NUI Galway | Irish Centre for Human Rights | LL.M 2016/17
ECONOMIC, SOCIAL & CULTURAL RIGHTS
LW417
Dr. Joshua Curtis * University of Liverpool * [email protected]
Dr. John Reynolds * National University of Ireland, Maynooth * [email protected]
Description
Economic, social & cultural rights promise to all the material means to attain
satisfactory standards of living in an egalitarian society, and the socio-cultural agency
to influence an enlightened society. An expansive reading of economic, social &
cultural rights thus implies a radically progressive politics, structural social change
and distributive justice. In practice, however, where such rights have materialised, it
has primarily been as individual trumps in isolated cases. They remain constrained by
the indeterminacy of law and the conservatism of legal institutions, and limited by the
dictates of orthodox economics. In the mainstream, the views expressed by former
U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Jeanne Kirkpatrick, continue to hold sway:
economic, social & cultural rights are of no more tangible value than ‘a letter to Santa
Claus’. So while on paper all human rights may be indivisible and interdependent (and
important legal actors such as South Africa’s Constitutional Court have asserted that
the very ideas of democracy and justice will continue to ‘ring hollow’ where socioeconomic rights are not realised), an undeniable hierarchy – that privileges civil &
political rights and reinforces a ‘market-friendly’ conception of human rights – has
pervaded the institutional, academic and public consciousness.
The course will begin by interrogating what lies behind this bias, placing
economic, social & cultural rights in historical, ideological and philosophical
perspective. As the semester proceeds, we will explore the substantive rights,
procedures and implementation mechanisms in systems of international, regional and
domestic human rights law that seek to protect and fulfil economic, social & cultural
rights. What are socio-economic rights and on what terms are they justified? Does
every individual hold, for example, a right to a house, or a right to a free education, or
a right to a constant supply of water? Are such things ‘legal’ rights, in a judicially
enforceable sense, or social aspirations whose availability inevitably oscillates with
the politics of the day and the whims of the market? What is the relationship between
economic development and socio-economic rights? What does the pervasiveness of
models of neo-liberalism and austerity mean for socio-economic rights? What are the
mechanisms for claiming economic, social and cultural rights? To what extent, if any,
can they be claimed collectively? How can they be best articulated to overcome the
structural biases and practical obstacles that they face?
On the domestic plane, there has been much debate over the ‘justiciability’ of
socio-economic rights in national courts. While undoubtedly an important site of
struggle, should the legal system, in narrow terms, be the primary focus when it
comes to access to basic material needs or the reduction of socio-economic
inequalities? Should more attention be directed towards budget allocation and public
finance decisions, as the most pertinent sites for the ‘progressive realisation’ of socioeconomic rights in the transformative societal sense? Elections are won and lost on
the basis of such decisions. Socio-economic rights are, as such, as contingent on
ideology and policy as they are on legality; struggles for their realisation, therefore, go
beyond the courts and formal legal institutions.
On the international plane, economic, social & cultural rights raise pivotal
questions about the structure of the international economic order: the legacies of
colonialism, the effects of late capitalism and the hegemony of international trade and
investment regimes. We will examine the extent to which distributive justice on an
international scale, and the discourse around the right to development, for example,
are constrained by global economic structures. The phenomenon of ‘land-grabbing’,
and its implications for economic, social & cultural rights in the global South in
particular, will also be explored. The emerging normative push towards extra-territorial
obligations in the sphere of economic, social & cultural rights holds potentially
important implications for states and multinational corporations alike, but will not
easily gain traction in the face of powerful financial interests. The challenges for
socio-economic rights advocates in redressing domestic and global inequalities thus
remain immense. This course aims to help students to understand and analyse the
roots and scale of these challenges, and to develop the tools and thinking necessary
to tackle them.
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the course students will be able to:
Ü understand the ideological contestations in human rights discourse vis-à-vis
economic, social & cultural rights;
Ü understand the content of human rights law in terms of economic, social &
cultural rights, and the workings of the relevant institutional frameworks at
domestic, regional and international level;
Ü engage with legal, policy and economic arguments with respect to social,
economic & cultural rights;
Ü critically evaluate the social, economic & cultural rights regime, highlighting
lacunae within the law and barriers to progress.
Schedule & Format
Semester I: Wednesdays 3-6pm // Thursdays 10am-1pm
The course will be taught in over twelve seminars, at which attendance is expected.
An outline of the course is detailed below with the scheduled dates and assigned
readings for each seminar. Students are expected to have completed the assigned
readings and are encouraged to express their understandings/views on the readings
and the issues raised. Each seminar’s material includes required reading from core
texts, articles and cases. Further recommended materials on the given topic are also
provided for the students’ own interests and research. Students are of course free to
go beyond the materials listed, and raise issues and ideas of their own where relevant
to the particular seminar. Readings that are unavailable through the library or its
online databases will be provided via the Blackboard system.
Assessment
Assessment of the module comprises the following two components:
o
Group presentation (20%) – short presentation in groups of 3-4 to be made
on topics assigned by the lecturers, in consultation with students.
o
Essay (80%) – submission of an essay which demonstrates significant
research and which critically evaluates the literature available on a chosen
topic. Case studies to illuminate the research topic are encouraged. Essays
should demonstrate substantive research and critically evaluate the literature
on a particular topic. Essays should be between 8,500 and 10,000 words
(including footnotes, not including bibliography) and submitted by 4pm on 12th
December 2016. Students should propose an essay on a topic of their choice,
to be agreed in consultation with the lecturers.
