The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the monitoring of its enforcement (2010) (original) (raw)
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Human Rights Law Review, 2010
is to be seen as the outcome of a drafting process that was dominated by ideological prejudices rather than concerns with potential effectiveness. It goes without saying that political and ideological considerations always play a large part in negotiations of human rights instruments. However, the key question is whether this bargaining process has resulted in a potentially effective mechanism for addressing economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights violations, which takes into account the specificity of ESC rights, or rather an instrument which reflects the longstanding ideological prejudices against and scepticism towards ESC rights. Potential effectiveness is believed to have been jeopardised by weak wording, as a weak procedure is unlikely to be able to satisfactorily respond to violations of rights. At times an absolutist search for consensus seems to have been the driving force behind weakening the text.
This contribution aims to give a brief analysis of the General Comment No 24 (2017) on state obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the context of business activities, adopted by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The analysis will be focused on some of the most interesting aspects of the General Comment. The first part will analyse the states’ obligations to protect human rights against violations perpetrated by third parties, which plays a seminal role as to the prevention of harms committed by business entities. The second part of the contribution will be focused on the extraterritorial dimension of states’ obligations stemming from the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: indeed, this dimension receives an unprecedented recognition in the General Comment No 24 (2017).
Respecting, protecting and fulfilling economic and social rights: a UN Security Council?
2004
2 The "General Comments" of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) elaborate the obligations of states to respect, protect and fulfill economic and social human rights. General Comments #12 on the Right to Food, #13 on the Right to Education, and #14 on the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health are particularly useful. For a summary of all CESCR General Comments, see Felice 2003, 60-71.
1. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966 entry into force 3 January 1976, in accordance with article 27 Preamble The States Parties to the present Covenant, Considering that, in accordance with the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, Recognizing that these rights derive from the inherent dignity of the human person, Recognizing that, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ideal of free human beings enjoying freedom from fear and want can only be achieved if conditions are created whereby everyone may enjoy his economic, social and cultural rights, as well as his civil and political rights, Considering the obligation of States under the Charter of the United Nations to promote universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and freedoms, Realizing that the individual, having duties to other individuals and to the community to which he belongs, is under a responsibility to strive for the promotion and observance of the rights recognized in the present Covenant, Agree upon the following articles: PART I Article 1 1. All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
2009
On December 10, 2008, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), reproduced below, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). 1 In so doing, it rectified a three-decades-old asymmetry in international human rights law: the lack of an individual communications procedure for alleged violations of the ICESCR. This asymmetry, reflected in the establishment of an individual complaints procedure for the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and virtually every other United Nations human rights treaty adopted in the interim, 2 traces back to an important U.N. General Assembly decision taken in 1952. Charged with drafting an International Bill of Rights, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights had by 1947 decided that the Bill would consist of a declaration, a convention, and measures of implementation. 3 The first of those, the UDHR, was finalized and adopted on December 10, 1948. Predicated on an understanding that the ideal of human dignity could not be secured without equal attention to the full family of civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights, which could not be divided or considered in isolation from each other, it comprised in
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. A Perspective on Its Development
The American Journal of International Law, 1996
Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966 entry into force 3 January 1976, in accordance with article 27 Preamble The States Parties to the present Covenant, Considering that, in accordance with the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, Recognizing that these rights derive from the inherent dignity of the human person, Recognizing that, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ideal of free human beings enjoying freedom from fear and want can only be achieved if conditions are created whereby everyone may enjoy his economic, social and cultural rights, as well as his civil and political rights, Considering the obligation of States under the Charter of the United Nations to promote universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and freedoms, Realizing that the individual, having duties to other individuals and to the community to which he belongs, is under a responsibility to strive for the promotion and observance of the rights recognized in the present Covenant, Agree upon the following articles: PART I Article 1 1. All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.