Economic, social, and cultural rights in international law contemporary issues and challenges

E c o n o m i c , S o c i a l , a n d C u lt u r a l R i g h t s i n I n t e r n at i o n a l L aw Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights In International Law Contemporary Issues and Challenges Edited by E i b e R i e d e l , G i l l es   G i a c c a , and C h r i s to p h e   G o l ay Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © The several contributors 2014 The moral rights of the authors‌have been asserted First Edition published in 2014 Impression: All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer Crown copyright material is reproduced under Class Licence Number C01P0000148 with the permission of OPSI and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Control Number: 2013952014 ISBN 978–0–19–968597–4 Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and for information only Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website referenced in this work Acknowledgments This book was developed based upon an experts meeting organized at the Villa Moynier in Geneva on 10 and 11 February 2011 The initiative was part of the Swiss Human Rights Chair’s projects supported by the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and implemented by the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights (the Geneva Academy) For this purpose, a blend of academic and practitioners’ perspectives was sought to cover a variety of contemporary issues and challenges in the realization of economic, social, and cultural rights The book is the product of tenacity and patience In part, this is due to the number of contributors to this volume, but also to the fact that it is never a simple or straightforward undertaking to have legal scholars and practitioners—all extremely busy people—commit themselves to providing their work for publication The journey has thus been rather a long one, with many twists and turns, and not without its challenges at various points along the way Even though a great variety of topics has been touched upon, it is clear that in the area of economic, social, and cultural rights more challenges lie in wait, for which future research is desirable, but we are convinced that the book has singled out particularly pressing ones Accordingly, we are deeply grateful and indebted to all those who contributed their work for publication in this edited volume This book would not have been possible without the support and assistance of many talented and dedicated individuals For superb assistance in the editorial process, we are greatly indebted to Binesh Hass, whose capacity to work under tight deadlines and provide excellent editing has been admirable We should also like to thank Dr Stuart Casey-Maslen, Head of Research of the Geneva Academy, for his support in editing a number of chapters We are most grateful to the Directors of the Geneva Academy, Professor Paola Gaeta and Professor Andrew Clapham, for having supported the project throughout, as well as to the Executive Manager, Kamelia Kemileva, for her support and assistance Naturally, such a research initiative would not have been possible without the generous financial support of key donors We thus should like to thank the Swiss FDFA, in particular Ambassador Ralf Heckner and Ambassador Thomas Greminger,  Human Security Division, as well as Mirko Guilietti and Nathalie Erard, Section for Human Rights Policy, Human Security Division We are also most grateful to the Law Faculty of Oxford University and the Oxford Martin School for funding our project A special thank you to Sandra Fredman, Dapo Akande, and Professor Simon Caney, the Co-Directors of the Oxford Human Rights for Future Generations programme for their undivided support, as well as to our colleagues Dr Jaakko Kuosmanen, Dr Dominic Roser, and Zoe Davis-Heaney vi Acknowledgments Furthermore, we are grateful to Dr Takhmina Karimova for her advice and suggestions throughout the project, as well as to our colleagues of the Geneva Academy Dr Annyssa Bellal, Dr Sharon Weill, Daniela Renggli, Dr Ioana Cismas, Ivona Tuscan, Antonella Ghio, Nathalie Staffler, Antoine Kaboré, Tatiana Avanthay, Jean-Baptiste Maillart, and Antonio Coco We also acknowledge the important contribution of Claire Mahon who started the project with us and whose expertise helped shape the book We dedicate this book to Claire Special thanks are due to the team at Oxford University Press for their support and work on this book, in particular Merel Alstein, Anthony Hinton, and John Louth, as well as to Anto Aroshini and his team from the Newgen Publishing & Data Services for their great work on the final manuscript We are also most grateful to the talented Yashka Steiner who designed the cover of the book Our hope is that our work will make some useful contributions to the important subject matter to which this volume is dedicated:  the implementation and realization of economic, social, and cultural rights Professor Eibe Riedel, Dr Gilles Giacca, and Dr Christophe Golay Geneva/Oxford, March 2014 Contents Table of Cases Table of Treaties, Legislation, and Other Relevant Instruments List of Abbreviations List of Contributors xv xxiii xxvii xxxi I  I n t ro d u c t i o n 1. The Development of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in International Law Eibe Riedel, Gilles Giacca, and Christophe Golay II  C h a l l e n g es i n t h e P rot e c t i o n o f E S C R i g h t s i n T i m es o f C r i s i s 2. The Sovereign Bond Markets and Socio-Economic Rights: Understanding the Challenge of Austerity Mary Dowell-Jones 3. Economic and Social Rights in the ‘Great Recession’: Towards a Human Rights-Centred Economic Policy in Times of Crisis Sally-Anne Way, Nicholas Lusiani, and Ignacio Saiz 4. Realizing Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights for All Sandra Ratjen and Manav Satija 5. Gender and Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights Christine Chinkin 51 86 111 134 III  I n t e r n at i o n a l D i m e n s i o n o f E S C R i g h t s O b l i g at i o n s 6. The Nature and Meaning of ‘International Assistance and Cooperation’ under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 163 Takhmina Karimova 7. Corporations and Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights 193 Olivier De Schutter I V. T h e Re l at i o n s h i p b e t w ee n E S C R i g h t s a n d ot h e r Le g a l Re g i m es 8. Trade and Investment Agreements: What Role for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in International Economic Law? Hans Morten Haugen 227 viii Contents 9. Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in the World Trade Organization: Legal Aspects and Practice Holger P Hestermeyer 10. From the Other Shore: Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights from an International Environmental Law Perspective Stéphanie Chuffart and Jorge E Viñuales 11. The Relationship between Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and International Humanitarian Law Gilles Giacca 12. Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights: International Criminal Law’s Blind Spot? Larissa van den Herik 260 286 308 343 V  C o n c e p t s a n d To o l s to Me a s u r e t h e P ro g r ess i ve Re a l i z at i o n o f E S C R i g h t s 13. Budget Analysis and Economic and Social Rights Aoife Nolan 14. Human Rights Impact Assessments: Emerging Practice and Challenges Simon Walker 369 391 V I  T r e n d s i n t h e J u s t i c i a b i l i t y a n d M o n i to r i n g o f E S C R i g h t s at t h e N at i o n a l a n d I n t e r n at i o n a l Leve l 15. Judicial Review in National Courts: Recognition and Responsiveness Malcolm Langford 16. The Intersection of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and Civil and Political Rights Ioana Cismas 17. Building Bridges: National Human Rights Institutions and Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights Allison Corkery and Duncan Wilson 18. Transitional Justice Without Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights? Frank Haldemann and Rachelle Kouassi Index 417 448 473 498 517 Detailed Contents Table of Cases Table of Treaties, Legislation, and Other Relevant Instruments List of Abbreviations List of Contributors xv xxiii xxvii xxxi I  I n t ro d u c t i o n 1. The Development of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in International Law Eibe Riedel, Gilles Giacca, and Christophe Golay Introduction Historical Setting The Practice of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights The Nature of Obligations under the ICESCR Sources of ESC Rights other than Treaties Using Indicators in Monitoring ESC Rights International Adjudication of ESC Rights: the OP-ICESCR Outline of the Book: Contemporary Issues and Challenges Conclusion 3 12 20 23 28 35 48 II  C h a l l e n g es i n t h e P rot e c t i o n o f E S C R i g h t s i n T i m es o f C r i s i s 2. The Sovereign Bond Markets and Socio-Economic Rights: Understanding the Challenge of Austerity Mary Dowell-Jones Introduction The Noticeable Absence of Human Rights in the Age of Austerity The Challenges Facing Public Finances in the Advanced Economies Austerity and the ICESCR Austerity and Sustainable Human Rights The Role of the Financial Sector in the Debt Crisis Reconciling Rights and Austerity Conclusion 3. Economic and Social Rights in the ‘Great Recession’: Towards a Human Rights-Centred Economic Policy in Times of Crisis Sally-Anne Way, Nicholas Lusiani, and Ignacio Saiz Introduction 51 51 52 56 61 65 68 80 84 86 86 512 Frank Haldemann and Rachelle Kouassi arguments against ESC rights adjudication is the claim that it is undemocratic By enabling the courts to enforce ESC rights, so the argument goes, too much power is handed over to unelected judges on social policy matters that affect the interests of nearly everyone and, therefore, should be dealt with by a representative legislature This is a powerful objection, and courts have tried to respond to it by adopting innovative models of ‘weak judicial review’.64 An oft-noted example is the South African Constitutional Court’s ruling in the Grootboom case.65 The claimant, Irene Grootboom, and other applicants in the case had been evicted from an illegal squatter camp and had moved onto an adjacent sports field, with little more than plastic sheets for protection In its judgment, the Court ruled that the political branches of South Africa had violated the Constitution by failing to develop an appropriate housing plan to address the needs of emergency shelter The Court, however, refused to recognize a right ‘to shelter or housing immediately upon demand’.66 Adopting the so-called ‘reasonableness model’, the Court merely held that the state had the obligation to devise a ‘coherent housing programme’ and to devote ‘a reasonable part of the national housing budget’ to meeting the immediate needs of the poorest and most desperate.67 Prominent constitutionalists lauded the decision as a promising approach to social rights enforcement, attentive to both the value of democratic self-governance and the limited nature of public budgets.68 Other arguments against ESC rights adjudication should also be seriously considered and discussed, but this is surely not the place to so.69 In what follows, we shall confine the discussion to one kind of argument that is of particular relevance here:  the claim that ESC rights litigation is largely ineffective as a medium for advancing social justice, especially with respect to impoverished and marginalized social groups It may well be true that ESC rights are no longer mere ‘paper rights’, since courts around the world are now actively enforcing them But does ESC rights adjudication deliver what it promises? Does it really serve the interests of poor and marginalized groups, as is generally assumed? In a recent article, constitutional law theorist David Landau challenges, quite fundamentally, the common view of ESC rights litigation as a powerful medium for social transformation Drawing on extensive fieldwork in Colombia and on evidence from other countries, he argues that such litigation tends to benefit the middle or upper classes rather than the poor ‘Courts’, Landau concludes, ‘are far more likely to protect pension rights for civil servants or housing subsidies for the 64   See, for instance, M.  Tushnet, Weak Courts, Strong Rights:  Judicial Review and Social Welfare Rights in Comparative Constitutional Law (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008), 18 65   Government of the Republic of South Africa v Grootboom and Others, 2000 (11) BCLR 1169 66   Government of the Republic of South Africa v Grootboom and Others, 2000 (11) BCLR 1169, para. 95 67   Government of the Republic of South Africa v Grootboom and Others, 2000 (11) BCLR 1169, paras 41 and 66 68  See, especially, C.  