The Case for the Constitutionalisation of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCRs) in Botswana

Abstract This paper argues that there is no hierarchy in the importance attached to the different categories of human rights. Hence, Civil and Political Rights (CPRs) and Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ESCRs) are both human rights and must be placed on the same pedestal. In a democracy, it is imperative that all rights be accorded equal treatment. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether Botswana accords equal treatment to the two categories of human rights. Using a case study approach, the paper concludes that while the Constitution of Botswana provides for CPRs, ESCRs are absent from this instrument. Consequently, the provision of economic, social, and cultural goods is policy-based. The paper argues that this raises accountability and justiciability challenges because the state cannot be sanctioned for failing to provide non-rights. It recommends the constitutionalisation of ESCRs to maximise the accountability and justiciability of ESCRs.

Human Right to Environment and Its Effective Protection in Catalonia, Spain and Europe

International Journal of Legal Information ◽

10.1017/s073112650002833x ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 42 (1) ◽

pp. 121-134

Author(s):

Alexandre Peñalver i Cabré

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

First Generation ◽

18Th Century ◽

Third Generation ◽

Political Rights ◽

Human Right ◽

Effective Protection ◽

Cultural Rights ◽

Additional Layer ◽

Human Right to Environment is one the most relevant Third Generation Human Rights which includes new universal needs arisen from the last third of 20th century. These new human rights add as an additional layer to the First Generation Human Rights (civil and political rights from the end of 18th century) and to the Second Generation Human Rights (economic, social and cultural rights from 19th century).

The Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Lands Once Part of the Old Dominions of the Crown

International and Comparative Law Quarterly ◽

10.1017/s0020589300061224 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 46 (4) ◽

pp. 812-830 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Anthony Mason

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Indigenous Peoples ◽

Moral Foundations ◽

Political Rights ◽

Land Resources ◽

Way Of Life ◽

Cultural Rights ◽

The World ◽

Rights Issue

Of all the rights of indigenous people, none is more central to the survival of their culture than the claim to their ancestral lands. The resolution of their claims to ancestral lands is one of the fundamental issues of our time—indeed of all time. Often called a human rights issue—a description apt to reinforce the strong moral foundations of the claims of the indigenous peoples—it is an issue which we cannot ignore. Throughout the world people of all races and all colours have a powerful emotional attachment to their ancestral lands. That attachment is the very core of a people's culture and is vital to the survival of the culture. As the UN Human Rights Committee has recognised, in the context of the exercise of cultural rights protected by Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, “culture manifests itself in many forms, including a particular way of life associated with the use of land resources”.

4. The International Bill of Human Rights

International Human Rights Law ◽

10.1093/he/9780198843672.003.0004 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 56-71

Author(s):

Rhona K. M. Smith

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

United Nations ◽

Universal Declaration ◽

Political Rights ◽

Legal Basis ◽

Cultural Rights ◽

The United Nations

This chapter analyses the history and principles of the International Bill of Human Rights, which is the ethical and legal basis for all the human rights work of the United Nations. The Bill consists of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, two Optional Protocols annexed thereto, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and Protocol. The chapter also assesses whether the Bill of Human Rights has lived up to the expectations of the original proponents.

International Human Rights Law and the Response to the covid-19 Pandemic

Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies ◽

10.1163/18781527-bja10004 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 249-269

Author(s):

Sarah Joseph

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

International Human Rights Law ◽

Political Rights ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

International Human Rights ◽

Cultural Rights ◽

Human Rights Treaties ◽

International Human ◽

Do So

Abstract States have duties under Article 12(2)(c) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to prevent, control and treat covid-19. Implementation of these three obligations is analysed, taking account of countervailing human rights considerations. Regarding prevention, lockdowns designed to stop the spread of the virus are examined. Control measures are then discussed, namely transparency measures, quarantine, testing and tracing. The human rights compatibility of treatment measures, namely the provision of adequate medical and hospital care (or the failure to do so), are then examined. Finally, derogations from human rights treaties in times of pubic emergency are discussed.

Neglecting Social and Economic Rights Violations in Transitional Justice: Long-Term Effects on Accountability: Empirical Findings from the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs ◽

10.1177/186810341803700204 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 37 (2) ◽

pp. 95-124

Author(s):

Tine Destrooper

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Transitional Justice ◽

Blind Spot ◽

Political Rights ◽

Long Term Effects ◽

Economic Rights ◽

Cultural Rights ◽

International Profile

This article builds on theories about the expressive function of law and uses Structural Topic Modelling to examine how the prioritisation of civil and political rights (CPR) issues by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) has affected the agendas of Cambodian human rights NGOs with an international profile. It asks whether these NGOs’ focus on CPR issues can be traced back to the near-exclusive focus on CPR issues by the court, and whether this has implications for the creation of a “thick” kind of human rights accountability. It argues that, considering the nature of the Khmer Rouge's genocidal policy, it would have been within the mandate and capacity of the court to pay more attention to actions that also constituted violations of economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCR). The fact that the court did not do this and instead almost completely obscured ESCR rhetorically has triggered a similar blind spot for ESCR issues on the part of human rights NGOs, which could have otherwise played an important role in creating a culture of accountability around this category of human rights. Does this mean that violators of ESCR are more likely to escape prosecution going forward?

