The laws, rulings and determinations our stories apply. Click any one to see every story that cites it. Each state’s party status is checked for every story; signature is not ratification.
Core Treaties - Civil & Political
ICCPR (1966) — Binding UN treaty (1966) obliging its states parties to respect and ensure civil and political rights, including life, freedom from torture, liberty, privacy, expression, assembly, association and equality before the law. Together with the ICESCR it gives binding form to most of the UDHR's rights. The Covenant binds states; it does not itself create individual criminal liability.
ICCPR Article 6 – Right to Life — Article 6 protects the inherent right to life. No one may be arbitrarily deprived of life, and states that retain the death penalty may impose it only for the most serious crimes. "Arbitrary" deprivation includes extrajudicial killings and unlawful use of force, and states must also protect life from foreseeable threats.
ICCPR Article 7 – Prohibition of Torture — Article 7 prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including medical or scientific experimentation without free consent. The prohibition is non-derogable under Article 4(2): no state of emergency or war justifies it.
ICCPR Article 9 – Liberty and Security of Person — Article 9 guarantees liberty and security of person. It bars arbitrary arrest or detention; anyone detained must be told the reasons, brought promptly before a judge, and able to challenge the detention in court. "Arbitrary" covers detention that is unjust, unpredictable or disproportionate, not only detention that is unlawful under domestic law. It is the legal basis HRN cites for detention without charge or trial.
ICCPR Article 17 – Privacy — Article 17 protects everyone from arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy, family, home or correspondence, and from unlawful attacks on honour and reputation. It is a core legal basis for challenging state surveillance: interference must be lawful, pursue a legitimate aim, and be necessary and proportionate.
ICCPR Article 19 – Freedom of Expression — Article 19 protects the right to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, through any media. Restrictions must be provided by law and necessary to protect the rights or reputations of others, national security, public order, or public health or morals.
ICCPR Article 21 – Freedom of Assembly — Article 21 recognises the right of peaceful assembly. Restrictions must be imposed in conformity with the law and be necessary in a democratic society for national security, public safety, public order, public health or morals, or the rights and freedoms of others.
ICCPR Article 22 – Freedom of Association — Article 22 protects freedom of association, including the right to form and join trade unions, political parties and other organisations. Restrictions must be prescribed by law and necessary in a democratic society for national security, public safety, public order, public health or morals, or the rights and freedoms of others.
ICCPR Article 26 – Equality Before Law — Article 26 provides that everyone is equal before the law and entitled to its equal protection without discrimination on any ground, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. It is a free-standing guarantee that applies to all laws, broader than Article 2.
Core Treaties - Economic, Social & Cultural
ICESCR (1966) — Binding UN treaty (1966) on economic, social and cultural rights, including work, trade unions, social security, an adequate standard of living, health and education. States parties must take steps to realise these rights progressively, using the maximum of their available resources, and without discrimination.
ICESCR Article 1 – Self-Determination — Article 1, common to both Covenants, provides that all peoples have the right of self-determination: freely to determine their political status, pursue their economic, social and cultural development, and dispose of their natural wealth and resources. In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.
ICESCR Article 8 – Trade Union Rights — Article 8 protects the right to form and join trade unions, the right of unions to function freely, and the right to strike, exercised in conformity with the laws of the country. These rights let workers bargain collectively for fair wages and conditions.
ICESCR Article 11 – Adequate Standard of Living — Article 11 recognises the right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and the fundamental right to be free from hunger. States must take steps to realise it progressively; deliberately retrogressive measures, such as forced evictions or cutting food programmes, require full justification. It is the legal anchor for claims on forced evictions and denial of food.
ICESCR Article 12 – Right to Health — Article 12 recognises the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. It is not a right to be healthy, but to health care and the underlying conditions of health. States must take steps including reducing infant mortality, improving environmental hygiene, controlling disease and assuring medical care for all.
ICESCR Article 13 – Right to Education — Article 13 recognises the right to education directed at the full development of the human personality. Primary education must be compulsory and free to all; secondary and higher education must be made progressively accessible, including by the progressive introduction of free education.
Core Treaties - Discrimination & Protection
ICERD (1965) – Racial Discrimination — Binding UN treaty (1965) requiring its states parties to eliminate racial discrimination, meaning distinctions based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin, and to guarantee everyone equality before the law. Article 3 requires states to condemn racial segregation and apartheid and to prevent, prohibit and eradicate them in territories under their jurisdiction.
