Introduction

Basic Rights ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 5-10
Author(s):  
Henry Shue
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Basic Rights ◽  
Subsistence Rights ◽  
To Receive

This introductory chapter provides an overview of basic rights. The wisdom of a U.S. foreign policy that includes attention to “human rights” depends heavily upon which rights are in practice the focus of the attention. The major international documents on human rights include dozens of kinds of rights, often artificially divided into “civil and political” and “economic, social, and cultural” rights. U.S. foreign policy probably could not, and almost certainly should not, concern itself with the performance of other governments in honoring every one of these internationally recognized human rights. The policy must in practice assign priority to some rights over others. It is not entirely clear so far either which rights are receiving priority or which rights ought to receive priority in U.S. foreign policy. The purpose of this book is to present the reasons why the most fundamental core of the so-called “economic rights,” which can be called subsistence rights, ought to be among those that receive priority. The chapter then presents some divergent indications of what the priorities actually are.

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.

On American Values, Unalienable Rights, and Human Rights: Some Reflections on the Pompeo Commission

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathias Risse
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Declaration Of Independence ◽  
American Values ◽  
Natural Law Theory ◽  
Per Se ◽  
The U.S

AbstractIn July 2019, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo launched a Commission on Unalienable Rights, charged with a reexamination of the scope and nature of human rights–based claims. From his statements, it seems that Pompeo hopes the commission will substantiate—by appeal to the U.S. Declaration of Independence and to natural law theory—three key conservative ideas: (1) that there is too much human rights proliferation, and once we get things right, social and economic rights as well as gender emancipation and reproductive rights will no longer register as human rights; (2) that religious liberties should be strengthened under the human rights umbrella; and (3) that the unalienable rights that should guide American foreign policy neither need nor benefit from any international oversight. I aim to show that despite Pompeo's framing, the Declaration of Independence, per se, is of no help with any of this, whereas evoking natural law is only helpful in ways that reveal its own limitations as a foundation for both human rights and foreign policy in our interconnected age.

EU foreign policy as a vocation for Europe

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatrix Futák-Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Normative Power ◽  
Eu Foreign Policy ◽  
Support For Democracy ◽  
To Receive ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Do So

This chapter focus on the moral concerns of practitioners regarding the eastern neighbourhood. The normative power literature deliberately decouples norms from values. But this chapter demonstrates that in practice it is impossible to do so. The EU practitioners demonstrate how they operationalise their specific moral concerns for the eastern neighbourhood. Their norm deployments are consistent with Legro, Buzan and Zizek’s claims of norm use. In addition, the analysis reveals instances when practitioners risk sounding moralising rather than moral. This is highly problematic for two reasons. First, moralising endangers alienating neighbouring states who align themselves with the EU but do not want to receive a lecture by EU practitioners. Second, if the EU cannot deliver on specific commitments, this will have implications for its status with regards to support for democracy or human rights in the region.

scholarly journals 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

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 ◽  
Civil And Political 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?

The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and the Demystification of Second and Third Generation Rights under the African Charter: Social and Economic Rights Action Center (SERAC) and the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) v. Nigeria

2005 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justice C. Nwobike
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Oil Companies ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Right To Development ◽  
Failure To Protect ◽  
Action Center ◽  
The Right ◽  
African Commission

AbstractThis article argues that the decision of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights in the Ogoni case represents a giant stride towards the protection and promotion of economic, social and cultural rights of Africans. This is predicated on the African Commission's finding that the Nigerian Government's failure to protect the Ogoni people from the activities of oil companies operating in the Niger Delta is contrary to international human rights law and is in fact a step backwards since Nigeria had earlier adopted legislation to fulfill its obligation towards the progressive realization of these rights. The findings of the African Commission demonstrate that economic, social and cultural rights are not vague or incapable of judicial enforcement. They also illustrate how the Charter can be interpreted generously to ensure the effective enjoyment of rights. Novel and commendable as the decision is, it is not without its shortcomings. These shortcomings lie in the failure of the Commission to pronounce on the right to development, its silence on the desirability of holding transnational corporations accountable for human rights violations, and the institutional weakness of the Commission in enforcing its decisions.

