ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the legal instruments that may be used to respond to serious human rights violations during war or political violence, specifically the key rights and obligations established by both international human rights law and international humanitarian law. It presents a comprehensive list of grave breaches can be found among the website sources and includes willful killing, torture, willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, extensive destruction or appropriation of property. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a document that simply asserts rights. It describes the rights vested in all individuals, but is understood to be a declaration and as such is not legally binding, although it is now considered part of customary international law. The chapter focuses on the three documents that comprise the International Bill of Rights — the UDHR, the ICCPR, and the ICESCR — as well as the Genocide and Torture Conventions.
