The Human Rights Covenants at 50: Their Past, Present, and Future
Daniel Moeckli, Helen Keller, and Corina Heri
Abstract
Half a century ago, on 16 December 1966, the UN General Assembly adopted the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). While the adoption of the twin Covenants was celebrated all over the world, their fiftieth anniversary has received very little attention from the international community. This book marks this anniversary by taking stock of the first half-century of the existence of what are probably the world’s two most important human rights treaties. It does so by reflecting on what the Coven ... More
Half a century ago, on 16 December 1966, the UN General Assembly adopted the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). While the adoption of the twin Covenants was celebrated all over the world, their fiftieth anniversary has received very little attention from the international community. This book marks this anniversary by taking stock of the first half-century of the existence of what are probably the world’s two most important human rights treaties. It does so by reflecting on what the Covenants have achieved (or failed to achieve) in the years that have passed, determining and comparing their current influence in the various regions of the world, and assessing their potential roles in the future. The book contains papers presented during a symposium held in Zurich in 2016, which brought together experts and stakeholders from a range of disciplines and world regions. Some fundamental issues addressed by the contributors are as old as the two Covenants themselves. They concern, for example, the division of human rights into first- and second-generation rights, and the question of whether there should be one central monitoring body—possibly a world court—or more than just one. Other important questions dealt with are how the Covenants should be interpreted and who is bound by them. However, the contributors go beyond such questions, which have been explored before; they develop new answers to old questions and point to new challenges.
Keywords:
human rights,
human rights Covenants,
ICCPR,
ICESCR,
international law,
interpretation,
influence,
Human Rights Committee,
Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2018 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780198825890 |
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: August 2018 |
DOI:10.1093/oso/9780198825890.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Daniel Moeckli, editor
Assistant Professor of Public International Law and Constitutional Law, University of Zurich
Helen Keller, editor
Professor of Public Law, European and Public International Law and Judge, University of Zurich and the European Court of Human Rights
Corina Heri, editor
Postdoctoral researcher, University of Amsterdam
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