ICERD Article 3 – Segregation & Apartheid Prohibition — Under Article 3, states parties condemn racial segregation and apartheid and must prevent, prohibit and eradicate both in territories under their jurisdiction. The article does not distinguish between them. In its advisory opinion of 19 July 2024, the ICJ found that Israel's measures in the occupied Palestinian territory breach Article 3, without specifying whether as segregation or apartheid.
CEDAW (1979) – Women's Rights — Binding UN treaty (1979) requiring its states parties to eliminate discrimination against women in political, public, economic, social, cultural and family life, including through legal reform and temporary special measures. It covers discrimination in law and in practice, by public authorities and, through state duties, by private actors.
CRC (1989) – Children's Rights — Binding UN treaty (1989) setting out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of every child, generally anyone under 18. It recognises children as rights-holders, and the child's best interests must be a primary consideration in all actions concerning children.
CAT (1984) – Against Torture — Binding UN treaty (1984) defining torture and requiring its states parties to prevent, criminalise and investigate it, and to prosecute or extradite suspects. No exceptional circumstance, whether war, threat of war or public emergency, justifies torture, and no one may be returned to a state where they face a real risk of it (non-refoulement).
ICPPED (2006) – Enforced Disappearance — Binding UN treaty (2006) prohibiting enforced disappearance without exception and requiring its states parties to criminalise and investigate it. Its widespread or systematic practice is a crime against humanity (Art. 5). Victims, including the families of the disappeared, have a right to the truth.
International Humanitarian Law
Geneva Conventions (1949) — Four binding 1949 treaties protecting people not or no longer fighting: wounded and sick soldiers on land and at sea, prisoners of war, and civilians. Grave breaches must be prosecuted or the suspect handed over to another party for trial.
Common Article 1 – Ensure Respect — Common Article 1 obliges every party to respect and to ensure respect for the Geneva Conventions in all circumstances. The obligation runs to all states parties, not only those in a conflict; the ICRC reads it as requiring states to use their influence to stop violations by others.
Common Article 3 – Non-International Conflicts — Common Article 3 sets minimum protections in armed conflicts not of an international character: humane treatment for those not fighting, and a ban on murder, torture, hostage-taking, humiliating treatment and executions without fair trial. The wounded and sick must be collected and cared for. Serious violations are war crimes under Rome Statute Art. 8(2)(c).
Geneva IV – Protection of Civilians — The 1949 convention protecting civilians in the hands of a party to a conflict or an occupying power. Article 2 governs when it applies, including to occupation, and Articles 47-78 set the occupier's duties toward the population. It prohibits collective punishment, forcible transfer and deportation, and destruction of property not absolutely necessary for military operations. Grave breaches (Art. 147) are war crimes.
Geneva IV Article 33 – Collective Punishment Prohibition — Article 33 prohibits collective penalties and all measures of intimidation or terrorism against protected persons: no one may be punished for an offence they did not personally commit. It also prohibits pillage and reprisals against protected persons and their property. It applies to protected persons in armed conflict or occupation.
Geneva IV Article 49 – Deportation/Transfer Prohibition — Article 49 prohibits individual or mass forcible transfers and deportations of protected persons from occupied territory. Article 49(6) bars an occupying power from transferring parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies; doing so, directly or indirectly, is a war crime under Rome Statute Article 8(2)(b)(viii).
Protocol I (1977) – International Conflicts — 1977 treaty supplementing the Geneva Conventions in international armed conflicts, including wars of national liberation (Art. 1(4)). It codifies distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack, and protects objects indispensable to civilian survival. It binds the states that are party to it; many of its rules also bind every state as customary law.
Protocol II (1977) – Non-International Conflicts — 1977 treaty extending protections in non-international armed conflicts between a state's forces and organised armed groups under responsible command that control part of its territory (Art. 1). It guarantees humane treatment and protects civilians and objects indispensable to their survival.
Customary IHL (ICRC) — Customary rules of armed conflict bind every party, including states not party to the relevant treaties and organised armed groups, because they rest on settled state practice and legal conviction (opinio juris). The ICRC's 2005 study identifies 161 such rules and their sources. They matter most in non-international armed conflicts, where treaty law is limited.
International Criminal Law
Rome Statute (1998) — Treaty (1998) founding the International Criminal Court, the first permanent international court with jurisdiction over individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression. The Court acts only where national courts are unwilling or unable genuinely to prosecute (complementarity, Art. 17).
Rome Statute Article 6 – Genocide — Article 6 defines genocide: acts such as killing or causing serious harm, committed with intent to destroy a national, ethnical, racial or religious group in whole or in part. It mirrors Genocide Convention Article II. Genocide is a distinct crime, separate from crimes against humanity.
