Figure 1: Covenant Article Index
In June of 2002, the web version of the Thesaurus of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was redesigned. While the contents of the Thesaurus are almost entirely unchanged, the web interface has been significantly revised and simplified.
With the exception of this brief note, the document you are reading was written to accompany the print version of the Thesaurus. It offers a detailed explanation and overview of the Thesaurus's core features. However, this online Thesaurus differs from the documentation in some ways. Here are the key differences you should be aware of:
The Covenant Article Index is replaced by the interactive International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Each article in the Covenant has a link that will open a list of Thesaurus entries related to that article.
The Thematic Index is replaced by the list of Keywords.
The Alphabetical Thesaurus is the same as the "A - Z" list.
The Categorical Index is the same as the "Categories" list.
The code numbers assigned to each entry have been eliminated from this version of the thesaurus.
If you have any questions about the revisions to the online Thesaurus, or if you encounter any technical problems, please email me at mzimmerm@aaas.org
Matt Zimmerman
Webmaster
AAAS Science and Human Rights Program
June 11, 2002
The author is grateful to colleagues of the AAAS Science and Human Rights Program, especially Dr. Audrey Chapman (Director) who provided much guidance in the overall theoretical approach of the thesaurus and Sage Russell, who provided comments and feedback at each stage of the thesaurus' development. Manuel Guzman and Bert Verstappen (HURIDOCS), in addition to being project team members, continuously offered much needed enthusiasm, moral support and encouragement.
The author is also grateful to the following people who reviewed and commented on various sections of the thesaurus: Richard Siegel (University of Nevada), Richard Pierre Claude (Emeritus, University of Maryland), Jonathan Rosenblum (Haus, Resnick & Roman, LLP, Attorneys at Law), Carmel Shalev (Gertner Institute for Health Policy Reseach, Israel), Alicia Yamin (Columbia University School of Public Health), Fons Coomans (Maastricht University, the Netherlands), Virginia Bonoan-Dandan (University of the Philippines and Chair, UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), Allan McChesny (Justice and Democracy Consultants), Carole Nagengast (Anthropology Department, The University of New Mexico) and Bert Verstappen (HURIDOCS).
Financial support for the development of the thesaurus was provided by the Ford Foundation, Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, General Services Foundation (Spanish version), DANIDA (Danish International Development Agency), and the Dutch Foreign Ministry.
This project would not have been possible without the invaluable assistance of AAAS staff member Matt Zimmerman who quickly developed an expertise in economic, social and cultural rights in order to provide much assistance in research, documentation, Web page and database design and support.
Stephen A. Hansen
"The idea of a thesaurus focusing on economic, social and cultural rights was admirable in its vision and courage, but far-fetched at least to my mind. Still, I admired the audacity and silently cheered from a distance. And now that the thesaurus—an eThesaurus1 at that—has become a reality it is only fitting to applaud such a feat.
"This thesaurus is basically a tool that introduces economic, social and cultural rights and related concepts and issues. It is a valuable resource because the rights are taken directly from the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, clearly providing the basis for identifying potential violations of such rights. The Thesaurus is user-friendly and it conveys legal contexts in a way that is not cumbersome and intimidating. Economic, social and cultural rights have just been given a much-needed shot in the arm. My congratulations to Stephen Hansen, AAAS and HURIDOCS. "
Virginia Bonoan-Dandan, Chair
United Nations Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
In 1996, the Science and Human Rights Program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Human Rights Information and Documentation Systems, International (HURIDOCS) began a three-year project to develop a series of simple, accurate and non-technical tools and resources to enable organisations to monitor violations of economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights. The Thesaurus of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Terminology and Potential Violations is the first of these resources to be made publicly available. Based on the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1 (ICESCR or the Covenant), it organises and classifies rights, terminology and corresponding potential violations pertaining to articles 1-15 of the Covenant categorically, thematically, and alphabetically.
There are numerous excellent human rights thesauri,2 most of which attempt to encompass economic, social and cultural rights as well as civil and political rights. What has been lacking to date is a thesaurus that focuses specifically on ESC rights, presenting rights, terminology and potential violations in a structured and logical format in an attempt to reflect the continuously growing understanding of these rights.
