The cornerstone of contemporary human rights law is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 10 December 1948. The Universal Declaration was complemented, some eighteen years later, by three international treaties, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. A Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1989, and came into force on 11 July 1991. Collectively, the five instruments comprise what is termed the ‘International Bill of Rights’.

Although the Universal Declaration is not a binding treaty, it has played a seminal role not only in the United Nations system but also in the regional systems for the protection of human rights. The Universal Declaration is often cited, at least in part, as a statement or codification of customary international law, or as an authoritative interpretation of the human rights clauses in the Charter of the United Nations. According to the International Court of Justice, ‘General Assembly resolutions, even if they are not binding, may sometimes have normative value. They can, in certain circumstances, provide evidence important for establishing the existence of a rule or the emergence of an opinio juris.