scholarly journals Retrogression of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Mexico in the Context of Austerity and Crisis

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 121
Author(s):  
Pastora Melgar Manzanilla
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Member State ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Public Spending ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
Economic Crises ◽  
Public Funds ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Public Resources ◽  
Mexican Government

Mexico is facing a time of change in the allocation and distribution of public funds due to what the Mexican government has called “republican austerity”. Such change has caused public discordance since it is said to be regressive to human rights. The first article of the Mexican Constitution explicitly states the obligation of all authorities, within the scope of their powers, to promote, respect, protect and guarantee human rights in accordance with the principles of universality, interdependence, indivisibility, and progressivity. Also, Mexico is a member state of international covenants on human rights, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, from which some obligations derive. One of these obligations is the progressive realization of economic, social, cultural rights, and the prohibition of retrogression. Even though, limited economic resources require the careful allocation and redistribution of public spending, a practice that has led to the reduced allocation of public resources for some programs considered essential in the acquisition of human rights. The shift in the allocation of public spending in Mexico may ultimately deepen in the coming months and couple years, because of the imminent economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This article analyses the extent to which the Mexican government can, based on austerity, redistribution, or economic crises, make decisions that imply retrogression of rights without violating the obligation to progressive fulfillment stated in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

scholarly journals Interpretation of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by Human Rights Bodies in Times of Economic Distress. The case of Greece

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasiliki Saranti
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Special Reference ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Case Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Economic Distress ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
International Human ◽  
Of Greece

Economic, social and cultural rights have borne the brunt of the recent economic crisis and the austerity measures adopted to counter it. Due to their gradual implementation and the need of positive measures to implement them, they were the first to be attacked. After discussing the possible ways of applying economic, social and cultural rights in the first part of the essay, I will then examine their application during economic crises with a special reference to Greece focusing mainly on two fields, labour rights and social security rights, and the case-law produced by international human rights bodies in that respect.

scholarly journals The Protection of Non-nationals’ Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in un Human Rights Treaties

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 252-290
Author(s):  
Claire Lougarre
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
Human Rights Treaties

Abstract The decade of austerity policies resulting from the 2008 economic crisis significantly impeded the realisation of economic, social and cultural (esc) rights worldwide, especially for non-nationals who became targets of populist nationalist ideologies. The Coronavirus disease (covid-19) pandemic and its subsequent recession have heightened existing levels of inequalities, putting non-nationals’ access to health, housing, food, water and work under unprecedented strains. It is thus, crucial to analyse the extent to which un human rights treaties recognise non-nationals’ esc rights, in order to assess their ability to offer protection in this context. This article sheds light on the ambiguities of key un human rights treaties in this regard. It then analyses the attempts of relevant un treaty bodies to circumvent such issues; and finally suggests legal paths allowing un treaty bodies to further assert their protection of non-nationals’ esc rights during the covid-19 pandemic.

Part VI Refugee Rights and Realities, Ch.54 The Right to Education

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dryden-Peterson Sarah ◽  
Mariën Hania
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Refugee Children ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Public Resources ◽  
Enforcement Mechanisms ◽  
The Right ◽  
Recent Policy

This chapter examines the right to education of refugees. International human rights instruments, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the Refugee Convention, provide a framework for the right to education for refugees. As a social right, and as reflected in the ICESCR, the right to education is to be progressively realized and requires positive action and allocation of funding. Like all human rights, it is dependent on action by government, the availability of public resources, and enforcement mechanisms. The devolution of responsibility for the education of refugees to States through recent policy further entrenches the role of the State in respecting, protecting, and fulfilling refugees’ right to education. The chapter then explores the intersection of global and national frameworks for the right to education for refugees and its realization in the form of access to schools. Despite the widely embraced global articulation of the right to education for all refugee children, the realization of the right to education is highly variable, being largely dependent upon their State of asylum.

scholarly journals Economic, Social and Cultural Rights During Crisis in Cyprus: The Interplay Between Domestic and External Normative Systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Constantinos Kombos ◽  
Athena Herodotou
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Traditional Approach ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Normative Systems ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Impact