This publication is called a thesaurus and follows the general structure and logic of a standard thesaurus. Webster's Dictionary defines a thesaurus as "a book of words or of information about a particular field or set of concepts; especially: a book of words and their synonyms b: a list of subject headings or descriptors usually with a cross-reference system for use in the organisation of a collection of documents for reference and retrieval." Roget's Thesaurus defines "thesaurus" as a "list, catalogue, catalogue, inventory; register."
This thesaurus does not focus as heavily on synonyms as other traditional thesauri.3 Instead, it takes a human rights approach by cross-referencing related ESC rights, concepts, terminology in order to reflect the interrelationships between many rights. The Categorical Index presents rights, terminology and potential violations in a structured and logical format. The Thematic Index offers many routes to identifying and locating material, and the full entries (Alphabetical Thesaurus) serve as an access point for the plethora of documents relating to ESC rights.
The principal goal of this thesaurus is to serve as a tool to introduce readers to economic, social and cultural rights, related concepts, issues, and potential violations of these rights. It is not a definitive resource, nor do we believe that one could ever exist concerning ESC rights. Much theoretical disagreement still exists about the nature and dimensions of ESC rights and their violations, and the thesaurus does not attempt to resolve these issues. The thesaurus is not intended to serve as a legal resource nor offer information on potential remedies. Although Covenant articles, explanatory notes, and other international instruments are associated with entries, this should in no way imply that such associations represent any accepted legal knowledge or expertise. In attempting to evaluate any given situation, the reader is strongly encouraged to refer to the texts of applicable international instruments to which his or her government is party. Any inclusion or exclusion of any specific right, component of a right, issue or potential violation, Covenant article or instrument, does not meant to reflect any position on the part of the author, AAAS or HURIDOCS. Any errors in content are solely the responsibility of the author.
It is hoped that this first edition will to spark a reaction that will lead to further interest, discussion, and understanding of these rights.
Stephen A. Hansen
Washington, DC
March 2000
The Thesaurus contains three types of entries: rights, terminology, and potential violations. The following section explains the approach used to collect and classify entries.
One of the greatest challenges in developing the thesaurus was determining the entries to include. To do so, we drew upon on many sources. The first was the language in the Covenant itself. Secondly, entries were also drawn from other relevant treaties, such as the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
Thirdly, entries were drawn from a set of papers commissioned by the AAAS/HURIDOCS Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Project that examine the rights enumerated in the Covenant. These papers discuss the basis for the right in international law, delineate its scope, identify core minimum content, and describe some common violations of the rights.
ESC rights are those entitlements enumerated in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as well as many other international instruments.4 For example, the right to health, right to education, and right to adequate food are entitlements granted to each individual when the Covenant is ratified by his or her government, at which point that country becomes a State party to the Covenant.
The thesaurus takes a conservative approach to what is classified as a right. Entries that are classified as actual ESC rights in the thesaurus consist of language taken directly from the Covenant that enumerates those rights, for example the right to work or the right to an adequate standard of living. Other entries may also be actual ESC rights, but due to national differences in legislation, cannot be presented as such on a universal level.
In addition to rights, entries may also represent universal components or entitlements that make up or apply to a right or related concepts or issues. These components are often referred to as content. For example, the right to health consists of the components of access to health care, prevention and treatment of diseases, and the reduction of infant mortality, to name but a few. In some instances, the components are specified in the Covenant. In others, the components are derived from the conceptualisation of the right.
The core minimum content refers to those rights or components of rights that States are obligated to fulfil immediately upon ratification of the Covenant. According to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, every State party is required "… to ensure the satisfaction of, at the very least, minimum essential levels of each of the rights is incumbent upon every State party." According to the Committee, examples of violations of the core minimum content would include deprivation of essential foodstuffs, of essential primary health care, of basic shelter and housing, or of the most basic forms of primary education.5
Because what constitutes the core minimum content, core content, or other components of any given right is subject to debate, such entries are most often classified as terms. Other thesaurus entries, also classified as terms, may be only thematic in nature and not components of rights, and used to group common elements together, whether rights, components of rights, or potential violations. For example, employment practises and policies are not a guaranteed right, but may be a component in ensuring the right to work.