Sunstein, Designing Democracy:  What Constitutions Do (Oxford:  Oxford University Press, 2001), 221–237 69  For an extensive critical assessment of arguments against social rights, see J.  King, supra note 22, at 3–8 Transitional Justice Without Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights? 513 middle class than they are to transform the lives of marginalised groups’.70 Octavio Luiz Motta Ferraz is equally critical about health litigation in Brazil Empirical research demonstrates, he asserts, that social rights adjudication in this field has ‘clearly not benefitted the poor’.71 Virgílio Afonso da Silva is even harsher in his assessment of the Brazilian courts’ role in promoting social justice ‘Empirical data has shown’, he insists, ‘that an effective access to the judicial system in Brazil is almost exclusively reserved for the financially well-resourced litigants Courts are actually an institutional voice for the rich’.72 According to Roberto Gargarella, the phenomenon applies to other Latin American countries as well He speaks of ‘the Latin American legal paradox’:  while Latin American countries tend to provide for social rights-rich constitutions, the underprivileged find it difficult to access a judicial system that is ‘too far removed from the people’.73 It is tempting to regard this as an epiphenomenon, a sort of ‘Latin American hiccup’ But that would be too simple As Jeff King notes with respect to constitutional adjudication in the United Kingdom, ‘only a fool would disregard the substantial barriers faced in access to justice by impecunious claimants in their quest for justice in the welfare state’.74 In response to such scepticism, proponents of judicial enforcement of ESC rights tend to invoke the (supposedly promising) experience in India and South Africa In both countries, the judiciary has indeed taken innovative approaches to the judicial protection of socio-economic rights, and several studies found that there is evidence of a positive impact of litigation for the poor and disadvantaged The fact remains, however, that the ranks of the poor are still shockingly vast in India.75 As for South Africa, it is one of the most unequal societies in the world.76 This should give pause even to the most zealous advocates of ESC rights litigation All told, then, caution is required about what ESC rights adjudication can achieve, especially with respect to deep-rooted social injustices in low-income, conflict-ridden societies The answer to the question of whether courts can be useful vehicles for achieving social justice cannot, of course, be determined in the abstract Much depends on the political and social conditions prevailing in the 70   D Landau, ‘The Reality of Social Rights Adjudication’, 53 Harvard International Law Journal (2012), 402–459, 402 (emphasis omitted) 71   OLM Ferraz, ‘Harming the Poor through Social Rights Litigation: Lessons from Brazil’, 89 Texas Law Review (2011), 1643–1668, 1667 72   V.A. da Silva, ‘Taking from the Poor to Give to the Rich’ (his emphasis), available at (last accessed 10 November 2013) 73   R Gargarella, ‘ “Too Far Removed from the People”—Access to Justice for the Poor: The Case of Latin America’, UNDP Issue Paper (Bergen: Chr Michelsen Institute, 2002) 74  King, supra note 22, at 85 75   According to a recent World Bank Report, one-third of the world’s poorest live in India See World Bank, ‘The State of the Poor: Where Are the Poor and Where Are They Poorest?’, 2, available at (last accessed 10 November 2013) 76   South Africa’s Gini index measure—the best known measure of inequality, in which represents the most equal and 100 the least—was 63.1 in 2009 See also ‘Over the Rainbow’, The Economist (London, 20 October 2012) 514 Frank Haldemann and Rachelle Kouassi political community at which the argument about judicial ESC rights is directed Arguably, ESC rights adjudication works best when there is a reasonably independent and well-functioning judiciary and a good-faith political commitment to promoting social rights; conditions that cannot simply be taken for granted in transitional societies, especially poor and war-ridden ones.77 Moreover, and significantly, a lack of institutional resources, a common problem in such contexts, is likely to widen the gap between the constitutional guarantees of ESC rights and the actual enforcement of these rights.78 A certain degree of modesty about what can be achieved is, therefore, in order 5.  Conclusion: The Case for Legal Humility The neglect of ESC rights in the dominant ‘script’ of transitional justice is rarely explicitly defended Much of it, we suspect, has to with some old shibboleths about the (supposedly sharp) analytical division between CP and ESC rights The matter is too important to be left unattended, however, and this is why the ESC rights thesis as a substantial contribution to the topic should be welcomed The question of whether social, economic, and cultural concerns should be an integral part of transitional justice discourses is, after all, more than a sideline issue; it involves a debate about the fundamentals of transitional justice, about its meaning and aspirations When they take an explicit stance, advocates of a narrow reading of transitional justice usually make an instrumental case for excluding ESC rights By expanding transitional justice to broad social and economic concerns, they argue, we risk freighting it with expectations so overstretched and impractical as to make the whole project meaningless In this view, particularly aptly defended by Lars Waldorf, transitional justice is best seen as an ‘inherently short-term, legalistic and corrective’ enterprise, essentially focused on accountability for gross violations of CP rights.79 While there is good reason to sympathize with such an attempt to offer a realistic view of transitional justice, it risks losing track of what is believed to be the ‘core’ concern of efforts at ‘coming to terms with the past’:  to restore, or build from scratch, a minimally decent social order in the face of large-scale atrocity Without due consideration of basic social rights, understood as entitlements