Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
"Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. And overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life."
The advancement of ESCR is an integral part of Amnesty International's human rights strategy. Traditionally, AI's actions focused on civil or political human rights, though interdependence and indivisibility of all human rights has long been central to our understanding and vision. In fact, the standard at the core of AI's work -- the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- incorporates economic, social and cultural rights as well as civil and political rights into one integrated vision of human dignity.
What are Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ESCR)?
ESCR are enshrined in a number of international treaties and declarations. The cornerstone treaty, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (which together with the UDHR and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights forms the International Bill of Rights) encompasses:
- The right to education, which guarantees free and compulsory primary education and equal access to secondary and higher education. It includes the right to establish schools and teach, and the right to education that does not foster hatred or discrimination.
- The right to health, which guarantees access to adequate health care, nutrition, sanitation, and to clean water and air, and information about health.
- The right to housing, which guarantees access to a safe, habitable, and affordable home with protection against forced eviction. It includes the right to freedom from forced eviction not valid under law, and the right to privacy in the home.
- The right to food, which guarantees the ability of people to feed themselves, and also obligates states to cooperate in the adequate distribution of world food supplies. It includes the right to safe and nutritious food.
- The right to work, which guarantees the opportunity to earn a living wage in a safe work environment, and also provides for the freedom to organize and bargain collectively.
How does this relate to Amnesty's work?
A key objective of AI's strategy for integrating work on ESCR is to challenge the notion that rights can be enjoyed in isolation. As AI's Secretary General Irene Khan explains,
"I wouldn't like to think that we used to work on civil and political rights, we're going to stop working on them now, and we're going to shift to working on economic, social and cultural rights. That's not the idea at all. … We will try to bring all those rights together by looking at how people suffer human rights abuses, and show that human rights are actually an indivisible whole. … I hope that Amnesty International will in the future stand not only for prisoners of conscience, but also for prisoners of violence, for prisoners of illiteracy, for prisoners of poverty."
Global Campaign for Human Dignity
Amnesty International is launching a global high priority seven year campaign on poverty and human rights in 2008. The launch of this campaign will be linked to the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and will highlight the fact that as we celebrate this anniversary the aspiration of the UDHR for a world free from want as well as free from fear is unrealized for millions of people living in poverty who are routinely denied many if not all of their human rights. This campaign will make clear that universal human dignity can only become a reality thorough respect for the full range of human rights. The campaign will focus on the impact of denial of human dignity on people's health and home – two areas where deprivation has chronic and far reaching effects on all human rights.
Current research/campaigning projects
Over the past few years, Amnesty International has already undertaken a number of smaller scale research and campaigning projects that relate to ESC rights and highlight the interdependence of rights. Prior to the launch of the Dignity Campaign AI will continue to work on existing ESC projects and new projects will launched in the lead up to the campaign that will build AI's body of research on ESC rights violations and increase the AI movements capacity to campaign on these rights. Some of the current and upcoming projects include:
- In Peru, AI is concentrating on maternity and infant health services, examining how the lack of proper investment and unequal distribution of health resources across Peru is resulting in the preventable deaths of hundreds of women and children every year.
- In Azerbaijan in the South Caucasus AI is focusing on the human rights abuses experienced internally displaced people (IDPs). The country has one of the largest populations of IDPs per capita of any state in the world. Some 600,000 Azerbaijanis have lived in internal displacement. On 18 June 2007 AI published a report on internal displacement in Azerbaijan where it documents a number of violations of IDPs' rights to freedom of movement, adequate housing, health care and work, in addition to the right to be consulted and participate in public affairs.
- In China AI is concerned about the human rights of internal migrants. On 1 March 2007 AI launched its report on internal migrants, ‘Discrimination and Abuse: The Human Cost of China's Economic "Miracle"', The report focuses on the plight of internal migrants in China's cities and the widespread discrimination from which they suffer, particularly in areas of access to education and health care, and employment.
- In Slovakia AI is campaigning on the rights of the minority Roma population. The Roma of eastern Slovakia are among the most deprived communities in Europe. They face racism and discrimination in accessing their human rights– living in inadequate housing, receiving poor health care, excluded from employment and education. Many live in settlements or neighborhoods that are physically isolated from other parts of the community, and have limited or no water or electricity supply, sanitation systems, paved roads or other basic infrastructure.
Learn More: Visit AIUSA's ESCR webpage for the latest reports, resources, and actions: www.amnestyusa.org/our-priorities/economic-social-cultural-rights.
Take Action: Sign up for ESCR-related actions through AIUSA's Urgent Action Program: http://www.amnestyusa.org/escr/ua.html.
ESCR VIDEO: Human Needs, Human Rights (30 minutes).
This video explains the evolution of Amnesty's mission and helps activists build their knowledge of the global movement for ESCR. It features three stories of activists who are working to advance economic, social and cultural rights. Two are cases that Amnesty has taken up (in South Africa and Mexico), and one examines how one organization, the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, is campaigning for ESCR in our own country. To obtain a FREE copy (DVD or VHS), e-mail Membership Resources and Communications at mrc@aiusa.org.
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