Unlike core minimum requirements, Article 2 of the Covenant allows states to achieve "progressively the full realisation of the rights recognised in the Covenant," "to the maximum of its available resources," and "by all appropriate means, including particularly the adoption of legislative measures." 6 According to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights:
The concept of progressive realisation constitutes a recognition of the fact that full realisation of all economic, social and cultural rights will generally not be able to be achieved in a short period of time… It is on the one hand a necessary flexibility device, reflecting the realities of the real world and the difficulties involved for any country in ensuring full realisation of economic, social and cultural rights.7
At the same time, a scarcity of resources does not relieve the responsibility of the State to meet certain minimum obligations.8
Economic, social and cultural rights may represent both rights enjoyable by an individual (individual rights) and by groups of people (collective rights). Traditionally, human rights have been viewed as individual rights and legal systems are established to protect these rights. An example of an individual right would be access to health care. Collective rights may be held by and individual or by a group of people, e.g. the right to participate in cultural life. 9
While all violation entries in the thesaurus are labelled as potential violations, some are clearly violations of the Covenant. In such cases, these violations will be easily recognised and the Covenant itself and the General Comments10 of the United Nations' Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights11 may provide guidance. But, most violations should be considered potential, due to the uncertain nature of economic, social and cultural rights and issues related to regional or national laws and jurisprudence.
One approach to defining violations is provided by The Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 12 which describe State party obligations in protecting and upholding economic, social and cultural rights:
Like civil and political rights, economic, social and cultural rights impose three different types of obligations on States: the obligations to respect, protect and fulfil. Failure to perform any one of these three obligations constitutes a violation of such rights.13
The first obligation, to respect, requires that a State party itself does not violate the economic, social and cultural rights of its population. This might involve such actions on the part of the State as introducing retrogressive legislation that adversely effects the guarantee of the rights enumerated in the Covenant. The obligation to protect requires that the State prevents or addresses violations by third parties (non-state) actors, by passing and enforcing appropriate legislation. The obligation to fulfil requires the state to review resource priorities and make the necessary legislative, administrative, budgetary, judicial and other necessary changes to implement specific rights.14 If a State does not have sufficient resources or is temporarily experiencing financial difficulties, it has an obligation under the Covenant to seek international assistance and co-operation. 15
The Maastricht Guidelines also classify violations on the part of a State into two categories: acts of commission (the direct action of a State or other entities insufficiently regulated by States) or acts of omission (the failure of a State to meet its legal obligations).
Non-state actors (e.g. employers, international corporations, and even individuals) may have indirect responsibilities, mediated by the State's obligation to ensure these rights and by the moral call on everyone to strengthen human rights. It is the State's obligation to ensure that private entities or individuals do not deprive individuals of their economic, social and cultural rights by exercising diligence in controlling the behaviour of non-State actors.16
Violations of a right which is subject to progressive implementation result from the failure on the part of the State to allocate sufficient (or any) resources to ensure a right or retrogression in resource allocation over a period of time. In order to determine whether a violation of progressive implementation is occurring, such factors as the availability of resources, policy options and decisions, and negative changes over time must be examined. This can make recognising violations of progressive implementation very difficult.17
Another direction from which to define violations of ESC rights is when persons or groups are not fully enjoying the rights guaranteed by the Covenant. Although State compliance with obligations and the enjoyment of rights by individuals represent two halves of the whole, it is possible to define potential violations on both sides. For example, denying access to primary education to specific group is clearly a violation of ESC rights. Such a violation is easy to recognise and document for monitoring purposes. It reflects failure on the part of the State to comply with the Covenant. In contrast, a primary school located at a considerable distance from homes may or may not constitute a violation, depending on whether the State is doing all it can build additional schools or provide busing where necessary. While possibly not a violation of compliance, the individuals affected by the distance are not enjoying the full scope of the right to education. Therefore, both approaches to defining violations are included in the thesaurus, as they are not mutually exclusive, and each only reflects one facet of the full picture: where there is a right, there is a duty, and where a duty is not met, there is a violation. 18
Victims of violations of economic, social and cultural rights may be either individuals or groups. Certain groups may suffer disproportionately or be the subjects of discrimination (gender, race, religion, etc). In the thesaurus, if a potential violation may be more applicable to a specific group than to the general population, a reference is made to Special groups in the RT2 (Other Related Terms) field. For example, for violations concerning women's access to the workplace, the RT2 field would contain Special Groups; Women or for violations related to child labour, Special Groups; Children19.
The thesaurus consists of four main sections: the Covenant Article Index, the Thematic Index, the Categorical Index, and the Alphabetical Thesaurus. Each section is described below.
