Economic, social and cultural rights

Rights
Theoretical distinctions
Claim rights and liberty rights Individual and group rights Natural rights and legal rights Negative and positive rights
Human rights
Civil and political Economic, social and cultural Three generations
Rights by beneficiary
Accused Animals Children Consumers Creditors Deaf Disabled Elders Farmers Fetuses Humans Indigenous Intersex Kings LGBT Transgender Men Minorities Parents Fathers Mothers Patients Peasants Plants Prisoners Robots States Students Victims Women Workers Youth
Other groups of rights
Assembly Association Asylum Civil liberties Digital Education Fair trial Food Free migration Health Housing Linguistic Movement Development Property Repair Reproductive Rest and leisure Self defense Self-determination of people Sexuality Speech Water and sanitation
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Economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) are socio-economic human rights, such as the right to education, right to housing, right to an adequate standard of living, right to health, victims' rights and the right to science and culture. Economic, social and cultural rights are recognised and protected in international and regional human rights instruments. Member states have a legal obligation to respect, protect and fulfil economic, social and cultural rights and are expected to take "progressive action" towards their fulfilment.

The

Economic, social and cultural rights are recognized and protected in a number of international and regional human rights instruments.^[3]

International human rights instruments

The

Constitutional recognition of economic, social and cultural rights has long been thought to be counterproductive, given that courts might be tasked to adjudicate them, and hence disrupt the democratic chains of accountability of the so-called elected branches.^[8] Nonetheless, a growing literature from the Global South has tracked very different judicial responses.^[9]

Sympathetic critics argue that socio-economic rights appear 'quite negligible' factors in terms of ensuring overall human development.^[10] Contemporary welfare states tend to emphasize decommodification, general welfare and the common good, not rights. Sweden, Finland, and Denmark, for example, adhere to a comparatively robust welfare effort, built primarily through social democratic parties and trade union mobilisation, without relying on judicial review of socio-economic rights.^[10] Nonetheless, majoritarian political arenas such as parliaments and trade union structures may remain unresponsive to minorities. The gains won through litigation, modest though they may be, can nonetheless be of value for those who benefit from them.^[11]

Civil society movements have advanced alternative institutions, norms and practices for constitution-making and making socio-economic rights effective. Participants in recent constitution-making experiments in

Economic, social and cultural right enshrined in international and regional human rights instruments are legally binding. Member states have a legal obligation to respect, protect and fulfil these rights. The exact nature of states' obligations in this respect has been established principally in relation to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR),^[7] and further Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has been established in accordance with Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action.^[13]

State parties to the ICESCR are required to take "progressive action" towards fulfilment of the ICESR rights. While immediate fulfilment may not be possible due to the economic situation of a country, postponement of proactive action is not permitted. State parties must show genuine efforts to secure the economic, social and cultural rights enshrined in the ICESCR. The burden of proof for progressive action is considered on be with the state party. The prohibition on discrimination in relation to economic, social and cultural rights is regarded as having immediate effect. State parties must abolish laws, policies and practices which affect the equal enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights and take action to prevent discrimination in public life. All state parties, regardless of the economic situation in the country or resource scarcity, are required to ensure respect for minimum subsistence rights for all. State parties must also ensure that available resources are accessed and used equitably. Therefore, government decisions on how to allocate resources should be subject to scrutiny. Legislative measures alone are not sufficient to ensure compliance with the ICESCR and state parties are expected to provide judicial remedies in addition to taking administrative, financial, educational and social measures.^[14]

Monitoring, enforcement and implementation framework

In 2008, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which gives the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights competence to receive and consider communications from individuals claiming that their rights under the Covenant have been violated by a state party. The Protocol entered into force on 5 May 2013.

In 2017, for the common global standards in the Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers relating to the right to science, states agreed at the UNESCO General Conference to adopt four-yearly reporting on implementation, and agreed that UNESCO's Executive Board is competent to manage monitoring, with the networks of UNESCO National Commissions and academic partners mobilized in countries to ensure implementation and monitoring at country level.^[17] For the other major international human rights conventions mentioned above there are various other treaty bodies to ensure some monitoring of implementation. And each may transmit to the Human Rights Council reports of individual cases when a state is the subject of a Universal Periodic Review.

Education as a human right

Education is guaranteed as a human right in many human rights treaties, including:^[18]

• The
  Convention against Discrimination in Education^[19]
  (1960, CADE).
• The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights^[20](1966, ICESCR).
• The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women^[21] (1979, CEDAW).
• The Convention on the Rights of the Child^[22](1989, CRC).

The right to education places the individual at the centre of education frameworks.

Education as a human right has the following characteristics:^[18]

• It is a right; Education is not a privilege or subject to political or charitable whims. It is a human right. It places mandatory demands on duty-bearers (particularly the state, but also parents, children, and other actors).
• It is universal; Everyone has the right to education without
  older people
  .
• It is high priority; Education is a key priority of the state. Obligations to ensure the right to education cannot be dismissed.
• It is a key right; Education is instrumental in ensuring all other human rights. It has
  economic, social, cultural, civil, and political dimensions.^[18]

The right to education places legal obligations on states when they make decisions regarding education and the education system. It offers an internationally agreed normative framework for the standards that states must not fall beneath concerning the education of its citizens and non-citizens.^[18]

These standards define what states must do and avoid doing in order to ensure the dignity of the individual. The right to education is broad and covers many aspects of education. This means that for the specific areas related to education, states must act within the boundaries permitted under international human rights law (IHRL).^[18]

The main aspects of education are:^[18]

• The aims of education.
• Non-discrimination and
  equality
  in the education system.
• Free and compulsory universal primary education.
• Available and accessible, free education at the secondary level, including vocational education.
• Accessible (on the basis of capacity), free education at the tertiary level.
• Fundamental education for those who have not received all or part of their primary education.
• Maintenance of an education system at all levels.
• Provision of a fellowship system.
• The training of teachers, their status, and their working conditions.
• Educational freedom, that is, the freedom of parents to have their children educated in accordance with their religious and moral convictions.
• The freedom of individuals and organizations to set-up private schools.
• quality education, including setting minimum standards regarding infrastructure and human rights education
• safe and non-violent learning environments
• the allocation of adequate resources
• academic freedom at all levels of education
• the settings and contents of the curriculum.
• Transparent and accountable education systems.^[18]

Advocacy

Networking groups such as

• Constitutionalism
• Constitutional economics
• Rule according to higher law
• Cultural rights
• Economic security
• Human rights inflation
• Human security
• International labour standard
• Millennium Development Goals
• Right to education
• Social responsibility
• Social rights
• Three generations of human rights
• Welfare rights

References