which authorized force against North Korea in 1950, and Resolution 678, which authorized use of force against Iraq in 1990 for invading and annexing Kuwait.

5. Establish tribunals.

   After the conflict is resolved, the U.N. can establish tribunals to try any officials involved in war crimes or crimes committed against humanity. For example, former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic was tried for crimes against humanity (in his case, genocide on Bosnian Muslims).

The General Assembly

Every member country of the General Assembly of the United Nations has one vote. In other words, every country of the 193 member states is equal in the General Assembly. The most powerful country, the U.S., has one vote and so does Liberia in Africa. The General Assembly is divided into six committees, each specializing in a variety of international issues. Similar to the U.S. Congress, the committees of the General Assembly are where most of the work is accomplished. The six committees are

• The First Committee (Disarmament and Security): As the name implies, this committee deals with maintaining international peace and security. For example, it deals with issues such as nuclear proliferation, arms trafficking, and other threats to international security.
• The Second Committee (Economic and Financial): It deals with global economic issues, such as the debt crisis facing the Third World.
• The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural): It deals with social issues such as the rights of women and children, global education, and matters related to the preservation of the cultural heritage of humankind.
• The Fourth Committee (Decolonization): This committee was used to deal with issues involving the decolonization of most of the world. Today, with most colonies having become sovereign states, the name was changed to the Special Political and Decolonization Committee. This committee deals with ad hoc issues such as the state of peacekeeping in Africa.
• The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary): This is the committee of the General Assembly that deals with administrative and budgetary issues facing the United Nations. For example, it draws up the United Nations’ budget.
• The Sixth Committee (Legal): It deals with the creation and promotion of international law. For example, it negotiates new treaties, works to have them ratified by countries, and also updates older treaties.

Each member state is a member of all six committees. The committees study issues, debate them, and finally create resolutions (policy proposals) that are then sent to the floor of the General Assembly for a vote. A simple majority vote is needed for most of these resolutions to pass with the exception of admission of new member states, the U.N. budget, or matters involving international security. These require a two-thirds vote.

Finally, the General Assembly has the power to elect the nonpermanent members of the Security Council and participate in the appointing of judges to the ICJ as well as the selection of the Secretary General of the United Nations.

The International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the third structure making up the United Nations. Many people call it the “World Court,” and it’s located in The Hague in the Netherlands. The Court consists of 15 judges, jointly selected by the Security Council and the General Assembly. The judges serve nine-year terms and can stand for reappointment. Established in 1945, the Court doesn’t deal with many cases, having heard only about 177 of them since its inception. That equals to about two and a half cases a year. The Court’s main functions are to settle legal disputes between U.N. member states and to give advisory opinions on legal questions submitted to it by the United Nations.

Keep in mind that the ICJ is very different from any domestic court. While domestic courts can render legally binding decisions and enforce them, the ICJ can’t. The ICJ differs from domestic courts in the following ways:

• No compulsory jurisdiction exists. The ICJ can’t pick any cases as domestic courts can. For it to be able to rule on a case, both states involved in a dispute have to agree to have the case heard by the Court. In other words, a country can commit an act of aggression and then refuse to have the case heard by the Court.
• It isn’t bound by its previous decisions, whereas U.S. domestic courts are (stare decisis). The ICJ can use the doctrine of “ex aequo et bono,” which means that it can render a judgment on the basis of what is just and fair at the time and doesn’t have to base its decision on precedent.

• The Court’s decisions can’t be enforced and are therefore more advisory in nature. While the Security Council has the legal power to enforce the Court’s decision, one of the permanent members of the Council can veto it.

  In other words, the two parties to a case have to voluntarily agree to not only have the case heard but also abide by the decision. On occasion in the past, more powerful countries have refused to abide by the Court’s ruling after it went against their national interests.

The Economic and Social Council

The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is the fourth structure making up the United Nations. It consists of 54 member countries selected by the General Assembly. Each nation serves a three-year term and then gets replaced with a different country. ECOSOC is in charge of 14 specialized agencies and five regional commissions (one each in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and Western Asia/Middle East), which are the major U.N. forums to discuss international economic, social, and cultural issues. Recent issues ECOSOC has dealt with include elimination of poverty, starvation, women’s rights, human rights, illegal drugs, and education. ECOSOC further initiates studies and organizes international conferences to discuss these issues globally.

Today, ECOSOC has become a major part of the United Nations discussing important issues of the day and passing policy proposals (resolutions) on them. Each resolution passed goes to the General Assembly for discussion. In other words, ECOSOC can only recommend policies to the General Assembly and not make policy itself.

