rights and freedoms is beyond question”.9 To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration in 1998, the States Members of the United Nations reaffirmed the centrality of the Declaration in resolutions of the General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights10 as well as in numerous other commemorative activities. These resolutions also stressed “the necessity for further national efforts as well as enhanced international cooperation, with a view to fully realizing all human rights and fundamental freedoms” (emphasis added). The status of the Universal Declaration makes it highly desirable that any national human rights action plan should start with an endorsement of the universality and relevance of the Declaration as the basis for the plan’s content. As the national action plan is designed to be a practical instrument, the speed with which countries realize their international human rights obligations will vary, particularly in relation to the resources available. But the content of the plan must, as a minimum, conform to the standards set out in international human rights instruments. Otherwise, it will lack credibility among its stakeholders and in the international community. 3.3 Implementing international human rights obligations Following the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations drafted two treaties that elaborated on the provisions of the Universal Declaration in a way that made them legally binding on countries that agreed to ratify them. The two treaties were the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Together with the Universal Declaration, they constitute the International Bill of Human Rights. Subsequent instruments also elaborated on the basic expression of rights in the Universal Declaration, specifying how these rights apply to specific groups of people such as women, children and migrant workers or to certain problems such as torture and racial discrimination. All countries have become party to at least one of those treaties and most countries have ratified or acceded to several. For countries that have accepted them, human rights treaties such as covenants and conventions create obligations on governments under international law to observe their provisions. While not binding in the same way as treaties, human rights declarations set out principles that countries should observe, particularly if they are a party to a related human rights treaty. The ratification of international standards such as the two Covenants is, of course, only one element in the effort to ensure the widest possible enjoyment of human rights. To be truly effective, ratification of an international human rights instrument may need to be accompanied or followed by legislative action to give it effect in 9 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, preambular paragraphs 3 and 8 and paragraph 1(I). 10 General Assembly resolution 53/168 of 10 December 1998 and Commission on Human Rights resolution 1997/35 (the text of all General Assembly and Commission resolutions are accessible on the OHCHR web site, through “Documents” on the home page). 15