On 10th December 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Although not a legally binding instrument per se, the Declaration, in the 70 years of its existence, has both inspired and provided the framework for numerous legally-binding human rights treaties. Moreover, the core of human rights is recognized as customary international law. In legal terms, the world has thus made substantial progress in the sphere of human rights.
On the occasion of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ 70th anniversary, we will explore why, despite this range of compliance mechanisms, fundamental human rights are still not always adhered to. The conference will aim at a dia- logue between members of several monitoring organs and scholars and confront practice with theory and vice versa.