to social goods that are essential for human welfare (food, decent housing, health, etc.), any such project is doomed from the start Or as Amélie Oksenberg Rorty puts it, somewhat more succinctly: ‘First let’s eat and then talk of right and wrong’.80   See King, supra note 22, at 10–12   For an illustrative example, see E. Skaar and JOS Van-Dúnem, ‘Courts under Construction in Angola: What Can They Do for the Poor?’, in R. Gargarella, P. Domingo, and T. Roux (eds.), Courts and Social Transformation in New Democracies: An Institutional Voice for the Poor? (Farnham: Ashgate, 2006), 213–232 (suggesting that the failure to enforce socio-economic rights in Angola is largely due to a lack of human and technical resources within the justice system itself ) 79  Waldorf, supra note 9, at 179 80   A Oksenberg Rorty, ‘From Decency to Civility by Way of Economics: “First Let’s Eat and Then Talk of Right and Wrong” ’, 64 Social Research (1997), 112–130 77 78 Transitional Justice Without Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights? 515 From this perspective, ESC rights are integral rather than marginal to the transitional justice project However, for all its value, ‘social rights talk’ provides no panacea, no quick fix, for the challenges of creating the conditions for social decency, civility, and even justice in the aftermath of political violence Transitional justice, as we understand it, is a slow and messy business The road to change is often difficult and winding, filled with genuine dilemmas and real costs, and there is surely no recipe, no algorithm, for deciding how best to deal with a particular society’s violent past The language of ESC rights, or human rights tout court, has certainly a great potential to inspire social transformation in such contexts; but it is necessary to resist the temptation of getting wrapped up in a kind of ‘absolutist’ human rights rhetoric that tends to obscure, rather than illuminate, the hard choices of transitional governance and ultimately inhibit the art of compromise and broader dialogue about what is realistically achievable, here and now At times, the proponents of the ESC rights thesis risk falling into just this trap This is especially true regarding the issue of judicial enforcement Much of the case for ESC rights adjudication reflects, it can be argued, what Conor Gearty describes somewhat provocatively but aptly as ‘the activist’s desire for a “quick fix” ’ and ‘the lawyer’s partiality for the legal’.81 Not only advocates of ESC rights tend to assume—all too uncritically, perhaps—that courts can provide an effective avenue for advancing social justice; they will generally pay little, if any, attention to the backdrop of social and political conditions which, especially in contexts of fragile transitions and limited resources, may render the judicial enforcement of socio-economic rights prone to all sorts of distorted outcomes Paradoxically enough, the South African Grootboom case provides an illustration of how the judicial enforcement of ESC rights can prove stubbornly difficult, especially in grossly unequal societies.82 The word ‘paradoxically’ is used because proponents of ESC rights have spoken enthusiastically of ‘an extraordinary decision by the South African Constitutional Court’, lauding its approach to the right to adequate housing as ‘novel and exceedingly promising’.83 And yet, in August 2008 the affair came to a sad end Irene Grootboom, the named plaintiff in the case, died ‘homeless and penniless’, in her 40s, while waiting for a decent house eight years after winning the case.84 True, the case led to expansive legislative reforms, but this was hardly a consolation for the one who spent the rest of her life in a shack Something, a deeply felt sense of injustice, was lost along the way Giving effect to ESC rights is no simple task, of course; and there are real questions about whether courts are well positioned to enforce such guarantees But beyond that debate, the Grootboom case is perhaps best seen as an illustration of the deep dilemmas and trade-offs involved in realizing—making ‘real’—ESC rights  Gearty, supra note 50, at 35   Government of the Republic of South Africa v Grootboom, supra note 65 83  Sunstein, supra note 68, at 221 84   P Joubert, ‘Grootboom dies homeless and penniless’, Mail and Guardian (Johannesburg, August 2008), available at (last accessed 10 November 2013) 81 82 516 Frank Haldemann and Rachelle Kouassi in transitional societies haunted by the spectre of systemic, deep-rooted violence in the form of socio-economic mal-distribution and cultural misrecognition Simplistically, absolute formulations will not What is needed, rather, is a kind of ‘legal humility’ that enables ‘a more honest acknowledgement of the limitations of legal thinking and practice that aren’t grounded in “the real world” ’.85 Here, as elsewhere, one should take seriously Berlin’s advice: beware the hedgehog, follow the fox.86 85  McEvoy, supra note 12, at 44.     Berlin, supra note 54 86 Index accession  to the World Trade Organization  278 adequate food  18, 96, 114, 170, 173, 176, 201, 232, 240, 279, 289, 321, 326, 333, 334, 339, 350, 354, 374, 380, 392, 393, 400, 412, 507 adequate standard of living  5, 6, 48, 62, 64, 82, 85, 88, 92, 109, 120, 124, 139, 144, 146, 173, 184, 201, 233, 234, 243, 281, 298, 305, 307, 321, 322, 328, 331–5, 354–6, 404, 457, 483 aid  and food  199, 370 and humanitarian  149, 165, 205 and interpretation of Covenant provision  47 and interpretation of statutory provisions  62 and interpretation of structural principles  62 and legal representation  440 and the Paris Declaration  197 as food  190, 199, 326, 370 as standard of achievement  176 foreign 75, 236 legal 64, 443 of first aid approach  319 to children  168 Arab Spring 48, 501 Arbour, Louise  45, 46, 48, 150, 151, 352, 365, 499, 502–10 armed conflict  affecting state behaviour  320 and economic, social, and cultural rights  5, 14, 43, 189, 190–2, 308–20, 340, 353 and education  320, 329, 362 and food  354 and forced evictions  361 and health  357 and human rights law  317 and international humanitarian law  312–15, 327–30, 340, 356–62 and international law  40 and medical assistance  358 and natural disasters  375 and the environment  332 and the International Court of Justice  316 and the law of occupation  313 