The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948), together with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR, 1976) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR, 1976), forms what has come to be known as the International Bill of Rights. In large part a response to the atrocities committed during World War II (1939–1945), the UDHR is the first major international document to enumerate a list of rights applicable to all people regardless of race, gender, or religion, in a broad range of categories, including political, civil, economic, and social rights. The creation of such a document was especially significant in that it represented a shift in international law from an almost complete focus on the relationship between states to the relationship between states and their citizens.

Although several states had pushed for the inclusion of a bill of...