Rome Statute Article 7 – Crimes Against Humanity — Article 7 defines crimes against humanity: acts such as murder, extermination, deportation, torture, persecution and apartheid, committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack. They can be committed in peace or war, and do not require intent to destroy a group.
Rome Statute Article 7(1)(d) – Deportation/Forcible Transfer — Article 7(1)(d) makes deportation or forcible transfer of population a crime against humanity: forced displacement, by expulsion or other coercive acts, from an area where people are lawfully present, without grounds permitted under international law. Deportation crosses a state border; forcible transfer takes place within one. "Ethnic cleansing" is not itself a crime under international law; this is one of the Rome Statute crimes HRN names instead.
Rome Statute Article 7(1)(j) – Apartheid — Article 7(1)(j) makes apartheid a crime against humanity: inhumane acts committed within an institutionalised regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over another, with intent to maintain that regime (Art. 7(2)(h)). Determinations that a particular system amounts to apartheid are attributed to the body that made them; see HRN's rulings pages.
Rome Statute Article 8 – War Crimes — Article 8 defines war crimes: grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and other serious violations of the laws of war, listed for international armed conflicts (Art. 8(2)(a)-(b)) and non-international armed conflicts (Art. 8(2)(c)-(e)). The provision cited must match the conflict type.
Rome Statute Article 8(2)(b)(xxv) / 8(2)(e)(xix) – Starvation as Weapon — Intentionally starving civilians as a method of warfare, by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including wilfully impeding relief supplies, is a war crime: Art. 8(2)(b)(xxv) in international armed conflicts; Art. 8(2)(e)(xix), added in 2019, in non-international armed conflicts, for the States Parties that have ratified that amendment.
Rome Statute Article 25 – Individual Criminal Responsibility — The ICC tries natural persons only. Under Article 25, a person is criminally responsible for committing, ordering, soliciting, inducing, aiding or abetting a crime, contributing to a group crime, or directly and publicly inciting genocide. Official capacity is no defence (Art. 27), and superior orders are a defence only in narrow circumstances and never for genocide or crimes against humanity (Art. 33).
Rome Statute Article 28 – Command Responsibility — Military commanders and civilian superiors are criminally responsible for crimes by subordinates under their effective control that they knew of, or culpably failed to know of, and did not prevent, repress or refer for prosecution.
Rome Statute Article 86 – State Obligation to Cooperate — States Parties must cooperate fully with the ICC's investigations and prosecutions, including arresting and surrendering people subject to its warrants (Arts. 89, 92). The Court has no police force of its own, so its warrants depend on states to execute them.
Genocide Convention (1948) — Binding treaty (1948) defining genocide as acts intended to destroy a protected group in whole or in part. Genocide is a crime whether committed in peace or war, and parties must prevent and punish it (Art. I), including conspiracy, incitement, attempt and complicity (Art. III). Disputes between parties over the Convention can be brought to the ICJ (Art. IX).
Climate & Environmental Law
Paris Agreement (2015) — Binding climate treaty (2015). Parties must prepare, communicate and pursue successive nationally determined contributions toward holding warming well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C, which the ICJ called the parties' primary agreed temperature goal (23 July 2025). It binds only its parties.
Paris Agreement Article 2 – Well Below 2°C, Pursuing 1.5°C — Article 2 sets the goal of holding warming well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. The ICJ found that 1.5°C is the parties' primary agreed temperature goal (advisory opinion, 23 July 2025).
UNFCCC (1992) – Framework Convention — Binding framework treaty (1992) aiming to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations at a level preventing dangerous human interference with the climate system, under common but differentiated responsibilities. It is the parent treaty of the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement.
Escazú Agreement (2018) – Environmental Democracy — Binding Latin American and Caribbean treaty (2018, in force 2021) guaranteeing access to environmental information, public participation and justice, with specific protections for environmental human rights defenders (Art. 9). It binds only the states that are party to it.
Ecocide – Proposed Crime, Not in Force — A proposed international crime, not in force. Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa proposed adding it to the Rome Statute in September 2024, drawing on the 2021 Independent Expert Panel definition: unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment. The amendment has not been adopted. HRN's Climate Ecocide classification applies this proposed definition and states that it is not law.
Court Determinations - ICJ
Palestine Advisory Opinion (July 2024) — ICJ advisory opinion (19 July 2024): Israel's continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful and must end as rapidly as possible; all states must not recognise it or aid or assist in maintaining it. An advisory opinion is not binding as such, but it states the law, and the obligations it identifies bind. The Court also found that Israel's legislation and measures breach ICERD Article 3, which prohibits racial segregation and apartheid, without specifying which.
