Are economic and social rights fundamentally different from civil and political rights?

Introduction

Is the historical and ideological separation between the two dimensions of Human Rights relevant ?

Separating civil/political rights and socio/economic rights is neither relevant, nor legitimate, since they are often highly interdependent.

I. The reasons which led to such a separation

A/ Historical reasons

• UDHR ?

Article 10

• Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 23

• Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
• Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

A/ Historical reasons

• UDHR ?
• post war momentum...
• ... and then the Cold War

East vs West

Untitled Slide

"To have more, we must produce more. To produce more, we must know more"

North vs South

UDHR
= a compromise

Article 22

• Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

B/ two different International Covenants

• Both signed by all the UN countries in 1966
• No sanctions, no application
• The covenants are very similar to one another

C/ « Practical » reasons

• negative action vs affirmative action
• Budgetary constraint
• "R v. Cambridge Health, ex parte B"

« Difficult and agonising judgments have to be made as to how a limited budget is best allocated to the maximum advantage of the maximum number of patients. That is not a judgment which the court can make »

II. Is this separation relevant ?

A/ An irrelevant question ?

• economic and social rights are not human rights ?
• The Economist (August 2001), "Righting Wrongs"
• >>> ANSWER:
• "Economic, Social and Cultural Rights" (Asbjørn Eide & Allan Rosas)

Obvious ?

B/ From different to superior : a hierarchy ?

• culture-related
• Leopold Sedar Senghor: « HUMAN RIGHTS BEGIN WITH BREAKFAST »

C/ Interdependent rights : a common development

• If one is applied and not the other : counter-productive
• Reasonning

D/ Theory vs practice

• Negative action and investment are essential for BOTH
• The cost should not be an excuse

Geraldine Van Bueren:

“The right to education is an investment in human capital; the right to social security helps sustain consumer demand; and the right to the highest attainable standard of health ensures a more efficient workforce.”

Conclusion:

Vienna Convention (1993) :
" All human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated. The international community must treat human rights globally in a fair and equal manner, on the same footing, and with the same emphasis."

bibliography

• D.M. Davis (2012) "Socio-Economic Rights," in M. Rosenfeld and A. Sajó, The Oxford Handbook of CCL
• http://dailyjuba.com/?p=613
• Clapham, Andrew. Human Rights: A Very Short Introduction
• http://humanrightshistory.umich.edu/problems/indivisibility/
• https://courses.edx.org/LouvainX/UCLouvainX-MOOC-section_1-ESCrights-introd...