Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign vs. The United States
For the original petition filed at the Inter-American Commission, click here
ECONOMIC HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE US
The United States stands virtually alone in the world as a consistent opponent of economic and social rights on both the international and domestic level. The government provides no federal constitutional guarantees for economic and social rights, has yet to ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and has steadily eroded legislative protections for economic and social rights over the last two decades. Moreover, questions of economic and social rights are increasingly delegated to the states – without a corresponding increase in resources and without adequate, or sometimes any, federal minimum standards. While many states provide some constitutional or legislative protections, without national standards to reinforce these pockets of protections, economically disadvantaged Americans – already facing the highest levels of inequality and child poverty in the industrialized world – will continue to face worsening violations of their economic and social rights.
Human rights provides a foundation of legitimacy and support for such national standards, as well as a unifying framework for grassroots and policy organizations that share common concerns about justice and poverty, but lack a common language for collaborative action. By providing a set of internationally validated standards of justice against which US policies and practices can be measured and compared to those of other industrialized countries, human rights also enable advocacy groups to tap into international and regional mechanisms which can monitor US violations from an “outside” perspective. Finally, human rights enable people to combat the stigma of poverty by demanding -- through organizing, public education, legal mechanisms, and media -- their basic needs as rights rather than charity.
THE PETITION
In order to develop and strengthen accountability to economic human rights standards applicable to the US, the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR), the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the International Women’s Human Rights Law Clinic at CUNY, the Human Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison will re-file the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign vs. US petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The campaign – which will represent the petitioners -- is spearheaded by the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU) and made up of community and grassroots groups using economic human rights standards and language to advocate for social justice in the US.
The petition was originally filed in October of 1999, but was stalled due to changes in the procedural requirements of the Commission. The petition focuses on the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (“welfare reform”) as a major example of US regression in the area of social and economic human rights. The US is bound under regional law to adhere to the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man – which protects economic and social human rights. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has jurisdiction over the US by virtue of US membership in the Organization of American States and has declared itself competent to entertain petitions invoking economic and social rights.
ADVOCACY OPPORTUNITIES
This regional mechanism provides an opportunity to develop the content of the economic human rights standards in the context of the US, and to build up the processes by which such standards are determined and applied. While the enforcement powers of the Inter-American Commission are limited, this forum does present an additional and unique advocacy tool for communities who are claiming an adequate standard of living as a matter of right.
In light of this, the legal team will work with the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign members to use the petition as an educational and advocacy tool through public education, workshops, presentations, and local and national media. Moreover, when the Inter-American Commission issues recommendations regarding this petition, CCR, CESR and the participating law clinics will disseminate and publicize them, as well as hold meetings with appropriate government officials regarding the Commission’s findings. The legal team will also develop an executive summary of the petition to distribute widely (including via websites) along with the petition. The petition and the executive summary will be posted on the CCR, CESR, KWRU the Columbia Human Rights Institute websites.
The PPEHRC v. US petition will be breaking new ground, as it is the first petition claiming social and economic human rights violations in the US. As in any such case, its impact will be measured, not only by the ultimate findings of the tribunal, but also by the public dialogue it generates on this vital topic.