Socio-economic rights

2020 ◽  
pp. 105-116
Author(s):  
Giovanni Farese
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
International Human

Chapter 8 provides a critical analysis of some of the difficulties experienced in attempting to promote the development of universal social and economic rights. It discusses the importance of ideology, human agency and power in the historical development of concepts of socio-economic rights in nation-states and then in international human rights mechanisms such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). It also discusses contemporary attempts by NGOs and other campaigning organisations to develop internationally agreed sustainable development goals (SDGs) and to promote the recognition and realisation of universal socio-economic rights globally.

scholarly journals Realization of the Right to Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-39
Author(s):  
Enock Akattu
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
Minimum Level ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
The Right ◽  
To Receive

This paper evaluates the state of education as a human right and demonstrates that it is possible to implement and ultimately protect the right to education within a domestic context. Despite its importance, the right to education has received limited attention from scholars, practitioners and international and regional human rights bodies as compared to other economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs). NGOs have been increasingly interested in using indicators to measure and enforce a state‘s compliance with its obligations under international human rights treaties. Education is one of the few human rights for which it is universally agreed that the individual has a corresponding duty to exercise this right. This paper first of all draws up an inventory of the many international instruments which mention the right to education and analysethem in order to obtain a more precise idea of the content of this right, which often appears blurred. The paper also discusses the right to education as it is guaranteed in articles 13 of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (ICRC) and article 13 of the Protocol of San Salvador. The enjoyment of many civil and political rights, such as freedom of information, expression, assembly and association, the right to vote and to be elected or the right of equal access to public service depends on at least a minimum level of education, including literacy. Similarly, many economic, social and cultural rights, such as the right to choose work, to receive equal pay for equal work, the right to form trade unions, to take part in cultural life, to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and to receive higher education on the basis of capacity, can only be exercised in a meaningful way after a minimum level of education has been achieved. Similarly, this paper discusses education in Kenya as a basic need and a human right (enhancing access, participation, retention, achievement and quality of schooling) to girls and boys and by extension women and men especially with the promulgation of the new Constitution of Kenya 2010 that recognizes education as a Bill of Rights and everyone is bound by the Bill of Rights. This means that all people in Kenya must respect education as a human right. The Bill binds all government institutions and state officers. They are required to respect human rights and deal appropriately with the special needs of individuals and groups in our society. In this paper, the provision of education in the first 4 to 18 years of schooling is considered to be basic, thus a basic right in Kenya

scholarly journals RECONSTRUCTING STATE OBLIGATIONS TO PROTECT AND FULFIL SOCIO-ECONOMIC RIGHTS IN AN ERA OF MARKETISATION

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
David Birchall
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
Market Regulation ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
State Obligations ◽  
International Human

Abstract States hold international human rights obligations to protect rights-holders from infringements by third parties and to fulfil access to rights. States also increasingly rely on businesses to provide essential human rights resources, including for housing, food, and healthcare. How these obligations apply where States rely on businesses has not been adequately conceptualised, particularly regarding the scope of business infringements in this context, and how the obligation to fulfil relates to market regulation. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has not directly addressed these questions, but recent General Comments develop ambitious regulatory obligations in this area. However, their methodology is questionable, often collapsing the distinction between obligations to protect and to fulfil. This article reconstructs the obligations to provide distinct content under each. It delineates State duties to protect from profiteering and to fulfil human rights through market regulation. It concludes by arguing that this reconstruction may challenge central aspects of globalised capitalism based on the human rights harm inherent therein.

scholarly journals Minority Language Rights

1997 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 11-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pádraig Ó Riagáin ◽  
Niamh Nic Shuibhne
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Minority Rights ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Collective Rights ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
Minority Language Rights ◽  
The Subject

Contests over human rights as claims or entitlements to state assistance are how a major, if relatively recent, feature of the socio-political processes and institutions, of modern societies (Turner 1993). Within this wider debate about human rights, the subject of minority rights has long been of concern (Dinstein and Tabory 1992, Sigler 1983). A widely held, but not unanimous, view has emerged which argues that minorities have group or collective rights which cannot be reduced to their human rights as individuals. Linguistic and cultural rights are seen by many scholars as two such overlapping dimensions of collective minority rights (de Varennes 1996, Kymlicka 1995a, Phillipson and Skutnabb-Kangas 1995). In a world of multicultural and multilingual states, so the argument runs, these collective rights can only be guaranteed by the active involvement of states in the implementation of policies which support linguistic and cultural rights, just as in the case of more universally recognized and accepted social and economic rights (Stavenhagen 1990).

Black Internationalist Feminism

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl Higashida
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Economic Freedom ◽  
Third World ◽  
Black Belt ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Third World

This introductory chapter describes Black internationalist feminism. Black internationalist feminism challenged heteronormative and masculinist articulations of nationalism while maintaining the importance, even centrality, of national liberation movements for achieving Black women's social, political, and economic rights. As a corollary of the Communist Party's Black Belt Nation Thesis—which prioritized African American struggles for equality, justice, and self-determination—women of the Black Left asserted that Black women had special problems that could not be deferred or subsumed within the rubrics of working-class or Black oppression and that in fact were integral to the universal struggle for human rights and economic freedom. Moreover, women of the Black Left understood that essential to the liberation of African Americans, the Third World, and the worldwide proletariat was the fight against heteropatriarchy, which exacerbated oppression within as well as between nations.

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