The sense, meaning, and significance of the Twin International Covenants on Political and Economic Rights

The drafting process of international human rights instruments exemplifies the import of terminology. Government representatives meet over the course of years to discuss every word enshrined in international instruments. They understand that terminology determines the scope of rights and corresponding duties both legally, as such instruments are binding, and symbolically, as they constitute an apparatus of signs through which the existence of rights becomes universally acknowledged. The purpose of this article is to apply Lady Welby's Threefold Laws of Meaning to the Twin Covenants of the International Bill of Rights: the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights . First, this article will explore the Sense, Meaning and Significance of the original single Covenant and its subsequent division into twin Covenants. Second, it will provide a comparative analysis of the terminology defining States Parties obligations in the Twin Covenants. Third, it will examine two additional distinctive characteristics of the Twin Covenants: the absence/presence of a remedy and the Human Rights Committee. Lastly, this article will consider the ultimate Significance of terminology in the Twin Covenants as regards the implementation and universal recognition of Economic Rights, and the Promised Land of Human Rights.