Dictionary of Genocide - D Ank Unlimited

INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
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freedom of movement and residence; freedom of expression and opinion; peaceful assembly
and association; and the centrality of family and marriage.
Unfortunately, the reality of the contemporary political world, including both the
United Nations itself and the signatory nations to the ICCPR, is that, despite the force
of international law, the ICCPR has little, if any, impact on the general international
improvement of human rights, most especially in totalitarian nation-states under dictatorial
regimes. The latter is true due to the fact that such nation-states more often than
not ignore pleas from international human rights organizations and the international
community to halt their egregious human rights violations and figure that in the long
run they can do as they wish as few will effectively challenge their actions, let alone
their rule.
International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Similar
to the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the
ICESCR was adopted in 1966 and affirmed in international law in 1976. It, too, recognizes
“the inherent dignity and inalienable rights of all members of the human family” as
“the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world,” but directs its focus on the
three areas of economics, social, and cultural rights. It affirms the rights of workers to
receive a fair wage for their work; the right to establish unions; the right of families, especially
mothers and children, to protection; the right of all human beings to an adequate
standard of living regarding food, clothing, and shelter; freedom from hunger; the right to
both physical and mental health; the importance of access to education; and the rights of
persons to access their cultural heritage and derive benefit from scientific achievements.
Signatory nations are expected, at the invitation of the secretary-general of the United
Nations, to submit reports to the Economic and Social Council of their present achievements
and future goals.
International Covenant on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
(ICEAFRD). Adopted by the United Nations in 1965, the ICEAFRD entered into
the force of international law in 1969. The ICEAFRD resolves “to adopt all necessary
measures for speedily eliminating racial discrimination in all its forms and manifestations,
and to prevent and combat racist doctrines and practices in order to promote
understanding between races and to build an international community free from all
forms of racial segregation and racial discrimination.” Signatory parties are, therefore,
expected to practice no forms of racial discrimination, to encourage other nationstates
to eliminate such discrimination, to condemn such where it exists, and to educate
their own constituencies about discrimination and ways to eliminate such.
International Criminal Court (ICC). The idea for the establishment of an international
criminal court reaches back into the nineteenth century when Gustav Moynier
(1826–1910), one of the cofounders of the International Committee of the Red Cross,
suggested the need for such a court to uphold the Geneva Convention of 1864. From that
point onward, the idea for such a court was raised many times (e.g., during the course of
the Versailles Peace Conference of 1919, by the Committee of Jurists in 1920 under the
auspices of the League of Nations, several times during World War II, and in the
post–World War II years), but to no avail. It was not until the late 1980s and early to mid-
1990s that actual headway was made in establishing such a court, “helped” along no doubt
by the genocidal atrocities that were being perpetrated, first, in the former Yugoslavia, and
then in Rwanda in 1994.