The rights in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights were codified into two separate

conventions, this piece of writing aims to discuss why that is. It’ll give an insight on all three
treaties, them dive into the reasons as to why the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights are separate.

The International Bill of Human Rights consists of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR), The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its optional Protocol, and
The International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. First in 1948 came the
UDHR, which serves to define the basic human rights and freedoms to which all individuals are
entitled. A declaration is not a legally binding document, however. For the rights defined in a
declaration to have full legal force, they must be written into documents called conventions (also
referred to as treaties or covenants), which set international norms and standards. When a
government signs a convention, it becomes legally bound to uphold those standards.1

Once the UDHR was drafted and adopted by the UN General Assembly, work began to codify
the rights it contained into a convention. For political and procedural reasons, these rights were
divided between two separate covenants, each addressing different categories of rights. The
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) articulates the specific, liberty-
oriented rights that a state may not take from its citizens, such as freedom of expression and
freedom of movement. The International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR) addresses those articles in the UDHR that define an individual’s rights to basic
necessities, such as food, housing, and health care, which a state should provide for its citizens,
in so far as it is able. Both covenants were adopted by the UN in 1966.2

The major reasons for drafting two separate treaties, the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (ICESCR), there were various reasons for drafting two separate treaties instead of one
document, the following are some of those.

Firstly, Cold War politics, the United States and other Western countries wanted to prioritize civil
and political rights, while Soviet and Eastern European countries emphasized economic, social,

1
1. United Nations General Assembly. (1966, December 16). International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/human-rights/The-
Universal-Declaration-of-Human-Rights
2
ibid

1
and cultural rights. Separating the treaties allowed both sides to focus on their preferred areas.
Secondly, different nature of rights, civil and political rights were seen as more immediate and
enforceable, while economic, social, and cultural rights were considered more aspirational and
dependent on resource availability. Separating the treaties acknowledged these differences. 3

The third was the Implementation and monitoring, having two treaties allowed for separate
monitoring and implementation mechanisms, reflecting the different approaches required for
each set of rights. The fourth was the state commitments, by drafting two treaties, states could
commit to the rights that were more acceptable to them, without being obligated to ratify the
other treaty and finally, practical considerations, the sheer number of rights and the complexity
of the issues made it difficult to consolidate them into a single treaty. Splitting them into two
treaties made the negotiation and ratification process more manageable.4

These reasons led to the creation of two distinct treaties, each with its own strengths and
weaknesses, but together providing a comprehensive framework for human rights protection
Universal Declaration of Human Rights(UDHR) was adopted on 10 th of December 1948 by
General Assembly resolution 217(III). It includes civil and political rights, economic, social,
cultural and group rights. There are quests to transform the declaration to legally binding
documents, United Nations eventually adopted the two covenants, that is International covenant
on civil and political rights (ICCPR) and International covenant on economic, social and cultural
rights (ICESCR) in two separate instruments.5

The reason for the separate covenants was clearer in different arguments by scholars. In the
course of two streams of arguments on whether economic and social rights received United
States and western allies support or not was highly polarized that US and Western allies
advocated for two separate documents while the desire for single document for both economic
and political rights were from USSR and developing counties and when there was need for
agreement on both sides during the cold war, US therefore advocated for ‘signature of two
3
Lawteacher. Net. (2019, July 2019). The Two UN Covenants on Human Rights . Retrieved
from https://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/international-law/the-two-un-covenants-on-
human-rights-international-law-essay.php
4
1. United Nations General Assembly. (1966, December 16). International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Retrieved from https://www.chegg.com/homework-
help/questions-and-answers/question-54-05-pts-states-write-two-separate-treaties-
translating-udhr-hard-international--q63816062#:~:text=Question%3A%20Question
%2054%200.5%20pts,treaty%20to%20be%20soft%20law.
5
ibid

2
separate covenants to allay many fear that division of the Covenant might prioritize civil and
political rights over economic, social and cultural rights.’ Indicates that many countries were
against proliferation of the covenants while US and allies supported the separation because a
single document was then against its capitalist policy, federalism and US stakeholders support 6

The motion was moved by USA and its interest hold sway, the covenants were proliferated. As a
result, human rights were classified into three sub division; the ‘first generation’ rights known as
civil and political rights while the ‘second generation’ rights are economic, social and cultural
rights and ‘group rights’ as ‘third generation rights’. But USA till now has not incorporated the
covenants in its national law. ICCPR and ICESCR will be adumbrated by juxtaposing them with
other bill of rights.7

Preamble of both covenants indicates they are both Civil and Political rights as well as economic,
social and cultural rights. The two covenants are like a coin with two sides. The 1993 Vienna
declaration of programme of action recognised the ‘interdependence’ and interrelationship of
both covenants. Both covenants contribute to the erga omnes principle and care must be taken
trying to classify rights into ‘superior’ or ‘inferior’, in hierarchical terms so as not to affect the
credibility of human rights.

Both covenant codified in treaty form the rights in UDHR. Parties can not terminates both
covenants once ratified, it is an obligation that can not be denounced because they have no
temporary nature. Both covenants believe in ‘collective right to self determination’, the right
allows ‘all people to freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic,
social and cultural development’ and both instruments are legally binding and they are treaties
that must be respected. Both instruments copied copiously from UDHR and both rights are
product of cold war era between USSR and its allies and USA and its allies. Universal language
and terms are in the two covenants,

The UDHR shows the interdependency of the covenants before they were separated and made
binding treaties. The compactness and interdependency still reflects in their articles, for example,

6
United Nations General Assembly. (1948, December 10). Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. Retrieved from http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/edumat/hreduseries/hereandnow/Part-1/from-
concept.htm#:~:text=Once%20the%20UDHR%20was%20drafted,addressing%20different
%20categories%20of%20rights.
7
ibid

3
rights to form Trade Union in ICESCR is recognised as freedom of association by ICCPR,
Article 138 deal with education and liberty of parents to choose school for their children can be
seen in Article 189 right of parents to choose religion and moral education of their child, Article 2
and 2610 deal with prohibition of same discriminationsand both recognise family.

In conclusion, States wanted the rights protected in one treaty to be hard law and the rights
protected in the other treaty to be soft law. Civil and political rights were viewed as too
ambitious to implement, and many states advocated placing them in a separate treaty Some
states did not view many rights guaranteed in the UDHR as universal human rights. The
negotiation over hard international human rights law got caught in the Cold War politics of
the United States and Soviet Union.

8
International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, 1967
9
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1967
10
ibid

4
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

STATUTES

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1967

International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, 1967

WEBSITES

Lawteacher. Net. (2019, July 2019). The Two UN Covenants on Human Rights .
Retrieved from https://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/international-law/the-two-
un-covenants-on-human-rights-international-law-essay.php

United Nations General Assembly. (1966, December 16). International Covenant on

Civil and Political Rights. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/human-
rights/The-Universal-Declaration-of-Human-Rights

United Nations General Assembly. (1966, December 16). International Covenant on

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Retrieved from
https://www.chegg.com/homework-help/questions-and-answers/question-54-05-pts-
states-write-two-separate-treaties-translating-udhr-hard-international--
q63816062#:~:text=Question%3A%20Question%2054%200.5%20pts,treaty%20to
%20be%20soft%20law .

United Nations General Assembly. (1948, December 10). Universal Declaration of

Human Rights. Retrieved from
http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/edumat/hreduseries/hereandnow/Part-1/from-
concept.htm#:~:text=Once%20the%20UDHR%20was%20drafted,addressing
%20different%20categories%20of%20rights .