Compendium of Standards, Good Practices and Recommendations • the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour; • the effective abolition of child labour; and • the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. UN treaty obligations are further supported by regional human rights systems. In practice, the main regional system of relevance to the greatest number of OSCE participating States is the one established by the ECHR. The ECHR has been ratified by 47 states and is applicable in all but ten OSCE participating States.36 The European Social Charter (ESC) is the counterpart of the ECHR in the sphere of economic and social rights. The Charter’s original 1961 version and revised 1996 version bind a total of 45 states (all but 12 participating States).37 Human rights law is complemented during times of armed conflict by IHL (also known as the law of armed conflict).38 The main treaties applicable in this field of international law are the Geneva Conventions of 1949,39 including the 1977 Protocols.40 Several other treaties also protect human rights by dealing with the criminal responsibility of individuals or the prevention of serious crimes, and can potentially apply to armed forces personnel. This compendium, however, focuses on the human rights of members of the armed forces rather than on their duties to respect the human rights of civilians, fellow members of the armed forces or enemy combatants. IHL and international criminal law are, therefore, beyond the scope of this publication, except in the limited sphere of commanders’ responsibility (see “Chapter 17: The Role of Commanders and Individual Accountability”). This chapter discusses the main human rights treaties and explains their potential application to members of the armed forces, introducing the notion of armed forces members as “citizens in uniform” under human rights law. The relationship between these 36 The OSCE participating States not bound by the ECHR are Belarus, Canada, the Holy See, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, the United States and Uzbekistan. For ratifications by individual states, see: “Chart of signatures and ratifications of Treaty 005”, Council of Europe, https://www. coe.int/en/web/conventions/search-on-treaties/-/conventions/treaty/005/signatures. 37 Council of Europe, “European Social Charter”, 18 October 1961 (entered into force 26 February 1965), ETS No. 35; and “European Social Charter” (Revised), 3 May 1996 (entered into force 1 July 1999), ETS No. 163. OSCE participating States not bound by the either are those mentioned in note 34, as well as Liechtenstein and Switzerland. See: “Chart of signatures and ratifications of Treaty 035”, Council of Europe, https://www.coe. int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/035/signatures. 38 See: Dieter Fleck (ed.), The Handbook of Humanitarian Law in Armed Conflicts (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995); and Ingrid Detter, The Law of War (London, New York: Routledge, 3rd edition, 2013). 39 International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), “Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field” (First Geneva Convention), 12 August 1949, UN, Treaty Series, vol. 75, p. 31; “Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea” (Second Geneva Convention), 12 August 1949, UN, Treaty Series, vol. 75, p. 85; “Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War” (Third Geneva Convention), 12 August 1949, UN, Treaty Series, vol. 75, p. 135; and “Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War” (Fourth Geneva Convention), 12 August 1949, UN, Treaty Series, vol. 75, p. 287. 40 ICRC, “Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts” (Protocol I), 8 June 1977, UN, Treaty Series, vol. 1125, p. 3; and “Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts” (Protocol II), 8 June 1977, UN, Treaty Series, vol. 1125, p. 609. 39