Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) relate to the conditions necessary to meet basic human needs such as food, shelter, education, health care, and gainful employment. They include the rights to education, adequate housing, food, water, the highest attainable standard of health, the right to work and rights at work, as well as the cultural rights of minorities and indigenous peoples.

HUMAN RIGHTS FOR HUMAN DIGNITY:
A Primer on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
The state of global malnutrition, child mortality and lack of access to even primary education constitutes a human rights scandal of shocking proportions, one to which we must respond. Learn more in Human Rights for Human Dignity, the first Amnesty International publication of its kind on economic, social and cultural rights.
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Albania: Respect the Right to Housing of Adult Orphans
Renato Kaleshi, aged 35, who was raised in Albanian state orphanages, died of pneumonia in February 2008 after living for years in conditions of misery. He had been paralyzed since childhood and also suffered from heart problems. For the last 11 years, he had been living in squalid conditions in Vlora, Albania, together with nine other adults orphaned in childhood. Under international and domestic law, the Albanian government is responsible for providing adult orphans with adequate housing. Learn More »
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Human Rights Goals

AI's primary goals for work on ESCR include:

INVESTIGATING abuses of economic, social and cultural rights. Amnesty's first groundbreaking reports in this area examine forced evictions and housing rights in Angola, the right to food in North Korea, the right to work in Israel/Occupied Territories, and more. See an overview of AI's pilot reports

STRENGTHENING the legal recognition of economic, social and cultural rights, including by campaigning for a new international complaint mechanism to provide victims of economic, social and cultural rights violations with an international remedy.

DEMANDING justice for individuals, families and communities who face discrimination and abuses of their economic, social and cultural rights. Sign up for Urgent Actions on cases involving ESCR abuses

CAMPAIGNING for economic, social and cultural rights to be recognized in decisions related to trade, resources, finances and the environment, and to hold both state and non-state actors accountable for abuses of these rights.

PROMOTING the right to health, particularly in the context of HIV/AIDS.