CHAPTER 4

How Are Civil and Political Rights Linked to Economic, Social and Cultural Rights?

All human rights are related to each other and are important for maintaining human dignity. For example, you may want to persuade your government to provide better education for all children. The “right to education” is a social and cultural right, but to achieve it to the fullest, you must influence the government through public opinion. To persuade other people to support a campaign for better education, you will need to exercise civil and political rights such as the right to hold an opinion and to express it freely.

Looking at the situation from the other side, it is harder to possess the time and ability to participate in public discussions if you have not enjoyed adequate access to food, health, work and education. A good education and good health may help you or your children to succeed in the political arena.

To influence the decisions and actions of a government, ordinary people work together (using freedom of association), arrange meetings (exercising the freedoms of assembly and association), make statements in newspapers and on television and radio (employing freedom of expression), and vote for supportive politicians (exercising the right to free elections). The rights listed in the previous sentence are all civil and political rights found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1976).

Civil and political rights were originally joined with economic, social and cultural rights as part of one package, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The two groups of rights were put into separate Covenants, but each opens with the same preamble, recognising the importance of the enjoyment of both sets of rights for everyone—so that all human beings can enjoy “freedom from fear” and “freedom from want”. Declarations are not legally binding on States, the way a treaty is; they create only a moral or political duty. Some legal scholars think that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has a higher status, however, because of its special and continuing place as the foundation of modern human rights law. These moral thinkers and legal scholars argue that the Universal Declaration, or parts of it, have become international “customary law”, legally binding on all countries.

A declaration that is not universally accepted, but which is often referred to in UN documents and meetings, is the Declaration on the Right to Development, adopted by a majority vote at the UN General Assembly in 1986. One element of that Declaration can add to the understanding of both civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights. A “right to participate” is proclaimed in Article 1, reinforced by Article 8 (2): “States should encourage popular participation in all spheres as an important factor in development and in the full realisation of all human rights”.

Human rights violations hamper the popular (or democratic) participation of activists who promote social justice and economic, social and cultural rights. Less powerful groups, which are likely to suffer the worst effects of bad economic development schemes, need to have a real voice in decision-making, and they may be the people best able to judge possible solutions. Guarantees of participatory rights are essential to enhance the welfare of women, religious, linguistic or ethnic minorities, indigenous peoples and other disadvantaged groups. Some of the worst errors in development, causing massive violations of economic, social and cultural rights, could have been avoided by paying more attention to local knowledge and opinions. Furthermore, the understanding and willing co-operation of those whom development is intended to benefit are essential for its success.

Serious damage to the environment, which can violate rights to health, food, adequate living standards and so on, is frequently accompanied by denial of access to information (a civil and political right) and by repression of activists. Suppression of timely public information and debate can lead to increased denial of the rights to life and health, caused by environmental harm. In the mid-1980s, if authorities had not kept so many details quiet in the initial stages of the tragedies at Bhopal, India (release of poisons from a chemical plant), and at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union (radioactivity from a nuclear plant), they could have prevented countless health problems and deaths.

Working for economic, social and cultural rights can involve exposure to risks if there is inadequate protection for liberty and security of the person (a civil and political right). Danger can arise for those who challenge the plans and activities of powerful elites. For example, about a decade before the close of the 20th century, Chico Mendes was murdered for organising rubber tappers and indigenous peoples in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest. Wangari Maathai, leader of the Greenbelt Movement in Kenya, has been detained and harassed a number of times for opposing urban schemes that were not sound for the environment. In the mid-1990s, an infamous instance of a government’s targeting of a human rights activist was the arrest and execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa by Nigerian authorities, described in the case illustration below.

4.1 Protection of Human Rights Defenders

UN human rights bodies have often praised the important role of individuals and NGOs who work alone or in association with others to promote, defend and fulfil human rights. The UN has also sought ways to protect these “human rights defenders”, who are often targeted by those whose abuses they expose and oppose. An important success at the UN was agreement on a set of rights for human rights workers and volunteers. In December 1998 the General Assembly adopted the “Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Protect Universally Recognised Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms”, usually referred to as the “Declaration on Human Rights Defenders”, or the “Defenders’ Declaration”. The term “human rights defender” refers to anyone who uses peaceful methods to promote or protect the human rights of others, and includes (among others) human rights teachers, journalists who write about human rights, members and staff of human rights NGOs, and lawyers who advise or represent them. You can find the Declaration in the “Treaties” section of the UN human rights website.

The Defenders’ Declaration is an important symbol for NGOs that work for any kind of human rights, including economic, social and cultural rights. The Declaration does not provide direct protection for human rights activists, but it does confirm that States have a duty to foster, not hinder, the work of human rights groups and NGOs. Debate on how the Declaration is being put into practice, as well as spotlighting continuing violations by States, takes place each year during the annual session of the UN Commission on Human Rights (CHR). In its 2000 session the CHR voted to establish a special representative of the UN Secretary General, to report on the situation of human rights defenders everywhere in the world and to advise on ways to enhance their protection.