Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights
UNIT 31
The International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) (1966)
 work, under "just and favourable conditions",[ with the right to form
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and join trade unions (Articles 6, 7, and 8);
social security, including social insurance (Article 9);
family life, including paid parental leave and the protection of
children (Article 10);
an adequate standard of living, including adequate food, clothing
and housing, and the "continuous improvement of living
conditions" (Article 11);
health, specifically "the highest attainable standard of physical and
mental health" (Article 12);
education, including free universal primary education, generally
available secondary education and equally accessible higher
education. This should be directed to "the full development of the
human personality and the sense of its dignity", and enable all
persons to participate effectively in society (Articles 13 and 14);
participation in cultural life (Article 15).
ICESCR members
Human rights
 1st generation: civil and political rights;
2nd generation:economic, social and cultural rights;
3rd generation:collective rights
Economic rights
 The right to work,
 the right to the free choice of employment and to
just and favourable conditions of work;
 the right to form and join trade unions: the right to
strike;
 the right to social security;
 the right to own property
Social rights:
Community Charter of Fundamental Social Rights of Workers (1989)
 freedom of movement;
 employment and remuneration;
 improvement of living and working conditions; social
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protection;
freedom of association and collective bargaining;
vocational training;
equal treatment for men and women;
information, consultation and participation of workers;
health protection and safety at the workplace;
protection of children and adolescents, elderly persons;
and disabled persons
Cultural rights
 related to art and culture, both understood in a large
sense.
 The objective : to guarantee that people and
communities have an access to culture and can
participate in the culture of their election.
 human rights that aim at assuring the enjoyment of
culture and its components in conditions of equality,
human dignity and non-discrimination
Cultural rights
 language;
 cultural and artistic production;
 participation in cultural life;
 cultural heritage;
 intellectual property rights;
 author’s rights;
 minorities and access to culture,
Points for discussion: economic rights
 Explore the existing situation of economic rights: the
right of ownership and market competition.
 Can foreigners acquire property and under what
conditions?
 Do molopolies exist?
 What is the extent of foreign investment?
Points for discussion: social rights
 Unemployment,
 working conditions,
 social security,
 trade unions.
 How does government cope with unemployment?
Points for discussion: cultural rights
 Situation in education, science, healthy environment.
 Is there a need for improvement? In what direction?
Economic rights
 Entrepreneurial freedom and the
market-based regulation of economic
relations – backbone of successful
economies
Role of the state
 The state must ensure that certain rules are upheld
in market competition
 All enterpreneurs should enjoy equal legal position
on the market
 The state should prevent abuse of monopolies
Monopoly
 Results in the elimination of market relations and
leads to the preclusion of market competition
 May exist in certain industries (railways, electricity,
water management)
State instruments in economic policy
 Market – imperfect mechanism of social regulation
 Modern states use different instruments to intervene
in market relations: taxes, customs, subsidies, state
investments
 In circumstances of crisis – such role of state
particularly emphasized
Market freedom
 Market and other economic activities should be
conducted in full freedom and under equal
conditions
 The focus of responsibility – individual citizens,
while the state retains its role of ensuring respect for
the rules of free market competition, using its
economic policy measures only for limited
interventions
Workers’ rights
 State interventions imply the obligation to create and
expand the possibilities and conditions for citizens to
exercise their right to work
 Workers – entitled to fair remuneration which may
be claimed either individually or through trade
unions and other organizations
Social rights
 The right of employees and their families to social
security, formation of trade unions and the
protection of families, children and persons with
disabilities – among the most important social rights
Cultural rights
 Right to education, scientific, cultural and artistic
creativity, sports
Environmental rights
 Right to a healthy life with an emphasis on the
protection of public health, nature and a healthy
environment
Legal terms
 Enterpreneur
 One who organizes, owns, manages and assumes the
risks of a business; one that organizes, promotes, or
manages an enterprise or activity of any kind;
poduzetnik
 Enterpreneurial
 Of or relating to an entrepreneur
Legal terms
 Market competition
 Striving for a greater share of the market; tržišno
natjecanje
 Monopoly
 Ownership or control that permits domination of the
market in a business; a commercial monopoly is
where the supply of a certain commodity is
controlled by one manufacturer, trader, or group
Legal terms
 Subsidy
 A grant of money made by government
 Remuneration
 Salary or compensation; naknada, plaća, honorar
Define the following
 Enterpreneurial freedom
 Regulatory powers
 Monopolistic situation
 Market relations
 Social insurance
Write sentences by using the following verbs
 Ensure
 Intervene
 Conduct
 Retain
 Exercise
 claim
Legal discourse markers
 Hereby= ovako, ovim, tim
 Herein = u istom, u ovom (dokumentu, tekstu) u
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tome, ovdje
Hereunto = do sada, do ovog vremena; k tome
Thereof= iste, istoga, toga, o tome
Therefrom = od toga otuda
Therein = u tome, na tom mjestu
Wherein = u čemu, gdje, u kojem, u kom pogledu
Whereof = navedeno, toga, navedenog; od kojeg, iz
čega
Insert: herein, hereby, hereunto, thereof (3x),
therefrom, therein, wherein, whereof
 All legislative powers_____granted shall be vested
in a Congress of the United States, which shall
consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
 Assessments are those special and local impositions
upon property which are necessary to pay for the
improvements and are laid with reference to special
benefit which the property is supposed to have
derived____
Insert: herein, hereby, hereunto, thereof (3x),
therefrom, therein, wherein, whereof
 Taxes, as the term is generally used, are public
burdens imposed generally upon the inhabitants of
the whole State, or upon some civil division ____
 The eighteenth article of Amendment to the
Constitution is ______repealed.
 No Senator or Representative shall, during the time
for which he or she was elected, be appointed to any
civil office under the Authority of the US which shall
have been created, or the Emoluments___shall have
been increased during such time.
herein, hereby, hereunto, thereof (3x), therefrom,
therein, wherein, whereof
 No person held to service or labour in one state,
under the laws ___escaping into another, shall, in
consequence of any law or regulation___be
discharged from such service or labour may be due.
 In witness_____we have____subscribed our
names
 and the Congress may by law provide for the case
____neither President-elect, nor a Vice-President
shall have qualified (…)
Key
 All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested
in a Congress of the United States, which shall
consist of a Senate and House of Representatives
 Assessments are those special and local impositions
upon property which are necessary to pay for the
improvements and are laid with reference to special
benefit which the property is supposed to have
derived therefrom.
Key
 Taxes, as the term is generally used, are public
burdens imposed generally upon the inhabitants of
the whole State, or upon some civil division thereof
 The eighteenth article of Amendment to the
Constitution is hereby repealed.
 No Senator or Representative shall, during the time
for which he or she was elected, be appointed to any
civil office under the Authority of the US which shall
have been created, or the Emoluments whereof
shall have been increased during such time.
Key
 No Person held to Service or Labour in one State,
under the Laws thereof, escaping into another,
shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation
therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour,
but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to
whom such Service or Labour may be due.
 In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed
our names
Key
 and the Congress may by law provide for the case
wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice
President elect shall have qualified (…)