Economic, Social and Cultural (ESC) rights have been present and active in the Cypriot legal order from the moment of its constitutional genesis. Due to the special relationship between the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the judiciary has adopted a unique approach when interpreting the Constitution; it has been willing to engage into a comparative juridical analysis and to rely on the ECHR and the findings of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECtHR). Through this nexus with the ECHR and the streamlined approach with the ECtHR, the legal system of Cyprus has been progressive in placing social and economic rights – and to a lesser extent cultural rights – in a secure position. This traditional approach of the Cypriot courts was called into question by the 2011-2016 economic crisis, which challenged the interplay between domestic and external normative systems. The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of the recent economic crisis on the protection of ESC rights and the change in the balance between domestic and normative systems. The analysis concludes that the protection of ESC rights under the Cypriot Constitution, as formed by Cypriot case law, has been substantive and effective, while positively influenced by the extensive deployment of the comparative method. That long-standing approach has been challenged by the economic crisis and it seems that the extrovert judicial viewpoint is now partly reconsidered. The Supreme Court has indicated, albeit in specific instances, its willingness to disregard guidance from external influences and to focus instead on the idea that national constitutional protection can and should exceed that of the ECHR.

Provision of Remedies for Violation of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: A Comparative Study of the United Nations, Inter-American and African Human Rights Systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 298-318
Author(s):  
Roman Girma Teshome
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Regional Monitoring ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
The Past ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
To Receive

The effectiveness of human rights adjudicative procedures partly, if not most importantly, hinges upon the adequacy of the remedies they grant and the implementation of those remedies. This assertion also holds water with regard to the international and regional monitoring bodies established to receive individual complaints related to economic, social and cultural rights (hereinafter ‘ESC rights’ or ‘socio-economic rights’). Remedies can serve two major functions: they are meant, first, to rectify the pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage sustained by the particular victim, and second, to resolve systematic problems existing in the state machinery in order to ensure the non-repetition of the act. Hence, the role of remedies is not confined to correcting the past but also shaping the future by providing reforming measures a state has to undertake. The adequacy of remedies awarded by international and regional human rights bodies is also assessed based on these two benchmarks. The present article examines these issues in relation to individual complaint procedures that deal with the violation of ESC rights, with particular reference to the case laws of the three jurisdictions selected for this work, i.e. the United Nations, Inter-American and African Human Rights Systems.

Budgetary Authority and Coalition Management

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Chaisty ◽  
Nic Cheeseman ◽  
Timothy J. Power
Keyword(s):  
Resource Dependence ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
System Level ◽  
Energy Prices ◽  
Economic Crises ◽  
Government Transparency ◽  
Discretionary Spending ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Coalition Size

This chapter considers how presidents use their budget powers and the allocation of targeted discretionary spending to manage their coalitions. It considers the costs of budget tool deployment (in terms of time, controversy, and economic resources), and the factors that affect these costs: system-level factors (government transparency, federalism, personal-vote elections), coalition-level factors (coalition size, fragmentation, and heterogeneity), and conjunctural factors (economic crises and energy prices). It explores these factors with cases of budget tool deployment in Ukraine, Ecuador, and Russia. The Ecuadorean and Russian cases illustrate the divergent effects of resource dependence on the cost of budget tool dependence. Finally, it uses data from MP surveys to show the high value that legislators attribute to budget tools, and to illustrate how the composition of coalitions affects the costs that presidents are likely to face.

NGOs

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Mutzenberg
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
National Implementation ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Oral Information

This chapter evaluates the role played by NGOs before the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Human Rights Committee. Even if NGO participation was not originally foreseen in the Covenants, clear proceedings have subsequently been established to ensure their involvement in the Committees’ work. This chapter’s main focus is on the reporting procedure: it assesses how NGOs can submit written and oral information to strengthen this process. It also briefly addresses the NGO role in other areas of the Committees’ work, in particular the drafting of General Comments and the individual communications mechanisms. However, NGO participation is not limited to the work carried out in Geneva, and the chapter highlights recent NGO initiatives to ensure proper national implementation of the Committees’ recommendations. Such engagement is also possible in the context of the follow-up procedures, albeit to different extents depending on the practices of the respective Committee.

The Protection of Intellectual Property in International Human Rights Law

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henning Grosse Ruse-Khan
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
European Convention ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Core Subject ◽  
Charter Of Fundamental Rights ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines the human rights system and the way it deals with human creations and innovations that are the traditional core subject matter of intellectual property (IP) rights. It begins by reviewing the scope for protection under Article 27 (2) Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Article 15 (1) (c) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The chapter moves on to the protection of property in human rights law, especially on the regional, European level. It examines how IP can be protected as property under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) and under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (EU Charter). Finally, the chapter looks at some of the overlaps with international IP rules and the conflict norms in the human rights system to address such overlaps.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document