About Rights

What does the right to culture include?
There is no simple definition for the right to culture. However, the right to express and enjoy one’s culture does exist. International organizations and documents are quick to name “culture” as an important right, even though what that means hasn’t been fully developed by international law. The Covenant on ESCR recognizes everyone's right to take part in cultural life, to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress, and encourages the development of international contacts and co-operation in the area of science and culture. The rights of indigenous peoples is a first step towards legal recognition of cultural rights.

Activist’s Manual on the ICESCR [pdf 1.25 mb]
Bibliography
CESR's Guide to the Legal Framework of ESCR
Justiciability of ESCR
Optional Protocol to the ICESCR
Other Resources and Links
Workshop Report: Developing a Common Framework for the Promotion of ESCR [pdf 123.81 kb]

What are Economic, Social, and Cultural rights?
Economic, social, and cultural rights include the human right to work, the right to an adequate standard of living, including food, clothing, and housing, the right to physical and mental health, the right to social security, the right to a healthy environment, and the right to education. For more information on a specific ESC right, click one of the links on the left.

ESCR are part of a larger body of human rights law that developed in the aftermath of World War II. Human rights law includes all economic and social rights, plus civil and political rights like the right to free speech and the right to a fair trial. These rights are deeply intertwined: for example, the right to speak freely means little without a basic education. Similarly, the right to work means little if you are not allowed to meet and assemble in groups to discuss work conditions.

The most important human rights law is in the International Bill of Human Rights, which includes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Economic and social rights are also included in numerous other human rights legal instruments. Among the most important are:

• Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
• Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
• Vienna World Conference on Human Rights Declaration and Plan of Action
• Conventions of the International Labor Organization

The U.N. human rights system is rooted in the International Bill of Rights, but also includes additional human rights treaties. Each of the treaties is governed by a Treaty Body that provides authoritative interpretations of its terms. The Treaty Bodies also publish General Comments, which elaborate on specific articles of the treaties. For a list of General Comments to the ICESCR, click here. For more information on the U.N. human rights system, click here.

CESR has prepared a Guide to the Legal Framework of economic, social, and cultural rights that elaborates on how those rights exist in international law. Click here for the Guide. In 1995, CESR hosted a set of workshops that explored the theoretical and practical concerns surrounding economic, social, and cultural rights advocacy and practice. Click here for the Workshop Report [pdf 123.81 kb].

Why are they called "rights"?
All the world's great religious and moral traditions, philosophers, and revolutionaries, recognize that human beings deserve to live in freedom, justice, dignity and economic security. The International Bill of Rights grew out of these traditions, and calls for all governments to make sure their citizens have human rights -- civil, political, social, cultural and economic. Referring to economic, social and cultural issues as "rights" uses the legal framework developed under international law, and gives individuals legitimate claims against state and non-state actors for protection and guarantees.

During the Cold War and trickle-down economics theory, ESCR were frequently mis-labled as "benefits," meaning individuals had no basic claim to things like food and shelter. After the Covenant came into force in 1976, jurisprudence around economic and social rights began to develop and great progress following the formation of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.

Economic and social rights require governments and other powerful actors to ensure that people have access to basic needs, and that people have a voice in decisions affecting their well-being. Poverty and injustice are neither inevitable nor natural, but arise from deliberate decisions and policies, and the human rights legal framework provides a way to hold public officials accountable for development policies and priorities.

What are the minimum requirements?
States are bound to ensure minimum human rights regardless of their resource constraints. For ESC rights, minimum core requirements include available foodstuffs for the population, essential primary health care, basic shelter and housing, and the most basic forms of education. The Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights elaborated on state obligations under General Comment 3: The Nature of States Parties Obligations

How do states fulfill their minimum requirements?

What is the Right to Education? The right to education is twofold: it requires free and compulsory primary level education, and it requires that there is equal access to every level of education. A basic education is a right inherent to being human, and thus constitutes an end in itself. However, education is also a means to an end: it is required to ensure all people can participate effectively in a free society, and to promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations and groups. CESR Work on the Right to Education International Instruments on the Right to Education Resources and links on the Right to Education

What does the right to education include?
There are several components to the right to education:

Available: There must be adequate school facilities and buildings. Schools must be healthy and safe physical environments with access to potable water.

Accessible: Education must available to all and free from discrimination. Schools must be in physical proximity to students, and education must be affordable for all students.

Acceptable: Schools must have trained teachers receiving domestically competitive salaries and good quality teaching materials that respect cultural differences. Discipline must respect a child’s dignity.

Adaptable: Schools must adapt or change to meet the needs of children from different communities, children who do not speak English in their homes, and children with disabilities.

All four of these areas are important to ensuring the right to education. However, international law recognizes that some countries may not have the resources to fully implement the right immediately. For those countries, there are two rules: first, consistently work to improve the right, and second, always provide at least the minimum core content. The minimum core content includes (1) the right of access to public institutions without discrimination, and (2) free choice of education without inteference by the state or a third party.

Finally, as with every human right, all countries have the following obligations when it comes to implementing the right to education:

• Respect – the obligation to respect requires governments to refrain from interfering directly or indirectly with the enjoyment of the right to education.