and the protection of cultural heritage  364 and water  356 application of human rights law in  311 between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda  316 between Israel and Gaza  335–7 children in  167 gender dimensions of  39, 146–55 in treaties  242, 243 internal  185, 314, 341 international  185, 313, 355, 359, 375 law of 43 legal discourse and practice of  311 low-intensity 313 non-international  185, 314, 320, 360, 363 asylum seekers  and assistance from NGOs  29, 30 and the right to food  436 rejected 469 autonomy  and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 118, 163 of the individual  344 of the young generation  81 structural and functional  474 boys  and sexual violence  151 minimum age of marriage for  142, 145 right to education of  141, 142, 157, 158 Canada  and minimalist conceptions of economic, social, and cultural rights  420, 469 discussions of discrimination and poverty in 125 free trade agreement with Columbia 394, 413 Canadian Human Rights Act  and anti-poverty advocacy  125 and unequal pay for men and women  126 children  and armed conflict  167 and education  88, 318–20, 329, 330, 333, 341, 362, 430–2, 462, 466, 472, 483 and health  319, 386 and labour  247 and rape  150 antiretroviral treatment of  483 mental health of  381, 382 Palestinian 328, 329 Roma  120, 121, 143 special measures of protection  138 violence against  329 with disabilities  119, 120 civil and political rights  and Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines 490 and constitutional history of economic, social, and cultural rights  420 518 Index civil and political rights (cont.) and human rights in general  286 and human rights impact assessment  391 and international criminal law  343 and international law  314 and social unrest  88 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights  7, 111, 118, 137, 138, 230, 243, 295, 301, 308, 321, 361, 450, 489 and their intersection with economic, social, and cultural rights  34, 46, 47, 138, 172, 286, 448–72, 475, 487, 489, and transitional justice  498, 499, 501 Coercion and Distribution in a Supposedly Non-Coercive State 207 Cold War  6, 45, 48, 344, 452–9, 473, 503, 507 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)  and defining gender  135 and discrimination  136 and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights  135–59 and principle of non-discrimination  17 and right to water  356 Optional Protocol to  29–33, 311 Corporate Citizenship Report 54, 70, 71 customary law  and disaster relief  188 and human rights  21 and investment tribunals  255 and the prohibition of the use of starvation as a method of warfare  326 and the protection of the environment 332, 334 and the South African Bill of Rights (1993) 218 and the treatment of foreigners  257 democracy  and human rights  112, 180, 247, consolidating 276 constitutional 439 environmental 299 market 423 multi-party 351 promotion of  196 developed states 15, 165 and the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights  178 developing states  and development assistance  174 and the obligation of international assistance 165 and the primary concern of the West  453 development  discourse 163 economic  54, 94, 96, 99, 168, 181, 183, 477 international  90, 168, 169, 175, 180, 236, 494 Millennium Development Goals  24, 39, 176, 183, 234–6, 494 sustainable  3, 70, 81, 83, 182, 290, 291, 294, 493, 494, 496 disability  114, 119, 123, 127, 140, 169, 387 discrimination  16, 17, 37, 96, 97 and government conduct  96 and non-discrimination  9, 13–21, 38, 95, 96, 104, 105, 112–26, 131–9, 146, 154–9, 221, 233, 239, 240, 252, 257, 261, 386, 399, 469, 470, 383 and migrants  88 and substantive equality  96, 111, 113 and women  37 distribution  and strategies  152 of food supplies  172, 232 of health facilities  65 of income  389 of power  136 of resources  135, 326 unequal 154 domestic law  implementation of economic, social, and cultural rights in  11, 24, 29, 46, 476 incorporation of international treaty obligations in  436 and international human rights law  108, 199 and sovereign debt  109 and the freedom of association in the UK 223, 224 and the World Trade Organization  243 restrictions on foreigners possessing land 242, 243 economic crisis  and global human rights implications of 86–113 and women’s human rights  149 and austerity measures  385 and vulnerable groups  386 and progressive economics  388 and neoliberalism  389 economic growth  38, 56, 82–3, 87, 89, 98, 100, 102, 110, 221, 276 education  access to  120, 124, 138, 141, 142, 147, 329 American education jurisprudence  428–35 and armed conflict  340, 341, 363, 364 and gender relations  141, 142, 157, 158 continuity of  320 dismantling of educational institutions  333 for disabled persons in the Occupied Palestinian Territories  120 higher 506 judicial 441 lack of  336 in armed conflict  329 Index of children  318–20, 329, 430–2, 471, 472, 483 primary  88, 435, 504, 508 private 379 right to  9, 13, 46, 64, 88, 94, 104, 139, 150, 155, 157, 158, 278, 301, 307, 314, 320, 328–30, 333, 338, 340, 341, 350, 362, 370, 380, 419, 427, 428, 429, 433–5, 442, 447, 462, 470–2 standard of  435 elderly 64, 152 employment  right to 9 of coloured people  22 and austerity measures  36 rate 37 and public sector  59 and international human rights  73 and social and economic trauma  83 and under-employment  83 equality  and comparative distributive responsiveness 442–6 and education  104 and gender  132, 134–60, 386, 457 and income  86–90 and intersectionality  469 and legislation  118, 386 and non discrimination  9, 95, 105, 112–26, 155, 156 and public sector duties  104 and rights  38, 39, 95, 96, 126–32, 469 and school financing  430 and standard review for equality lawsuits 126–9 assessments of  413 for Romani people  120, 121 distinction between non-discrimination and equality 122 Equality and Human Right’s Commission (UK) 66 radical equality  443 weighted equality  443 European Commission on Human Rights 219, 267 European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) 131, 140 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)  xiii, 10, 30, 47, 105, 147, 205, 223, 264–5, 267, 288, 386, 465, 489 European Court of Human Rights  xiii, 10, 105, 147, 205, 206, 254, 264, 287, 288, 299, 347, 421, 425, 465, 468 European Court of Justice (ECJ) 108, 220, 266 