c. universal human rights standards
Global sensibilities also shaped American foreign policy during the Carter years. Far more than his immediate predecessors, Carter emphasized universal human rights standards, international law, and the value of the goodwill of other nations. Under Carter, the United States signed two major international human rights agreements-the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights-though in neither case did he press the Senate to ratify those agreements (the United States has never ratified the Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights). Carter also lent his support to a congressional campaign to improve the lives of women worldwide and created a special division within the USAID agency to further this goal.