South Africa v Israel (ICJ, Jan 2024) – Provisional Measures — ICJ order (26 January 2024): the Court found the rights claimed by South Africa under the Genocide Convention plausible and ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent acts within Genocide Convention Article II, to prevent and punish incitement, and to enable humanitarian assistance. Provisional measures establish that the claimed rights are plausible and at risk of irreparable prejudice; they are not a finding that genocide is plausible or that it occurred.
Climate Obligations Advisory (July 2025) — ICJ advisory opinion (23 July 2025, unanimous): states have binding climate obligations under treaties, custom and human rights law, owing due diligence; breaches, including through fossil fuel subsidies or licensing, can engage state responsibility. The Court found that 1.5°C is the primary temperature goal agreed under the Paris Agreement.
Court Determinations - ICC Warrants
Netanyahu ICC Warrant (Nov 2024) — ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I issued a warrant on 21 November 2024 for Benjamin Netanyahu, stating reasonable grounds to believe he bears criminal responsibility for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and intentionally directing attacks against civilians, and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts. A warrant is not a finding of guilt. States Parties are obliged to cooperate with the Court, including on arrest and surrender (Arts. 86, 89).
Gallant ICC Warrant (Nov 2024) — ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I issued a warrant on 21 November 2024 for Yoav Gallant, Israel's defence minister during the period concerned, stating reasonable grounds to believe he bears criminal responsibility for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and intentionally directing attacks against civilians, and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts. A warrant is not a finding of guilt.
Putin ICC Warrant (Mar 2023) — ICC warrant issued 17 March 2023 for Vladimir Putin for the war crimes of unlawful deportation and unlawful transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (Arts. 8(2)(a)(vii), 8(2)(b)(viii)). A warrant is not a finding of guilt. On 24 October 2024 the ICC found that Mongolia had failed to comply with its obligation to arrest him during his September 2024 visit and referred the matter to the Assembly of States Parties.
NGO Determinations (Not Court Rulings)
Amnesty International – Israel Apartheid (2022) — Amnesty International determined (1 February 2022) that Israel's system of oppression and domination over Palestinians amounts to apartheid, a crime against humanity. Amnesty found the system operates wherever Israel exercises control over Palestinians' rights: in Israel, in the occupied Palestinian territory, and over Palestinian refugees. This is an NGO determination, not a court ruling. Amnesty called on the ICC to consider the crime of apartheid in its investigation and on states to apply targeted sanctions.
Human Rights Watch – Israel Apartheid (2021) — Human Rights Watch determined (27 April 2021), in its report A Threshold Crossed, that Israeli authorities are committing the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution against Palestinians. HRW based its determination on the Apartheid Convention (1973) and the Rome Statute (1998), examining laws, policies and statements by officials. This is an NGO determination, not a court ruling.
B'Tselem – Israeli Apartheid Regime (2021) — B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights organisation, determined (12 January 2021) that Israel maintains a single regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea that constitutes apartheid. B'Tselem analysed the whole area as one political unit rather than as a democracy plus a temporary occupation. This is an NGO determination, not a court ruling.
Occupied Territories (Hague Regulations Art. 42)
Palestine: West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem — The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza: occupied Palestinian territory, under Israeli occupation since 1967 (occupation defined by Hague Regulations 1907 Art. 42). The ICJ found Israel's continued presence unlawful (19 July 2024) and that it must end as rapidly as possible. Authorities for the designation: UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 2334 and the ICJ advisory opinion.
Syria: Golan Heights — Golan Heights, Syria (under Israeli occupation since 1967). UN Security Council Resolution 497 (1981) declared Israel's purported annexation null and void and without international legal effect.
Ukraine: Crimea — Crimea, Ukraine (under Russian occupation since 2014). UN General Assembly Resolution 68/262 (27 March 2014) affirmed Ukraine's territorial integrity, held the referendum invalid and called on states not to recognise any change in status. Russia's purported annexation is without legal effect.
Cyprus: Northern Cyprus — Northern Cyprus (under Turkish occupation since 1974). Security Council Resolution 541 (1983) declared the Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence legally invalid, called for its withdrawal, and called on states to recognise no Cypriot state other than the Republic of Cyprus.
Western Sahara (UN Non-Self-Governing Territory) — Western Sahara, a UN Non-Self-Governing Territory under Moroccan control since 1975 (described as occupation by the African Union and Human Rights Watch). The ICJ found no tie of territorial sovereignty with Morocco (16 October 1975). The UN lists no administering Power, and the General Assembly treats it as an unresolved question of decolonisation.