The Secretariat and the Secretary General

The Secretariat is the fifth structure and is the United Nations bureaucracy. It administers all U.N. programs and monitors the various agencies attached to the United Nations. It provides basic services such as translating speeches and documents and organizing international conferences. It further serves as the body’s research organization, compiling social and economic data and preparing reports for the United Nations to use. Finally, the Secretariat is also the United Nations media and information center. It publishes reports and books and maintains the organization’s website.

The Secretary General heads the Secretariat and is the agency’s top administrator. The Secretary General is in charge of the United Nations budget and is required to present an annual report to all members on the state of the United Nations. The Secretary General is also considered the world’s top diplomat, traveling the globe and providing assistance in settling disputes peacefully. The United Nations has had nine Secretary Generals. The current (2020) Secretary General is Antonio Guterres from Portugal, who is serving his first term.

The Trusteeship Council

The Trusteeship Council is the final structure of the United Nations. It was created to administer former colonial holdings and transition them to independence. The last trust territory was Palau, which received independence in 1994. Since then, the operations of the Trusteeship Council have been suspended; however, the General Assembly or Security Council can call the Trusteeship Council back into session at any time.

Budgeting for an international organization

The budget of the United Nations for the fiscal year 2018–2019 was $5.4 billion with an additional $6.5 billion for peacekeeping missions (the budget excludes funding for other organizations attached to the United Nations such as the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Program, and the World Food Program). The United Nations is funded by its 193 members, using a formula based on a country’s gross national product (GNP), external debt, and per capita income. The formula creates percentage shares per country, ranging from 22 percent to 0.001 percent, and is reviewed every three years. Currently, based on the formula, the United States has to pay 22 percent of the United Nations’ budget. China ranks second with 12 percent. The top 20 economies in the world pay about 84 percent of the United Nations’ budget. The other 173 countries pay only 16 percent of the budget.

Keeping the peace

Peacekeeping has become the most visible and the most expensive function of the United Nations today. In 2019, 97,509 peacekeepers served in 13 countries at a cost of $6.69 billion. Since the first peacekeeping operation in 1948, which was put into place to supervise the cease-fire between the newly created state of Israel and the surrounding Arab states, there have been 71 peacekeeping missions with 13 still ongoing. More than 130 nations have contributed troops to United Nations peacekeeping missions, and more than 1 million men and women have served as peacekeepers. Sadly, 3,892 of them were killed while serving.

Peacekeeping

The United Nations defines peacekeeping as “a unique and dynamic instrument developed by the Organization as a way to help countries torn by conflict create the conditions for lasting peace.” Functions of peacekeeping include not just negotiating cease-fires to end conflicts but also making sure that no new conflicts arise.

Peacekeepers monitor and observe the peace established between countries, assist in implementing peace agreements, and often serve as a buffer zone between two hostile countries.

Peacekeeping forces are divided into two categories. First, there are observers. These peacekeepers don’t carry any weapons and monitor only cease-fires or peace agreements between nations. Second, there are the peacekeepers. They are lightly armed, and they have the right to defend themselves if attacked.

Peacekeepers can be deployed in a conflict between two countries only if both countries agree to the deployment. In other words, consent has to be given by both countries. If one country changes its mind, peacekeepers have to be withdrawn right away.

Peacemaking

In the 1990s, a new function for peacekeepers was created. With interstate warfare becoming less common, more and more conflict arose within countries. This change in international violence resulted in a new task for peacekeepers, referred to as peacemaking. Today, peacemaking has overtaken peacekeeping as the major function of the United Nations.

How does peacemaking differ from peacekeeping? While traditional peacekeeping involves maintaining the peace between two countries, peacemaking involves creating and maintaining peace within a country. Peacemaking often involves state building or even state rebuilding. After a state has fallen apart due to civil strife, peacemakers come in to rebuild it. Peacemakers aren’t always trained soldiers, and their functions involve police functions (restoring law and order), monitoring elections, rebuilding an infrastructure, creating an educational structure, and establishing medical services. Peacemakers often are police officers, engineers, medical doctors, teachers, and academics.

Approving peacekeeping and peacemaking operations

According to the Charter of the United Nations, the Security Council has to authorize the use of peacekeepers and peacemakers. To use peacekeepers and/or peacemakers, the following steps have to be taken. First, the Security Council approves the use of peacekeepers and peacemakers. Next, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations plans for the deployment of U.N. forces. It asks for contributions of troops from member states (the U.N. doesn’t possess an independent military force) and then puts the force together. Usually, the country that supplies the most troops gets to name the commander of the force.

