AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

Announcing a New Publication

Core Obligations: Building a Framework for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Audrey Chapman and Sage Russell, eds.
Intersentia, Antwerp, 2002.

The AAAS Science and Human Rights Program (SHR) is pleased to announce the publication of Core Obligations: Building a Framework for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, edited by SHR staff members Audrey Chapman and Sage Russell, and published by Intersentia, Antwerp (2002).

Core Obligations offers a framework for thinking about economic, social and cultural rights that rests on the concept of core obligations: the minimum standards a state must meet to be in compliance with its obligations related to these rights. The introduction sets out the foundation of the concept of core obligations and explains the approach the volume is proposing. Subsequent chapters, written by international experts, examine individual economic, social and cultural rights, describing their content, delineating core state obligations and identifying representative violations.

Frequently overlooked or poorly understood rights such as social security, cultural participation and the right to the benefits of science receive the same in-depth treatment as higher profile rights such as health or education. Important new topics that are gaining prominence in debates about human rights, such as the relationship between human rights and intellectual property protection in an age of globalization, are thoughtfully examined and clearly presented.

Some of the traditional thinking about economic, social and cultural rights does not hold up under this in-depth examination. The book shows that economic, social and cultural rights are full-fledged human rights and not just laudable policy goals; they are not necessarily expensive to implement; they can be monitored and violations identified; and states can be held to account for the relevant human rights obligations they assume.

Core Obligations: Building a Framework for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights contains a great deal of useful information for teachers, students and practitioners of human rights, government officials, as well as those who work in sustainable development and related fields, who want to know what a rights-based approach to their work would mean. Core Obligations brings conceptual clarity to the discussion of economic, social and cultural rights, and helps to promote consensus about the most immediate steps states must take-a necessary step along the road to full implementation.

Copies may be ordered from Intersentia at a cost of 59 euros each (approximately US$60). Contact Intersentia on the web; by fax at (011) 32 3 658 7121; or by e-mail at mail@intersentia.be.

List of Chapters and Authors

• Audrey R. Chapman and Sage Russell, "Introduction"
• Richard Lewis Siegel, "The Right to Work: Core Minimum Obligations"
• Colin Fenwick, "Minimum Obligations with Respect to Article 8 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights"
• Lucie Lamarche, "The Right to Social Security in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights"
• Maja Kirilova Eriksson, "Family Rights and the United Nations Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Article 10(1)"
• Geraldine Van Bueren, "The Minimum Core Obligations of States under Article 10(3) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights"
• Rolf Künnemann, "The Right to Adequate Food: Violations Related to Its Minimum Core Content"
• Audrey R. Chapman, "Core Obligations Related to the Right to Health"
• Fons Coomans, "In Search of the Core Content of the Right to Education"
• Richard Pierre Claude, "Scientists' Rights and the Human Right to the Benefits of Science"
• Stephen A. Hansen, "The Right to Take Part in Cultural Life: Toward Defining Minimum Core Obligations Related to Article 15(1)(a) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights"
• Audrey R. Chapman, "Core Obligations Related to ICESCR Article 15(1)(c)"