UN Charter & Foundation
UN Charter (1945) — The UN's founding treaty (1945). It bars the threat or use of force (Art. 2(4)), establishes sovereign equality and non-intervention, creates the Security Council, General Assembly and ICJ, and gives the Security Council primary responsibility for peace and security. Under Article 103, members' Charter obligations prevail over their conflicting treaty obligations.
UN Charter Article 2(4) – Prohibition of Use of Force — Article 2(4) requires all UN members to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the UN. The exceptions are self-defence against an armed attack (Art. 51) and Security Council authorisation (Chapter VII). The International Law Commission lists the prohibition of aggression among peremptory norms.
UN Charter Article 94 – Compliance with ICJ Rulings — Each UN member undertakes to comply with ICJ decisions in cases to which it is a party. If a party fails to comply, the other may go to the Security Council, which may make recommendations or decide on measures to give effect to the judgment. Article 94 covers contentious cases, not advisory opinions.
UDHR (1948) – Declaration, Not a Treaty — Declaration adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948 setting out fundamental rights for everyone, beginning with the principle that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. It is not itself a treaty; many of its provisions are reflected in binding treaties, such as the ICCPR and ICESCR, and in customary international law.
Emerging Domain Framework Gaps
Space Law – Outer Space Treaty (1967) — Binding treaty (1967): outer space is free for exploration and use by all states and is the province of all mankind; it is not subject to national appropriation. Nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction are banned from orbit, and military bases and weapons testing are banned on celestial bodies. States answer for national activities in space, including private ones.
AI/Algorithmic Systems – No Binding Global Framework — No binding global AI treaty exists. ICCPR Arts. 17, 19 and 26 bind the states that use AI. The Council of Europe Framework Convention on AI (opened for signature 5 September 2024) binds only the states that ratify it and excludes national security; the EU AI Act is regional. Algorithmic discrimination is largely legally untested, and no treaty bans autonomous weapons.
Biotech/Genetic – Cartagena Protocol (2000) — Binding protocol (2000, in force 11 September 2003) to the Convention on Biological Diversity governing cross-border movement of living modified organisms, including advance informed agreement before their first intentional import. It allows importing parties to take precautionary decisions where scientific certainty is lacking. It binds only its parties.
Neural/Consciousness – No Binding Neurorights Framework — No binding international instrument specifically protects brain data or mental privacy; ICCPR Arts. 17 (privacy) and 18 (freedom of thought) apply. Chile amended its constitution in 2021, and UNESCO adopted a non-binding Recommendation on the Ethics of Neurotechnology on 12 November 2025.
Digital Platforms – No Binding Global Accountability — No binding global framework holds digital platforms to account; human rights duties fall on states (ICCPR Arts. 17, 19). Companies are measured against the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which are not binding. The EU's Digital Services and Digital Markets Acts are regional, and the 2024 Global Digital Compact is non-binding.
Specialized Treaties & Standards
UNDRIP (2007) – Indigenous Peoples (Non-Binding) — UN General Assembly declaration (13 September 2007) setting out Indigenous peoples' collective and individual rights, including self-determination, lands and resources, and free, prior and informed consent. It is not a treaty and is not itself binding; binding obligations on these issues come from treaties such as ILO Convention 169 and the human rights covenants, for the states party to them.
ILO Convention 169 – Indigenous and Tribal — Binding ILO treaty (1989) on Indigenous and tribal peoples' rights. States must consult them in good faith, through their own institutions, with the objective of achieving agreement or consent (Art. 6), and must protect their lands. It requires free and informed consent explicitly for relocation (Art. 16). It binds only the states that ratify it.
UN Guiding Principles on Business & HR (2011) – Soft Law — Soft-law standard endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council (16 June 2011) resting on three pillars: the state duty to protect against business-related human rights abuse, the business responsibility to respect rights through due diligence, and access to remedy. It is not a treaty and companies are not parties to it; it is the standard HRN uses to assess corporate conduct.
Arms Trade Treaty (2013) — Binding treaty (2013, in force 24 December 2014) regulating international transfers of conventional arms. It prohibits transfers a state party knows would be used for genocide, crimes against humanity or specified war crimes (Art. 6), and requires a risk assessment for other exports (Art. 7). It binds only its parties.
Convention on Cluster Munitions (2008) — Binding treaty (2008, in force 1 August 2010) banning the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions, and requiring stockpile destruction, clearance of contaminated land and assistance to victims. It binds only its parties. Submunitions that fail to explode can kill and maim civilians long after use.
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