AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights Project

Commissioned Resources

Rights-Specific Resource Manuals for Monitoring Violations: The project will commission a series of resources that examine in depth five of the rights in the Covenant: work, food, housing, health and education. The target audience for these resources is NGOs. As currently conceived, these manuals will describe the right in question, identify common violations of it, explain how to monitor it, and provide guidance on how to obtain redress for violations. Each manual will include key background materials helpful in understanding both the right itself and violations of it, and a bibliography of sources.

Introductory Manual on Monitoring: The monitoring manual is planned as a companion to the introductory manual that explains what economic, social and cultural rights and violations are. The new manual will be a basic, introductory resource designed for NGOs in the field that explains in simple terms the principles and mechanics of accurate ESCR monitoring. Topics addressed include explanations of what indicators are and how to select and use them; how to determine whether data is reliable; the importance of disaggregated data and how to collect it; and the kinds of valid conclusions that can be drawn from the data collected.

Report on Key Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: One of the goals identified in the original proposal was to conduct research into the identification of 10-15 common and widespread violations of economic, social and cultural rights. At its first meeting in 1997, the Advisory Committee determined that this initiative should be postponed until the project had first laid a firm theoretical foundation for how to think about these rights and had identified and examined factors, such as globalization, that affect their enjoyment. This preliminary work has largely been completed and we plan to take up this inquiry during Phase II, producing a major report, possibly in the form of a book, that draws on the papers on minimum state obligations and globalization, other materials and resources created by the project, our concrete experience, and Audrey Chapman’s existing body of work on ESCR. In addition to identifying and discussing the violations themselves, this report will attempt to provide a context and theoretical framework against which to consider them. Thus, it will be broader in scope than a catalogue of "typical" or "serious" violations. As currently planned, this work will examine the basic nature of economic, social and cultural rights, devoting particular attention to analyzing the similarities and differences between ESCR and civil and political rights. Using the language of the CESCR’s General Comment No. 3, it will also assess how well the concept of "minimum essential levels" of ESCR applies to the individual rights in the Covenant.