Introduction

So declares each instrument of the International Bill of Rights: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR),1 the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)2 and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).3 These words, which encapsulate the meaning of human rights both as a philosophical concept and as a legal principle, were penned at a time when human rights abuses could only be perpetrated by the State or by private actors that could be restrained or punished by the State. Thus, while human rights have always been recognised as deriving from the very humanity of every human person, and have always been formulated in terms of the entitlements of the human beings holding the rights, the emphasis for recognising and protecting human rights has traditionally been on States.