European Social Charter  10, 12, 29, 308, 436 European Union (EU)  xiii, 10, 29, 36, 59, 66, 74, 79, 83, 89, 105, 108, 109, 169, 189, 229, 247, 248, 251, 261, 266, 273, 275, 282, 293, 303, 390, 412, 438, 480, 493 519 exploitation  economic and social in relation to women 138, 146 of children  440, 441 of copper and molybdenum in the Lori region of Armenia  305 of indigenous people in Uganda  200 of markets  93 of natural resources by high ranking Uganda officials 323 of oil fields in the Niger delta  197 extraterritoriality 196 food  humanitarian aid as  326, 354 right to  9, 18, 21, 27, 41, 88, 95, 139, 154, 165, 170, 172, 176, 197, 199, 201, 208, 217, 228, 235, 239, 241, 278, 279, 284, 298, 305, 307, 312, 326, 354, 360, 393–6, 404, 436, 441, 446, 456, 458, 462, 484, 488, 499 security of  88, 237, 240, 241, 280, 284, 289 supplies 232 trade of  232–4 withholding of  222 foreign policy  18, 170, 350 France  59, 71, 78, 79, free trade  xiii, 45, 94, 152, 229, 230, 282, 296, 393, 394, 396, 398, 400, 402, 403, 410, 413 freedom  civic and political  454, 498 rights 6, 34 of assembly  314 of choice  133, 221 of contract  217, 221, 222 of expression  107, 205, 314, 346, 452 of movement  141, 147, 321, 352, 359 of press  206, 314 of religion  206, 470, 471 of thought  103, 221 to act  136 girls  and economic inequality  146 equal rights of  139 female genital mutilation of  119 minimum age of marriage for  142, 145 right to education of  88, 141, 142, 158 unpaid work by  144 violence against  144, 363 with disabilities  119, 120 globalization  and financial markets  52 and gender  146–8 and labour  152 and neoliberalism  60, 85, 146 and sustainability  70 Gross Domestic Product (GDP)  xiv, 30, 168 Great Depression  5, 86, 100 520 Index habeas corpus 21 health  right to  19, 24, 25, 45, 62–5, 96, 167, 198, 213, 216, 217, 275, 276, 280, 281, 284, 289, 290, 298, 305–7, 312, 319, 325, 326, 332–40, 357, 391, 394–400, 404–7, 413, 459, 470, 472, 479, 480 healthcare  57–9, 82–5, 119–21, 146, 147, 152–7, 207, 309, 312, 313, 319, 331, 341, 342, 350, 357–9, 466, 469, 470, 481, 487, 489, 499, 509, 510 HIV/AIDS  114, 119, 159, 233, 359, 363, 439, 465, 506 households  female-headed 137, 152 large 439 poor 100 housing  adequate  121, 139, 144, 154, 362, 457, right to  32, 88, 96, 130, 197, 199, 298, 307, 314, 324, 325, 340, 389, 423, 437, 440, 445, 448, 462, 466–8, 489 Human Rights Commission  xiv, xv, 66, 126, 166, 393, 394, 474, 476–81, 484–7, 489–90, 492 Human Rights Committee (HRC)  11, 30, 33, 107, 117, 301, 361, 450, 469 Human Rights Council (HRC)  and domestic legitimacy  476 and human rights impact assessments  413 and human rights non-treaty sources  23 and international cooperation  166 and litigation by individuals, groups, and NGOs 29 and the gendered understanding of economic, social, and economic rights  139 and the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights  28 and the right to food  241, 400 endorsement of the 2011 Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights  40, 41, 194, 231, 236 on extreme poverty  125 on safe and clean drinking water and sanitation 458 on the global financial crisis  98 human rights law  and arbitral tribunals  252–8 and armed conflict  310, 311 and austerity  80, 81 and corporations  193–224 and economic models  91 and education  320 and future generations  68 and impact assessment  408–10 and international criminal law  343–52, 366, 371 and international humanitarian law  43, 149, 309–15 and international obligations  196 and intersectionality  449 and social security  67 and the Gaza conflict  335–7 and the Israeli Separation Wall  321–4 and the World Trade Organization  269 and use of excessive force by Israeli forces against Lebanese civilians  334–5 appropriation by private economic actors 105 challenges to 39 compliance with  62, 66 diffusion of responsibilities as a problem for 107 implications of austerity on  38 interpretation of  309 monitoring of  313 normative standards and principles of  91–7 standards of 37 universality of  39, 111, 113, 489 hygiene  environmental and industrial  233, 289, 290 inequality (see equality) income  and conflict-ridden societies  513 and service  81 and social violence  149 and the World Trade Organization  281 and war-torn societies  502 corporate 67 government 57 inequality  86, 90, 102, 501, lack of  124 spent on food  88 internally displaced persons  149, 150, 176, 355, 479 Inter-American Commission Human Rights 451 International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination 118 Inter-American Court of Human Rights 47, 111, 152, 153, 234, 288, 365, 421, 425, 500 Inter-American human rights system 451 International Court of Justice (ICJ)  and corporate entity law  208, 209 and customary international law  233 and general principles of law  237 and humanitarian assistance  190 and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights  33, 34, 190 and the Israeli Separation Wall  320–4 and the lex specialis maxim  315 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)  and discrimination  469 and right to property  459 different from the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights  7, 8 Index drafting process of  454, 457 violations of  450 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)  and austerity  61–5 and budget analysis  373–86 and climate change  292 and constitutionalization  424 and crises  81 and culture  363, 364 and education  362, 363 and discrimination  113, 156 and domestic law  46, 424, 476 and domestic violence  145 and fair remuneration  201 and forced labour  243 and Gaza conflict  335–7 and gender  134–60 and global economic crisis  87 and health  290, 319, 332, 357–9 and housing  361, 362 and human rights obligations  33 and humanitarian assistance  359–61 and infant mortality  319 and international cooperation  164–6, 175–8, 182, 189–92 and intersectionality  469 and Israeli Separation Wall  320–5 and justiciability  422 and non-justiciability  45 and recent protests  48 and retrogression  59 and right to property  459 and sanctions  337 and social welfare institutions  137 and state compliance  27 and state cooperation  174, 175 and state obligation  151, 169 and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) 135–59 and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR)  231–4, 290, 371 and the