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Introduction to the United Nations Instruments Type of documents included This section lists by topic the relevant United Nations (UN) instruments dealing with equal employment opportunities for women. These instruments include international conventions or treaties ratified or acceded to by States, as well as resolutions from international organisations. For the purpose of this Chapter, UN instruments means international conventions adopted under the auspices of, and resolutions adopted by, the General Assembly of the UN. The Charter of the United Nations does not fit in this definition, since it was not adopted by the General Assembly. However, it is the convention that created the UN, which explains why it has been included in this Chapter. Distinction between conventions and resolutions According to article 2, paragraph 1(a), of the Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties, a convention is defined as an international agreement concluded between States in written form and governed by international law, whether embodied in a single instrument or in two or more related instruments and whatever its particular designation. A resolution is usually defined as any act adopted by a collective organ of an international organisation. Even though the terminology is not always consistent, resolutions are usually taken to include the recommendations and the decisions adopted by international organisations. A distinction between conventions and resolutions is therefore the following. The former have binding effects on States that ratify or accede to them. This is the case of the Charter of the United Nations, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). It is to be noted that the States signatories of a convention who have not ratified or acceded to it are not legally bound by its provisions. However, a State is obliged to refrain from acts which would defeat the object and purpose of a convention when it has signed it until it has made its intention clear not to become a party to the treaty (Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, article 18). On the other hand, resolutions of the General Assembly are not per se legally binding instruments on the States Members of the United Nations. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a resolution of the General Assembly, adopted on 10 December 1948. Therefore, it is not legally binding in itself. However, it is reasonable to regard it as the codification of existing rules of customary international law. This means that the content of the Declaration is legally binding on States. Mechanisms of implementation of human rights conventions In order to monitor the implementation of Human Rights Conventions, committees were established in the said Conventions (or in a subsequent resolution of the Economic and Social Council in the case of ICESCR):
All these committees are part of the UN system. |
