Global Agreements on Human Rights, Environment and Development,
Reproductive Health and Gender Equality Human Rights Treaties
The international consensus agreements of the 1990s, themselves
advisory rather than binding, are grounded in legally binding
human rights treaties: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(adopted in 1948); the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (which entered into force in 1976); the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(1976); the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women of (1981); and the Convention on
the Rights of the Child (1990). All member states accede to the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which affirms, "All human
beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." The
Declaration also refers to "the dignity and worth of the human
person and … the equal rights of men and women."1 About two
dozen specific rights are named, from the right to life,
liberty, and security of person through