Bibliography

For the status of ratification of the major human rights treaties, click here [pdf 106 kb]

International Bill of Human Rights:

Universal Declaration of Human Rights
International Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights
International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights

General Comments by the Committee on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights
General Comment 1: Reporting by States parties (Third Session, 1989)
General Comment 2: International technical assistance measures (Art. 22, Fourth session, 1990)
General Comment 3: The Nature of States Parties Obligations (Art. 2, par.1, Fifth session, 1990)
General Comment 4: The right to adequate housing (Art. 11.1, Sixth session, 1991)
General Comment 5: Persons with disabilities (Eleventh session, 1994)
General Comment 6: The economic, social and cultural rights of older persons (Thirteenth session, 1995)
General Comment 7: The right to adequate housing: forced evictions (Art.11.1, Sixteenth session, 1997)
General Comment 8: The relationship between economic sanctions and respect for economic, social and cultural rights (Seventeenth session, 1997)
General Comment 9: The domestic application of the Covenant (Nineteenth session, 1998)
General Comment 10: The role of national human rights institutions in the protection of economic, social and cultural rights (Nineteenth session, 1998)
General Comment 11: Plans of action for primary education (Article 14, Twentieth session, 1999)
General Comment 12: The right to adequate food (Art. 11, Twentieth session, 1999)
General Comment 13: The right to education (Art.13, Twenty-first session, 1999)
General Comment 14: The right to the highest attainable standard of health (Article 12, Twenty-second session, 2000)
General Comment 15: The right to water (articles 11 and 12, Twenty-ninth session, 2002)

Statement of the CESCR, “Substantive Issues Arising in the Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,” Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (26 November 1999)

Special Rapporteur Reports

El Hadji, Guisse. “The Realization of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: The Impunity of Violators,” UN Special Rapporteur (3 July 1996)

Tomaševski, Katarina. "Mission to the United States of America 24 September - 10 October 2001," UN Special Rapporteur (17 January 2002)

Turk, Danilo. “Final Report: The Realization of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,” UN Special Rapporteur (3 July 1992)

Secretary General Notes & Reports

Draft Optional Protocol to the ICESCR

“The Realization of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: The Impact of the Activities and Working Methods of Transnational Corporations,” Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities (2 July 1996)

Other materials

Circle of Rights
Circle of Rights is a manual that presents information on laws and standards related to these rights, and addresses issues of strategy and tactics that organizations and individuals need to consider when thinking through how best they might work to promote economic, social and cultural rights. The manual is aimed primarily at trainers who are or will be engaged in training human rights activists as well as development workers, members of organizations representing disadvantaged groups and others who are addressing economic, social and cultural issues.

Convention Against Discrimination in Education

Human Rights Quarterly
Now entering its twenty-fifth year, Human Rights Quarterly is widely recognized as the leader in the field of human rights.

International Labor Organization, Background paper to 'Globalisation and its Impact on the Enjoyment of Economic and Social Rights,' discussion by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights [pdf 36.21 kb]

Maastricht Guidelines and Commentary, Human Rights Quarterly 20:3 (August 1998), p. 691-730 [pdf 152 kb]

Quito Declaration 1997 [pdf 40.25 kb]

Report of the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on the outcome of the World Food Summit

UNDP, Globalization with a Human Face. Human Development Report 1999 [pdf 265 kb]

UNDP, Human Rights and Human Development. Human Development Report 2000 [pdf]

Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition

BOOKS

Alston, Philip. The United Nations and Human Rights: A Critical Appraisal: Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1992

Alston, Philip. “Denial and Neglect,” in Human Rights: The New Consensus: 1995, p. 112-15.

Alston, Philip and James Crawford (eds). The Future of UN Human Rights Treaty Monitoring: Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Belgrade Circle (eds.), The Politics of Human Rights: 2000.

Claude, Richard (ed). Human Rights in the World Community: 1992.

Craven, Mathew. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: A Perspective on its Development: Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1995.

Eide, Asbjørn, et al (eds). Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: A Textbook. London, Dordrecht, 1995.

Evans, Tony (ed). Human Rights Fifty Years On: A Reappraisal: Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1998.

Falk, Richard. Human Rights Horizons: The Pursuit of Justice in a Globalizing World: New York, Routledge Press, 2000.

Henkin, Louis, et al (eds). Human Rights. New York, Foundation Press, 1999.

Lauren, Paul Gordon. The Evolution of International Human Rights: Visions Seen: Philadelphia, University of Penn. Press, 1998.

Liebenberg, Sandy and Karrisha Pillay, Socio-Economic Rights in South Africa, Community Law Centre (University of Cape Town) 2000. http://www.communitylawcentre.org.za/ser/order.php

Shute, Stephen and Susan Hurley (eds.), On Human Rights: the Oxford Amnesty Lectures 1993: Basic Books, 1993.

Steiner, Henry and Philip Alston (eds.), International Human Rights in Context, 2nd Ed.: Oxford, Clarendon Press, 2000.

Waldron, Jeremy. Liberal Rights: Collected Papers 1981-91: Cambridge university Press, 1992.
ARTICLES

Alston, Philip. “The UN’s Human Rights Record: From San Francisco to Vienna and Beyond,” Human Rights Quarterly 16 (1994), p. 375-390

Herman, Edward. “Immiseration and Human Rights,” Z Magazine April 1995, p. 36-38

Jochnick, Chris. “Confronting the Impunity of Non-State Actors: New Fields for the Promotion of Human Rights,” Human Rights Quarterly 21 (1999).

Kausikan, Bilahari. “Asia’s Different Standard,” Foreign Policy 92 (Fall 1993), p. 24-41.

Leckie, Scott. “Another Step Towards Indivisibility: Identifying the Key Features of Violations of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights,” Human Rights Quarterly: 20.1 (Jan. 1998), p. 81-124

Martin, Ian “The New World Order: Opportunity or Threat for Human Rights,” Edward Smith Lecture at the Human Rights Program, Harvard Law School, 1993

Mutua, Makau. “The Ideology of Human Rights,” 36 Virginia Journal of International Law 589 (Spring 1996)

Neier, Aryeh “Asia’s Unacceptable Standard,” Foreign Policy 92 (Fall 1993), p. 42-51.

Perry, Michael J. “Are Human Rights Universal: The Relativist Challenge and Related Matters,” Human Rights Quarterly 19:3 (August 1997), p. 461-509

Press, Eyal. “Human Rights – The Next Step,” The Nation (December 25, 2000), p. 12-23.

Rieff, David. “A New Age of Liberal Imperialism,” World Policy Journal Vol. 16, Summer 1999, p. 1.

Rorty, Richard. “Human Rights, Rationality and Sentimentality,” On Human Rights, p. 112-34.

Scott, Craig “Reach Beyond (Without Abandoning) the Category of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,” Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 21, 1999, p. 633-660

Sen, Amartya. “Wrongs and Rights in Development,” Prospect Magazine (October 1995), p. 28-35.