Today, peacekeeping has become big business for many third-world countries. The United Nations pays $1,410 daily for every soldier who is used as a peacekeeper. Many third-world countries have taken advantage of this and are contributing thousands of ill-equipped and untrained soldiers to make millions in profit.

On rare occasions, the United Nations will contract with an outside force to function as a peacekeeper/peacemaker. The U.N. has used NATO in the former Yugoslavia and Afghanistan for this purpose.

Guaranteeing human rights

Human rights are commonly defined as rights essential to human beings. Without human rights, human beings can’t fully develop and reach human potential. Human rights are rights possessed by all individuals by virtue of being human, regardless of their status as citizens of particular states or members of a group or organization.

Human rights can be classified into three categories. These are usually labeled first-, second-, and third-generation human rights.

Since 1948, the United Nations has been working on the three categories of human rights. It started with first-generation human rights and then slowly moved to second- and third-generation rights. The most important covenants or treaties in regard to human rights are in the next sections.

First-generation human rights

First-generation human rights refer to civil and political rights. The Constitution of the United States guarantees many of these rights. Examples are first amendment rights, such as freedom of speech, assembly, press, and religion. Also included are equality before the law, a right to impartial trials, and prohibition from arbitrary arrests.

Political rights include the right to contribute to policy making through free electoral participation and rights associated with the rule of law.

Finally, general rights of every human being are included — such as, prohibition on slavery, torture, and other forms of cruel and unusual punishment.

Second-generation human rights

Second-generation human rights are usually economic rights. Examples are the right to food and shelter as well as the right to an adequate standard of living and protection against unemployment.

Further economic rights include the right to join unions and a guarantee of welfare benefits such as social security.

Third-generation human rights

The third category of human rights refers to social and cultural rights, such as the right to an education, the right to peaceful development, the right to self-determination, cultural diversity, the protection of minority cultures, and the right to live in a healthy environment. For example, the right not to live in a heavily polluted area is a third-generation human right.

Setting up the International Bill of Human Rights

The International Bill of Human Rights consists of the three most important pieces of international legislation in regard to human rights. They are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (1966).

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

The most comprehensive definition of what human rights actually entail was given to us on December 10, 1948, when the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

After World War II had ended, the international community was shocked by the atrocities committed during the war. The United Nations decided that human life had to be protected and human rights mattered. For this reason, the United Nations created the Human Rights Commission in 1947. It was chaired by former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (see Figure 10-2).

Source: Eleanor Roosevelt with Harry Truman/Getty images

FIGURE 10-2: Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt reporting to Pres. Harry Truman on her trip to Geneva as a representative of the U.N. Human Rights Commission.

Under Eleanor Roosevelt’s able leadership, the commission created the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, or UDHR. International experts on human rights from all over the world and belonging to many different religions came together to work on the declaration. The committee decided that human rights were indivisible and that all the rights listed in the UDHR were linked to each other.

The UDHR lists basic principles, such as dignity, liberty, and equality in the first two articles, while the latter articles address issues such as political, economic, cultural, and social rights.

All signatories agreed that human rights were guaranteed in their respective countries.

Like all other United Nations General Assembly resolutions, the UDHR wasn’t binding on any nation in the world but just a recommendation on how to treat human beings. For this reason, the United Nations decided to turn it into international law through a series of treaties, binding on all signatories. These treaties created the International Bill of Human Rights.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is a multilateral treaty passed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1966. It went into force in 1976. The treaty mandates that all signatories guarantee civil and political rights of individuals. Examples include freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion. In addition, the right to due process and fair trial are included. The final right is the right to be able to participate in policy making through free electoral processes. As of 2019, 173 nations have signed and ratified the treaty. Twenty nations, including, Cuba, China, and Saudi Arabia, have not yet ratified the treaty.

The International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)

The same year, 1966, the United Nations also passed the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). It also came into force in 1976.

All signatories to the treaty have to provide their citizens with economic, social, and cultural rights. Examples include the right to unionize, the right to receive an adequate education, and the right to an adequate standard of living. Therefore, the treaty deals with second- and third-generation human rights.

As of 2018, 169 countries have signed and ratified the treaty. The U.S. hasn’t ratified the ICESCR because it believes that second- and third-generation human rights aren’t inherent rights of people but rather desirable social goals, which have to be implemented by respective states, with America’s help if so desired.

Today, most countries agree on first-generation human rights; however, there’s a split in the international community on whether second- and third-generation human rights are actual rights or desirable social goals.