Reformative and rehabilitative programs for prisoners with cognitive impairments: Australia’s international obligations

Alternative Law Journal ◽

10.1177/1037969x17710615 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 42 (2) ◽

pp. 102-106

Author(s):

Emma Henderson ◽

Nicole Shackleton ◽

Stephanie Falconer

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Cognitive Impairments ◽

The State ◽

Political Rights ◽

Mental Impairment ◽

Persons With Disabilities ◽

International Obligations ◽

While there has been much recent controversy relating to the abusive treatment of young prisoners and the failure of the State to properly facilitate the rehabilitation and reformation of young detainees, little attention has been paid to similar failures in relation to prisoners with cognitive impairments. In this article, we argue that Article 10.3 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 26 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities require Australia to ensure that the conditions of detention of all prisoners are primarily reformative and rehabilitative. Analysing relevant jurisprudence, we argue that Australia is systematically failing to meet its human rights obligations to prisoners found ‘not guilty’ by reason of mental impairment.

Tour guides and the transnational promotion of human rights: Agency, structure and norm translators in responsible travel

Tourist Studies ◽

10.1177/1468797620920991 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (3) ◽

pp. 314-335

Author(s):

Jonathan Liljeblad

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Theoretical Concept ◽

Case Study Approach ◽

Critical Position ◽

Tour Guide ◽

Study Approach ◽

Tour Guides ◽

Tourism Studies

Within tourism studies, the movement for ‘responsible tourism’ seeks to direct tourism in support of ideals such as sustainability and human rights. Central to the promotion of such ideals, however, is the tour guide who holds a critical position influencing the orientation of a tourism encounter. This article explores the capacities of tour guides to direct tourism encounters in support of human rights. The analysis draws upon tourism and human rights literature to frame tour guides within the theoretical concept of norm translators. The analysis applies a case study approach to a case of an individual tour guide leading a Vietnam tour package under the employ of a responsible travel company supportive of human rights, with the purpose of clarifying the role of tour guides in promoting human rights and elaborating the theory of norm translators.

The Protection of Human Rights by the Organization of American States

The American Journal of International Law ◽

10.2307/2197015 ◽

1968 ◽

Vol 62 (4) ◽

pp. 889-908 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

José A. Cabranes

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

San Francisco ◽

General Assembly ◽

Political Rights ◽

Bill Of Rights ◽

Cultural Rights ◽

Optional Protocol ◽

American States ◽

Protection Of Human Rights ◽

On December 16, 1966, the General Assembly approved three agreements designed to establish a global system of enforceable treaty obligations with respect to fundamental human rights. These agreements are the second part of the “international bill of rights” proposed at the San Francisco Conference. Eighteen years separated the adoption of these agreements—the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights—and the approval in 1948 of the first part of the projected United Nations program for the protection of human rights, the non-binding Universal declaration of Human Rights.

Ordre du droit et droit de l'ordre

Les Cahiers de droit ◽

10.7202/042838ar ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 699-729

Author(s):

Jacques Zylberberg

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

United Nations ◽

International Law ◽

Rule Of Law ◽

International Organizations ◽

The State ◽

Political Rights ◽

Sovereign State ◽

The Rule Of Law ◽

This essay undertakes a review of national and international law to demonstrate that law is mainly an ideological and variable instrument of the State and of the United Nations, which is a by-product of the states. In this perspective, the author opposes the pragmatical ideology of resistance against the sovereign state to the juridical legitimation and the behaviour of the States who reluctantly have conceded some civil and political rights. Those rights are endangered by the growing bureaucratization of the state, the inflation of the juridical norms and rules, in addition to the permanent repressive characters of the State. The criticism of the contradiction and the variation of the rule of law when it relates to "human rights" is also extended to international law as well as to the international organizations.

THE STATE OF GREEN SPACES IN KUMASI CITY (GHANA): LESSONS FOR OTHER AFRICAN CITIES

Journal of Urban and Regional Analysis ◽

10.37043/jura.2016.8.2.4 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Collins ADJEI MENSAH

Keyword(s):

Collaborative Governance ◽

The State ◽

Green Spaces ◽

Attitudinal Change ◽

Case Study Approach ◽

Study Approach ◽

Health And Wellbeing ◽

Poor State ◽

Development Agendas

Integrating green spaces such as parks and gardens into the physical landscape of cities has been identified to enhance the health and wellbeing of urban dwellers. This paper assesses the state of green spaces in Kumasi city (Ghana), once known as the garden city of West Africa. Using a case study approach, a mixture of qualitative research techniques were employed whilst a set of eight themes were put together to guide the assessment. In all, green spaces were found to be in poor state. With the exception of conservation and heritage theme, the remaining seven themes that were used for the assessment all found the green spaces to be in poor state. It is therefore recommended that there should be an attitudinal change towards the maintenance of green spaces, the application of a collaborative governance approach, and priority giving to green spaces in all development agendas by city authorities.