World Trade Organization  42, 260–85 and water resources management  292 as an economic charter  53 different from the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights  7, 8 drafting process of  454, 457 imprecise wording of  349 Optional Protocol to  4–11, 28, 29–34, 35, 48, 116–18, 128–32, 159, 160–70, 175, 178, 261, 285, 295, 296, 311, 323, 330, 375, 385, 418, 424, 450, 457–60, 493 international criminal law  and adequate standards of living  333, 334 521 and economic, social, and cultural rights  44, 352–66, 510 and human rights law  343–52, 366, 371 and the principle of legality  349 international human rights law (see human rights law) international humanitarian law (IHL)  and access to food  354 and armed conflict  357–64 and economic, social, and cultural rights 308–42 and human rights law  43, 149, 309 and Israel  322, 325 and non-state actors  314 and Sri Lanka  326 and the protection of persons in the event of disasters  164, 184, 190 and the survival of civilians  184 application to UN peacekeeping missions 267 compliance with  315 general principles of  185 relevance of economic, social, and cultural rights to the application of  318–20 role in the interpretation of economic, social, and cultural rights  320–24 International Labour Organization  55, 87, 277, 377 jus cogens  21, 109, 111 justiciability  and economic, social, and cultural rights  112, 118, 126, 132, 133, 284, 285, 385, 417–31, 435, 438, 453, 454, 457, 460–5, 468, 478, and international humanitarian law  313 and labour rights  284 and the right to health  405 constitutional rights  421 objections of  434, 451 right to housing  437 labour  child  216, 247, 278, 400, 440, 441 conditions of  82, 152, 314 costs 281 forced  147, 243, 244, 247, 314, 376, 478 gendered  142, 146, 148 international organization of (see International Labour Organization) law 198, 483 market 119 migration of  147, 148 of women  478 policies 148 prison 243, 244 protections 90, 147 reforms 89 rights  87, 153, 216, 218, 247, 251, 281, 284, 404, 441, 469 522 Index labour (cont.) risks 55 sexual division of  146 standards  19, 247, 277, 281, 282, 400 language  and economic, social, and cultural rights  12, 182, 302, 388, 511, 515 and humanitarian assistance  185 discriminatory 142 gender neutral  137, 138 human rights  118, 234, 246, 259, 279, 293, 294, 298, 309, 312, 502 of development  477 of duties  191 of obligation  179, 246 sexist 158 the appropriation of human rights language by private businesses  105 legal humility 514–16 marginalised groups and persons  and collective action  133 and education  104 and health services  19 and litigation  133, 425 and NGOs  29, 30 and non-discrimination  16, 17, 95, 104, 156 and risk factors  129 and state sponsored projects  36, 37 and the management of resources  326 and the rule of law  125 as women and ethnic  112, 140, 143, discrimination against  88, 118, 124 organizations representing  121 unemployment rate of  221 medicine  access to  20, 231–3, 279–84, 393, 398, 400–8, 443 and patents  280–3 deprivation of  358 holistic 470 judicial orders for  446 refusal of  470 migrants  and gender  138 as asylum seekers  29, 436, 469 discrimination against  88, 387 illegal status  138 prejudice towards  387 workers  144, 147, 152, 153, 349 minorities  and assistance from NGOs  29, 30 and gender  143, 144 and the use of public interest in litigation to advance the rights of  130 and unemployment  87 and unequal access to education in the UK 104 mortality  infant  138, 319, 461, 465, 498 maternal  138, 155, 159, 319 neoliberalism  accounts for constitutional reluctance  423 concerns about the withering away of the state 58 paradigm shift from  389 triumph of 60 zeitgeist of Ireland’s elite  427 non-discrimination  and equality  9, 95, 105, 112–26, 155, 156 and education  157 and European Convention on Human Rights 386 and employment  221 and health  233 and human rights law  252, 257 and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights  13–21 and Article of the UN Charter  111 and European Convention of Human Rights 104, 105 and minimum core obligations  95 and sex and gender  134, 157–60 and UK Human Rights Act  104 and women  146 and World Trade Organization  261 expansion of  132 non-justiciability (see justiciability) non-state actors (ANSAs)  and economic, social, and cultural rights  242, 273, 375 and gender  146 and international humanitarian law  314 and international law  314 and national economic policies  107 and neoliberalism  289, 290 and the global financial crisis  491 applicability of human rights law to  19 financial institutions and markets as  84 harmful activities by  197, 202 in Darfur  448 nutrition  and intersectionality  458 dissemination of information relating to 19 lack of  124, 154, 498, 502 measures to protect  245 Paris Principles (Principles Related to the Status of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights)  474, 475, 485–92, 495 postcolonial  period and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights  21 studies 449 Index poverty  and anti-poverty groups in Canada  125 and discrimination  124, 125 and labour migration  148 and the chronic denial of socio-economic rights 124, 125 and the full belly thesis  498 and women  146–49 extreme  88, 93, 94, 97–9, 101, 121, 124, 125, 150, 192, 377, 388, 509 feminization of  39, 146–9 macro questions of  30 reduction of  179, 180, 183, 443 principle of non-retrogression  and fiscal readjustments  95 and progressive realization  15, 93 and retrogressive measures  63, 375–8 and school budgets in New Jersey  434 and social spending cuts  94 as clearest and most longstanding principle of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights  63 obligation of  427 protection of 98 principle of pluralism 474 Principles Related to the Status of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (see Paris Principles) proportionality  and austerity  36 and distributive implications  445 and international law  254, 255, 321, 322, 328 and military necessity  334 and policy objectives  41, 42, 107, 230, 253 and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR)  31 and the principle of non-discrimination  16 prostitution 146 punishment  and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 460 and the Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution