Analysis of State Compliance Regarding International Human Rights Legal Frameworks
Daehee Cho — Westtown School, 975 Westtown Road, West Chester, PA 19382, United States
Seoyeon (Iris) Kim — North London Collegiate School Jeju, 33 Global edu-ro 145beon-gil, Daejeong-eup, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do, 63644, South Korea
Abstract
Despite the existence of ICCPR and ICESCR, Civil and Political Rights and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights violations persist across states that have signed or ratified the covenants. This paper answers the question ‘Why do these violations persist despite existing legal protections and what might improve state compliance?’ The paper combines legal analysis of key treaty provisions with six case studies, three case studies for each covenant, tested against five hypotheses and a null hypothesis centred on state sovereignty. The main findings of the research are, first, Civil and Political Rights violations stem primarily from the weak enforcement mechanisms of the state and the vague treaty language supported by Korea, Iran and Latvia case studies, second, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights violations follow various combinations of reasons such as resource scarcity in Burundi, insufficient political will in the United States, and structural non-justiciability in India. The persistence of noncompliance is best explained not by a single failure of international law but by the distinct nature of the rights each covenant protects. To eliminate the compliance gap in each treaty requires targeted cause-specific reforms, such as clearer treaty definitions, conditional resource assistance, and compulsory human rights educational systems, rather than a single institutional fix. These findings suggest that improving compliance depends less on states relinquishing sovereignty and more on narrowing the specific legal, political, and institutional gaps that currently allow state sovereignty to be invoked as a justification for noncompliance.
Keywords
Keywords: Human Rights; Human Rights Violations; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR); International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR); State compliance
Introduction
Civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights violations continue in states that have signed or ratified the ICCPR and ICESCR. This paper asks why those violations persist and what kinds of reform might improve state compliance.
Conclusion
Noncompliance is not explained by one failure of international law. Closing the gap depends on cause-specific reforms—clearer treaty language, conditional resource assistance, and human rights education—rather than a single institutional fix.
How to Cite
Cho, Daehee; Kim, Seoyeon (Iris). Analysis of State Compliance Regarding International Human Rights Legal Frameworks. Journal of Youth Impact. September 2026; 1(Issue 3). DOI: https://doi.org/10.66245/jyi.v1.i3.010