The Covenant Article Index lists rights and potential violation entries alphabetically, their categorical codes and entry types (R, Right; PV, Potential Violation) under applicable Covenant articles listed in the Reference section (Ref.) in the Alphabetical Thesaurus.
Because entries may be associated with multiple Covenant articles, an entry will appear under each article with which it is associated. In the example presented in Figure 1, some entries listed under Covenant Article 1(1) are also listed with other articles as well, for example Agrarian reform programmes, adverse with Article 11(2)(a) and Biological resources, failure to respect with Article 15(1)(a).
Figure 1: Covenant Article Index
The Thematic Index (Figure 2) allows the reader to locate entries thematically by keyword or theme. The Thematic Index cross-references all entries by term, broader terms (BT), narrower terms (NT), related terms (RT), and other related terms (RT2). Once an entry has been located in the Thematic Index, it can be looked up alphabetically by term in the Alphabetical Thesaurus.
Figure 2: Thematic Index
By using this index, the user may locate a wider range of issues relating to health, many of which do not begin with the word health in the term and are not categorised under Covenant Article 12, The Right to Health and a Healthy Environment (Figure 3).
| ... Abortion services ... Biomedical research prevailing over respect for human rights ... Blood supply contamination Child nutrition Childbirth Childhood immunisations ... Child, health development of the Contraception, failure to provide information or counseling Discriminatory access to primary health care services Disease, prevention, treatment and control Elderly, care for the Genetic characteristics, discrimination based on |
Figure 3: Entries relating to health in the Thematic Index
The Thematic Index may also be used to locate concepts and/or issues that do not appear in the language of the Covenant itself. For example, the word water is not used in the Covenant, but by locating the term water in the Thematic Index, multiple entries may be found related to water (Figure 4).
| Water for irrigation, no access
to Water, fresh Water pollution Pollution Water resources Natural wealth and resources, disposal of Natural resources Potable water, failure to respect access to Water for irrigation, no access to |
Figure 4: Entries relating to water in the Thematic Index
By looking up these entries in the Alphabetical Thesaurus, the user will see that issues concerning water are in fact related to the rights to an adequate standard of living, adequate food, and food production (Covenant Article 11), self-determination, natural wealth and resources, and subsistence (Covenant article 1), and to health and a healthy environment (Covenant Article 12).
The thesaurus provides a categorical index or listing of its contents, generally following the overall structure of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Each thesaurus entry—whether a right, a potential violation or a term—has its own unique reference number (code). The first two digits of the reference number correspond to the relevant article of the Covenant. For example, housing-related entries start with "11," as housing is a component of ICESCR Article 11, the right to an adequate standard of living.
The rights that are enumerated in the Covenant are listed at the most inclusive (highest) levels. For example, Article 6 of the Covenant addresses the right to work, choice of work, and technical and vocational guidance and training programmes. These, in turn, are broken down into three separate categories for classification purposes: the right to work, the choice of work; and technical and vocational guidance and training programmes.
Terminology and/or components of rights are listed under the rights. Potential violations may be listed under rights, components of rights, or terminology.
In the example presented in Figure 5, the rights Work, choice of work, vocational guidance and training programmes are listed at the most general level. Under the right entry Work, right to is the term Work, obstacles to, which here serves as a category. Under this category is the term Employment practises and policies, which is a component of the right to work. Under Employment practises and policies is an entry for a potential violation, Employment practices or polices, discrimination in. While Employment practises and policies are not guaranteed rights per se, employment practises or policies, discrimination in may constitute a violation to the right to work.
Figure 5: Categorical Index
The Categorical Index may appear to omit some important components of a right. Although specific terminology may be shared between rights, any given term is listed only once in the index, guided by the structure and organisation of the Covenant itself. This may pose a challenge in locating some topics and has been compensated for by listing other areas where the topic appears, for example in the RT (Related Terms) section in the Alphabetical Thesaurus, allowing it to be cross-referenced in the Thematic Index, or in the Ref. (References) section for cross-referencing in the Covenant Article Index.
To use the Categorical Index, the user would first need to locate the section of the hierarchy that addresses health. If the user knows that health is addressed in Article 12 of the Covenant, he or she may proceed directly to the section of the list with entry codes beginning with 12. (Right to Health and a Healthy Environment). From here, the user can locate more specific categories relating to health, for example: Health care or Environment, healthy and then even more specific entries within each category.