against unusual  466 as hard labour  243 collective 327, 337 corporal in UK public or private schools 470, 471 redress  and formal equality  141 and judicial remedies  133 and transitional justice programmes  151 de facto discrimination  156, 507 disparity 141 for acts of violence  145 523 for historic disadvantage and subordination 156 for human rights violations  10, 19, 31, 133, 306 for those adversely affected by actions taken by financial sector institutions  101 occupational segregation  157 second generation rights  344 socio-economic 506 remuneration  equal  9, 113, 119, 120, 138 fair 201 Roma  120, 121, 143, 467 Rome Statute  339, 340, 343, 344, 348, 351, 358, 360, 363, 510 sanctions  201, 228, 267, 269, 278, 337 second generation rights 344, 349 social justice  4, 112, 125, 135, 150, 151, 217, 352, 389, 467, 486, 487, 499, 501–8, 512–15 state responsibility  93, 169, 207, 233, 237, 250, 464 Tehran Conference 308, 309 trade unions  and constitutional rights  421 gendered dimensions of  148 municipal servants right to form  306 rights of 9 transnational corporations  and economic policy  107 and human rights  92, 194, 199–204, 231, 236 crimes of 44 obligations of 40 treaty monitoring body  and right to development  176 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR)  4, 176 Uganda  and armed conflict  316, 323 and national human rights institutions (NHRIs) 494 and the constitutional entrenchment of economic, social, and cultural rights  507 land evictions in  200 United Kingdom  and constitutional adjudication  513 and domestic incorporation of economic, social, and economic rights  423 and equality impact assessments  393 United Kingdom Human Rights Act  and accusations of having a distorted vision of human rights  384 and non-discrimination guarantees  104 United Nations  5, 70, 111, 134, 139, 160, 165, 178, 203, 204, 208, 235, 308, 460, 473, 477 524 Index United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict  151, 152, 331, 335–7 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)  and economic, social, and cultural rights  5, 452–4 and international order  85 and the gender-neutral language of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights  137 and the right to adequate food  354 and transnational corporations  203 United Nations Secretary-General  and gender  160 and globalization  243 and the protection of civilians in armed conflict 309, 360 and the rule of law  500 and transnational corporations  199–204, 231, 239 and universal values  112 and violence against humanitarian civilians 360 United States of America  and comparative law  428–35 and legislation protecting employees  211 and the implementation of economic, social, and cultural rights  36 and the separation of civil and political rights from economic, social, and cultural rights 7 constitutional law of  207 education litigation in  419, 428–35 financial commitments of  78 free speech in  206 human rights impact assessment of  403 illegality of the Cuba embargo by  275 insolvency of 57 judicial hesitation regarding human rights and corporations in  195 not having ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights  8, 429 right to education in  428 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 33, 165, 177, 184, 248, 251, 252, 266, 267, 270, 272, 274, 316 Vienna Declaration of Human Rights  7, 22, 28, 48, 134, 139, 176, 231, 344, 455, 474, 487, 491, 495, 501, 503 violence  against children  329 against disabled persons  119 against men  145 against women  139, 145–59 and forced eviction  324 and humanitarianism  360 gender-based  39, 134, 144, 145, 357 socio-economic dimensions of  357 structural 504–8 wartime and sexual  151–5, 309 war  against inflation  81 and human rights  308, 344 civil 498, 499 crimes  326, 329, 334, 335, 339, 340, 341, 353, 355, 360–4 financial 52, 81 intentional denial of economic and social rights as a tactic of  150, 326 prisoners of  358 victims of  151, 152 water  and international humanitarian law  312 as a social asset  200, 201 international recognition of  458 management of  32, 292–5 privatisation 423 right to  32, 114, 155, 174, 198–200, 290–8, 307, 327, 328, 339, 340, 350, 356, 357, 380, 472, 480 welfare  and austerity  58 and due process in the US  429 and human rights law  318 in democratic societies  16 in the UK  58, 59 liabilities of 67 of Palestinians  323 state spending on  62 welfare state  and impecunious claimants  513 affordability of Europe’s  76, 93 antipathy towards  66 crisis of  60, 81, 84 expansion of 56 New Zealand  378 restructuring of  51, 52 South Africa  128 sustainability of 63 UK 58, 59 women  and access to services  141–3 and conflict  149–55 and economic inequality  146–49, 154, 160, 221 and economic, social, and cultural rights  39, 134–60, 455 and education  362 and gender  135–8, 159 and gender-based violence  144, 145, 357 and healthcare  155, 156, 396, 438 and human rights assessment  393 and intersectionality  449 and natural disasters  152 and rape  357 Index and substantive equality  141 and the global economic crisis  87, 90 and witchcraft  478 violence against  139, 145–59 with disabilities  119 work  right to  64, 100, 114, 120, 147, 201, 221, 243, 301, 314, 376, 380, 445 workplace  and patriarchy  147, 159 discrimination in  121, 136, 202 gender analysis of  159 525 human rights violations in  136 insecure 112 World Bank  58, 88, 107, 168, 181, 237, 239, 370, 423 World Health Organization 411 World Organization against Torture 456, 460 World Trade Organization (WTO)  and children  168 and economic, social, and cultural rights 260–85, 392 and international law  41 and recognition of human rights  242–8 ... Relationship between Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and International Humanitarian Law Gilles Giacca 12.  Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights: International Criminal Law s Blind Spot? Larissa... Lusiani, and Ignacio Saiz 4. Realizing Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights for All Sandra Ratjen and Manav Satija 5. Gender and Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights Christine Chinkin 51 86... Rights: International Criminal Law s Blind Spot? Larissa van den Herik Introduction The Kinship between International Criminal Law and Human Rights Law Revisiting the Disconnect between International