AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights Project

Thesaurus of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

The thesaurus of economic, social and cultural rights and their violations consists of lists of violations, classified hierarchically by violation type or the right affected, as addressed in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Each entry will include a brief description of the violation to enable the user to determine if the bad act in question is a violation of the Covenant.

The thesaurus also contains thematic (or keyword) classifications for each violation, allowing a user unfamiliar with violations terminology or classifications to search for descriptions of violations by keyword or theme. In addition, it will contain relevant text from the ICESCR and other international treaties to serve as resources and references. The uniform language and classifications of the thesaurus will enable users to compile and share data on the national, regional or international levels.

In conjuction with the National Commission for Human Rights in Honduras (CONADEH), the the Consejo Centroamericano de Ombudsmen (Central American Counsel of Human Rights Ombudsmen, or Consejo) and the Federación Iberoamericana de Ombudsmen (Latin American Federation of Ombudsmen, or FIO), the Science and Human Rights Program has launched a prototype of the Spanish version of the thesaurus on the Consejo website. This version, while accessible to the general public, allows Consejo members to add additional violations to the thesaurus as well as country-specific terminology for existing violations.

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