Complete entries for each right, term and potential violation appear in the Alphabetical Thesaurus section.
Following are descriptions for each part of a full entry:
Entry Term. The full entries of the thesaurus are listed alphabetically by term. Where possible, the structure of the term has been arranged so that the principal word(s) of the term appear first, facilitating alphabetical lookups. For example, if the user is interested in locating issues relating to health, he or she could lookup health in the Alphabetical Thesaurus and find such entries as listed in Figure 6.
| Health care Health care facilities … Health care policies that discriminate Health care policies, failure to respect conditions for individual decision-making Health care products or supplies Health care professionals Health care professionals, lack of respect for neutrality in conflict situations … Health care services |
Figure 6: Example of the structure and order of some entry terms related to health as they appear in the Alphabetical Thesaurus
Violation Scope. A violation scope may appear in italics under the term for a potential violation entry. If present, a violation scope helps to define the State party action and/or specific conditions that cause the entry to be classified as a potential violation.
Entry Type. Thesaurus entries are classified as rights, terms, and violations (see The Theoretical Approach).
Code. Each thesaurus entry has a code number that represents its location in the Categorical Index. The code therefore determines which Broader Terms (BT) and Narrower Terms (NT) are associated with a particular entry. Entry codes may also be used for monitoring ESC rights and violations, by providing a standardized classification system for recording and analysing information.
Scope Note (SN). Scope notes help to clarify or define an entry and may also contain text from other treaties or conventions. These references to documents other than the Covenant may further define the entry and/or help associate it with the Covenant or ESC rights in general.
Broader terms (BT). Broader terms represent more general (higher) entries in relation to the entry's place in the Categorical Index, allowing the reader to see the broader themes where the entry fits in.
Narrower terms (NT). Narrower terms represent more specific entries below the current term in the Categorical Index. Narrower terms often include potential violation associated with that entry.
Related terms (RT). Related terms cross-reference other entries in the thesaurus, in an attempt to represent conceptual relations between ESC rights. Related terms may point the reader to another topical area within the same right or right group, or to the same or similar issue as it applies to other rights.
Other related terms (RT2). These represent other commonly used language for the entry (UF or Use For in a standard thesaurus format). RT2 may also contain themes which are not be represented in the Categorical Index itself, for example, Special groups, Discrimination, etc.
References (Ref ). All rights and potential violation entries in the thesaurus are associated with at least one Covenant article reference and with other relevant international treaties and conventions when possible. The thesaurus references more than 140 international human rights instruments and other documents in addition to the Covenant itself. Some documents used for citations are declarations or drafts which have not been finalised and/or ratified, and therefore may not carry any legal weight. They are used to help define or clarify entries where necessary. Document acronyms and titles that have been referenced may be looked up in the Document Abbreviation Guide.
As stated earlier in this Preface, this thesaurus is not a legal resource, but it may be used as an index to legal documents and other resources. It may assist the user in locating legally binding instruments, declarations, etc. that may be applicable to the issue being researched, as well as locating references to Covenant articles. For example, entries located relating to water (see Figure 4) will refer the user to such documents as the Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition or the United Nation's General Assembly Resolution 1803 (XVII) of 14 December 1962, "Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources."
The thesaurus indices include the full text of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Appendix A), as it is one of the core documents for addressing economic, social and cultural rights in general and the also for the thesaurus itself.
In order to elevate the status of the Covenant and address issues of justiciability, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, along with International Commission of Jurists, called upon the United Nations to draft an optional protocol to the Covenant. The Draft Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Appendix B) was intended to allow individuals and groups to submit complaints of violations to the Committee for examination.
In a 1997 session, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights raised a general concern as to whether an individual or group petition procedure would be the most logical approach towards strengthening the Covenant. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was instead urged to develop its existing powers further in relation to its examination of State party reports. 20
The Limburg Principles on the Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Appendix C) resulted from a meeting held in Maastricht, the Netherlands in 1986 held by the International Commission of Jurists, the Urban Morgan Institute on Human Rights (Cincinnati, Ohio, USA) and the Centre for Human Rights of the Faculty of Law of the University of Limburg (Maastricht, the Netherlands). The Limburg Principles attempt to identify the nature and scope of State party obligations in relation to the Covenant, the role of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as guidelines for the Committee's consideration of State party reports.
