D espite the diversity of the globes cultures and appropriate reservations made in
international documents to preserve sovereignty, international standards for the
promotion and protection of human rights have been established and accepted--at least
nominally--by sovereign states worldwide. Of course, these supranational standards are
not always met, because regime will still rebuff international standards they see as incon-
venient or illegitimate; insurgencies rarely meet these standards either, because most see
all means as legitimate to their ends. Nevertheless, legitimate governments ¹ have acqui-
esced to these universal standards, even if they do not fully meet them.

This chapter examines the efforts of the international community to expand and
enforce human rights protections at the governmental level.

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T he basis of the UN's support for
human rights lies with three docu-
ments: the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (UDHR, 1948), which is nonbind-
ing, the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights (ICCPR, 1966), and
the International Covenant on Economic,
Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR,
1966). (Both the ICCPR and the ICESCR
are legally binding, entering into force in
1976.) Together, these are informally called
the International Bill of Rights. This
"bill" is reinforced by a provision allowing
individuals to protest against their own

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