The nature of legal obligations under human rights treaties
As you will see, most human rights guaranteed in international treaties place obligations on states. Before we examine civil and political rights in depth, you need to understand what types of legal obligations fall on states that ratify international human rights treaties. Different rights, of course, give rise to different obligations, but these fall into four general categories:
- obligations to respect human rights
- obligations to protect human rights
- obligations to fulfil human rights, and
- obligations to promote human rights.
The video lecture explains these different obligations.