The Maastrich Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Appendix D) were drafted by a group of some thirty experts who met in Maastricht from 22-26 January 1997 at the invitation of the International Commission of Jurists (Geneva, Switzerland), the Urban Morgan Institute on Human Rights (Cincinnati, Ohio, USA) and the Centre for Human Rights of the Faculty of Law of Maastricht University (The Netherlands). The objective of this meeting was to develop guidelines on the nature and scope of violations of economic, social and cultural rights and appropriate responses and remedies.
The Fact Sheet No. 16 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Appendix E) has been included as an introduction to economic, social and cultural rights in general and to the Covenant.
Every effort was made to examine and incorporate existing sources for information economic, social and cultural rights. Other human right thesauri and indexes consulted for this thesaurus include:
Caccia, Ivana, Human Rights Thesaurus, 1st Edition (Ottawa, Canada: Human Rights Internet and the Human Rights Research Centre of the University of Ottawa, Canada, 1993).
Caccia, Ivana, Classification Scheme for Human Rights Documentation (Ottawa, Canada). Available from HURIDOCS at http://www.huridocs.org/clasengl.htm
Dueck, Judith and Aída María Noval, HURIDOCS Standard Formats: Supporting Documents, B: HURIDOCS List of Index-terms (Geneva: HURIDOCS, 1993). Available from HURIDOCS at http://www.huridocs.org/hsdbindx.htm
International Labour Organisation (ILO), ILOLEX: The ILO's Database on International Labour Standards. http://www.ilo.org
Narue, Jean-Bernard, Glossaire des droits de l'home = Glossary of Human Rights (Paris: Editions de la Maison des sciences de l'Homme, 1981).
OCDE, Macrothesaurus for Information Processing in the Field of Economic and Social Development (Paris: OCDE, 1991).
Stormorken, Bjorn, Human Rights Terminology in International Law: A Thesaurus (Strasbourg: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1988).
UNESCO: IBE Education Thesaurus (Paris: UNESCO, 1991).
UNESCO Thesaurus (Paris: UNESCO, 1995).
United Nations, A Compilation of International Instruments (New York, 1988).
United Nations, Index to Economic and Social Development. http://www.un.org/esa/subindex/
Many other international instruments, declarations, etc. were also reviewed and incorporated into the thesaurus.
1 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted 16 Dec. 1966, 993 U.N.T.S. 3 (entered into force 3 Jan. 1976), G.A. Res. 2200 (XXI), 21 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 16) at 49, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966).
2 See preface section Other Sources Consulted.
3 Nonstandard but frequently used terminology is included in the RT2 field and cross-referenced in the Thematic Index.
4 Other international instruments addressing economic, social and cultural rights include: the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
5 Par. 10, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 3, (Fifth session, 1990), UN doc. E/1991/23, Annex III.
7 Par. 9, General Comment No. 3.
8 Par. 10, "The Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights," reprinted in International Commission of Jurists, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: A Compilation of Essential Documents (Geneva: ICJ, 1997).
10 The Committee started preparing General Comments relating to specific rights and issues during its third session in 1989 as a means to assist State parties in understanding the scope of rights and in fulfilling their reporting obligations.
11 The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is the treaty monitoring body which is charged with monitoring governmental adherence to the Covenant.
12 Maastricht Guidelines, op. cit.
13 Par. 6, Maastricht Guidelines. Italics are those of the author.
14 Par. 6, Maastricht Guidelines
16 Par. 18, Maastricht Guidelines.
17 Because progressive implementation is difficult to monitor, a "violations approach" to economic, social and cultural rights was introduced s a means to more easily identify violations of ESC rights, focusing on state actions, failure to meet obligations, and acts of discrimination. See Audrey R. Chapman, 'A Violations Approach' for Monitoring the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Human Rights Quarterly, Volume 18, Number 1 1996, pp. 23-66.
18 Maria Green, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Indicators: Current Approaches to Human Rights Measurement," informal paper for the UNDP, 1999, on file with the author.
19 See preface section Structure of the Thesaurus: Alphabetical Thesaurus.
20 International Commission of Jurists. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: A Compilation of Essential Documents (Geneva: ICJ, 1997), Adama Dieng, Secretary-General, Introduction, p. 8.