Economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) are socio-economic human rights, such as the right to education, right to housing, right to an adequate standard of living, right to health, victims' rights and the right to science and culture. Economic, social and cultural rights are recognised and protected in international and regional human rights instruments. Member states have a legal obligation to respect, protect and fulfil economic, social and cultural rights and are expected to take "progressive action" towards their fulfilment.

The Universal Declaration on Human Rights recognises a number of economic, social and cultural rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) is the primary international legal source of economic, social and cultural rights. The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women recognises and protects many of the economic, social and cultural rights recognised in the ICESCR in relation to children and women. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination prohibits discrimination on the basis of racial or ethnic origin in relation to a number of economic, social and cultural rights. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities also prohibits all discrimination on the basis of the disability including refusal of the reasonable accommodation relating to full enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights.

International and regional human rights instruments

thumb|upright=1.6|Women's economic rights in 2011

Economic, social and cultural rights are recognized and protected in a number of international and regional human rights instruments.

International human rights instruments

The Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR), adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948, is one of the most important sources of economic, social and cultural rights. It recognizes the right to social security in Article 22, the right to work in Article 23, the right to rest and leisure in Article 24, the right to an adequate standard of living in Article 25, the right to education in Article 26, and the right to benefits of science and culture in Article 27. Common global standards were agreed by some 195 states in the Recommendation on Science and Scientific protect and reassert scientific freedoms, the rights of scientists, and rights of research subjects, and the right of everyone to science.

Regional human rights instruments

The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights protects the right to work in Article 15, the right to health in Article 16, and the right to education in Article 17. The European Social Charter protects a wide range of economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to work, to favourable working conditions, the right to join trade unions and to take collective labour action in Article 1 to 10, the right to health in Article 11, the right to social security, including the right to medical assistance and the right to social welfare services, in Article 12 to 14, protection of especially vulnerable groups are enshrined in Article 15 to 17 and 19, and right to housing in Article 31. The Protocol of San Salvador protects a range of economic, social and cultural rights within the Inter-American human rights system. Various United Nations Special Rapporteurs have influenced the normative development of economic, social and cultural rights. Appointed by the Commission on Human Rights and its sub-commissions, key rapporteurs include the Special Rapporteur on the Realization of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, and the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women.

National constitutions

A number of national constitutions recognize economic, social and cultural rights. For example, the 1996 Constitution of South Africa includes economic, social and cultural rights and the South African Constitutional Court has heard claims under these obligations (see Grootboom and Treatment Action Campaign cases). The Supreme Court of India has interpreted Article 21 of the Constitution to contain positive social rights.

Constitutional recognition of economic, social and cultural rights has long been thought to be counterproductive, given that courts might be tasked to adjudicate them, and hence disrupt the democratic chains of accountability of the so-called elected branches. Nonetheless, a growing literature from the Global South has tracked very different judicial responses.

Sympathetic critics argue that socio-economic rights appear 'quite negligible' factors in terms of ensuring overall human development. Contemporary welfare states tend to emphasize decommodification, general welfare and the common good, not rights. Sweden, Finland, and Denmark, for example, adhere to a comparatively robust welfare effort, built primarily through social democratic parties and trade union mobilisation, without relying on judicial review of socio-economic rights.

Civil society movements have advanced alternative institutions, norms and practices for constitution-making and making socio-economic rights effective. Participants in recent constitution-making experiments in Iceland, Bolivia and Ecuador have all linked economic and social rights to new institutional arrangements such as participatory budgeting or technologically-enhanced direct democracy as well as to new norms and discourses, notably those concerning ecological stewardship and the commons as well as care and social reproduction. In Ireland, social movements such as the 'Right2Water' and 'Repeal the 8th' campaigns have demonstrated how highly networked individuals and communities can mobilise both alongside and outside of traditional institutions, act collectively, and advance economic, social and cultural rights.

State responsibility

Economic, social and cultural right enshrined in international and regional human rights instruments are legally binding. Member states have a legal obligation to respect, protect and fulfil these rights. The exact nature of states' obligations in this respect has been established principally in relation to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR),

State parties to the ICESCR are required to take "progressive action" towards fulfilment of the ICESR rights. While immediate fulfilment may not be possible due to the economic situation of a country, postponement of proactive action is not permitted. State parties must show genuine efforts to secure the economic, social and cultural rights enshrined in the ICESCR. The burden of proof for progressive action is considered on be with the state party. The prohibition on discrimination in relation to economic, social and cultural rights is regarded as having immediate effect. State parties must abolish laws, policies and practices which affect the equal enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights and take action to prevent discrimination in public life. All state parties, regardless of the economic situation in the country or resource scarcity, are required to ensure respect for minimum subsistence rights for all. State parties must also ensure that available resources are accessed and used equitably. Therefore, government decisions on how to allocate resources should be subject to scrutiny. Legislative measures alone are not sufficient to ensure compliance with the ICESCR and state parties are expected to provide judicial remedies in addition to taking administrative, financial, educational and social measures.

Monitoring, enforcement and implementation framework

Intergovernmental organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have persistently neglected economic, social and cultural rights over the past 50 years. While all human rights are said to be "equal, indivisible, interrelated, and interdependent", the monitoring, enforcement and implementation framework for economic, social and cultural rights is less advanced than that for civil and political rights. International enforcement mechanisms are strongest for civil and political rights, and their violation is considered more serious than that of economic, social and cultural rights. There are few international NGOs that focus on economic, social and cultural rights and there are few lawyers who have the knowledge or experience to defend economic, social and cultural rights at a national or international level. Economic, social and cultural rights are less likely than civil and political rights to be protected in national constitutions.

In 2008, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which gives the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights competence to receive and consider communications from individuals claiming that their rights under the Covenant have been violated by a state party. The Protocol entered into force on 5 May 2013.

In 2017, for the common global standards in the Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers relating to the right to science, states agreed at the UNESCO General Conference to adopt four-yearly reporting on implementation, and agreed that UNESCO's Executive Board is competent to manage monitoring, with the networks of UNESCO National Commissions and academic partners mobilized in countries to ensure implementation and monitoring at country level. For the other major international human rights conventions mentioned above there are various other treaty bodies to ensure some monitoring of implementation. And each may transmit to the Human Rights Council reports of individual cases when a state is the subject of a Universal Periodic Review.

Education as a human right

Education is guaranteed as a human right in many human rights treaties, including:

  • The Convention against Discrimination in Education(1960, CADE).
  • The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights(1966, ICESCR).
  • The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979, CEDAW).
  • The Convention on the Rights of the Child(1989, CRC).

The right to education places the individual at the centre of education frameworks.

Education as a human right has the following characteristics: The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) has helped to establish the Housing and Property Directorate (HPD/HPCC) in Kosovo.

Theory of rights

According to Karel Vasak's theory of three generations of human rights, economic, social and cultural rights are considered second-generation rights, while civil and political rights, such as freedom of speech, right to a fair trial, and the right to vote, are considered first-generation rights. The theory of negative and positive rights considers economic, social and cultural rights positive rights. Social rights are "rights to the meeting of basic needs that are essential for human welfare." Examples of social rights include the right to healthcare and the right to decent working conditions.