content) and their enforcement (i.e. justiciability), and the relationship between the two. However, this focus tends to have an interim step, that of the implementation of rights. ESC rights are recognized, either explicitly or implicitly, at both the international and domestic levels. Explicit recognition is found in a variety of international instruments ranging from hard- law treaties through to soft-law documents. Treaty examples of recognition of such rights include, at the universal level, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and, at the regional level, the European Social Charter. Implicit recognition occurs through a process by which economic and social rights are “read into” international instruments dealing with civil and political rights. This is notably the case with the European Convention on Human Rights, where for example, the right to adequate housing has been read into the right to protection against inhuman and degrading treatment and the right to respect for private and family life. It is also the case with the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, where a right to housing or shelter has been read into the combined effects of the rights to property, health and protection of the family. ESC rights are also recognized explicitly and implicitly at the domestic level. This recognition is strongest when it is found in constitutional documents, as in the 1996 South African constitution, but it might also be found in ordinary legislation although this is more vulnerable to changing