Part I Defining the issues to be monitored Chapter 2: Economic, social and cultural rights standards KEY QUESTIONS • What are economic, social and cultural rights? • How are economic, social and cultural rights defined and interpreted in international and domestic law? • What are the obligations of States in relation to economic, social and cultural rights? • When will a State be in breach of its obligations? INTRODUCTION Economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) are rights that relate to people’s standard of living. They include the rights to education, work, food, shelter, health care, social security and cultural development. Although human rights are recognized as “universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated”,3 ESCR have historically received less attention than civil and political rights. For many years, they were pushed to the margins of the international human rights agenda on the grounds that they were too vague to be “justiciable”. In other words, they were not seen as legal rights that could be enforced by courts. Developments over the last two decades have demonstrated that this is a misconception. As discussed in this chapter, ESCR are not open-ended, aspirational goals to be achieved at some undefined time in the future. Under international law, States have obligations – immediately and over the longer-term – to take action to respect, protect and fulfil ESCR. Over the past two decades, these obligations have been elaborated in greater detail by courts, international human rights bodies and other experts. As a result, there is now greater clarity about what States are expected to do in order to meet their commitments under international human rights conventions. 2.1. HOW ARE ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS FRAMED INTERNATIONALLY? The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, did not make a distinction between the nature of civil and political rights and ESCR, recognizing both equally. In the following decades, as negotiations over the development of a legally binding treaty on human rights unfolded, Cold War politics prevented consensus. The result is that, somewhat arbitrarily, two separate treaties were developed: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, both adopted in 1966. Together with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, these instruments are often referred to as the “international Bill of Rights”. 3 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, Adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, 25 June 1993, U.N. Doc. A/CONF.157/24, at para.5. Chapter 2: Economic, social and cultural rights standards | 17