Useful websites / resources
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UN Committee on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development: http://unctad.org/
Centre for Economic and Social Rights: http://www.cesr.org/
International Network for Economic, Social & Cultural Rights: http://www.escr-net.org/
War on Want: http://www.waronwant.org/
Bretton Woods Project: http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/
Amnesty International: http://www.amnesty.org/en/economic-social-and-cultural-rights
Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa: http://www.seri-sa.org/
National Economic & Social Rights Initiative: www.nesri.org/
FoodFirst Information and Action Network: www.fian.org
Circle of Rights: http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/edumat/IHRIP/circle/toc.htm
Legal Empowerment of the Poor: http://www.lepnet.org/
Nazdeek: http://nazdeek.org/
Comhlámh: http://www.comhlamh.org/
UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights: website
UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing: website
UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education: website
UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food: http://www.srfood.org/
UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health: website
UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation: website
UN Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights: website
General texts on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights
Recommended texts:
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Asbjorn Eide, Catarina Krause & Allan Rosas (eds.), Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(Martinus Nijhoff, 2nd edn., 2001)
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Mashood A. Baderin & Robert McCorquodale (eds.), Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in
Action (Oxford University Press, 2007)
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Manisuli Ssenyonjo, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in International Law (Hart, 2009)
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Paul O'Connell, Vindicating Socio-Economic Rights: International Standards and Comparative
Experiences (Routledge, 2012)
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Aoife Nolan (ed.), Economic and Social rights after the Global Financial Crises (Cambridge,
2014)
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Manual Couret Branco, Economics Versus Human Rights (Routledge, 2009)
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Anthony George Ravlich, Freedom from Our Social Prisons: The Rise of Economic, Social, and
Cultural Rights (Lexington, 2008)
Additional texts:
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Margot Salomon, Global Responsibility for Human Rights: World Poverty and the Development
of International Law (Oxford University Press, 2007)
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Conor Gearty & Virginia Mantouvalou, Debating Social Rights (Hart, 2010)
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Aoife Nolan, Rory O'Connell & Colin Harvey (eds.), Human Rights and Public Finance: Budget
Analysis and the Promotion of Economic and Social Rights (Hart, 2013)
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M. Rodwan Abouharb & David Cingranelli, Human Rights and Structural Adjustment
(Cambridge University Press, 2007)
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B.G. Ramcharan, Judicial Protection of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Cases &
Materials (Martinus Nijhoff, 2005)
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Matthew Craven, The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: A
Perspective on its Development (Oxford University Press, 1998)
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Fons Coomans (ed.), Justiciability of Economic and Social Rights: Experiences from Domestic
Systems (Intersentia, 2006)
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Anne Gallagher & Scott Leckie (eds.), Economic, Social & Cultural Rights: A Legal Resource
Guide (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006)
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Peter Uvin, Human Rights and Development (Kumarian Press, 2004)
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Bard A. Andreassan & Stephen P. Marks, Development as a Human Right (Intersentia, 2010)
o
Malcolm Langford, Wouter Vandenhole, Martin Scheinin & Willem van Genugten (eds.), Global
Justice, State Duties: The Extraterritorial Scope of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in
International Law (Cambridge University Press 2012)
o
Fons Coomans, Cases and Concepts on Extraterritorial Obligations in the Area of Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights (Intersentia, 2012)
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Mesganaw Mulugeta Assefa, A Dead End or a New Beginning?: The Place of Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights in the Responsibility to Protect (Lap Lambert, 2011)
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Henry J. Steiner, Philip Alston & Ryan Goodman, International Human Rights in Context: Law,
Politics, Morals (Clarendon Press, 3rd edn., 2008)
COURSE OUTLINE
1. Economic, Social & Cultural Rights as International Human Rights
Wednesday 14th September, 3-6pm
Assigned reading:
o
International Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights + UN Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 9 (1998), The Domestic
Application of the Covenant, UN Doc. E/C.12/1998/24 [bring to class]
o
Asbjorn Eide & Allan Rosas, ‘Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: A Universal Challenge’
& Asbjorn Eide, ‘Economic, Social & Cultural Rights as Human Rights’ in Eide, Krause &
Rosas (eds.) 3-28
o
UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and
human rights, Mr Philip Alston, UN Doc. A/HRC/32/31, 28 April 2016
o
Shedrack Agbakwa, ‘Reclaiming Humanity: Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights as the
Cornerstone of African Human Rights’ (2002) 5 Yale Human rights & Development Law
Journal 177-216
o
Martin Scheinen, ‘Economic and Social Rights as Legal Rights’, in Eide, Krause & Rosas
(eds.) 29-54
Further reading:
o
Amnesty International, ‘Human Rights for Human Dignity – A Primer on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights’ (2005)
o
Anthony George Ravlich, Freedom from Our Social Prisons: The Rise of Economic, Social,
and Cultural Rights (Lexington, 2008)
Ø Chapter 4, ‘The History of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and the Most
Disadvantaged’
o
Fons Coomans, ‘The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ in F.
Isa Gomez & Koen de Feyter (eds.), International Human Rights Law in a Global Context
(Deusto University Press, 2009) 293-317
o
Vinodh Jaichand, ‘An Introduction to Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Overcoming
the Constraints of Categorization through Implementation’ in Azizur Chowdhury & Jahid
Bhuiyan (eds.), An Introduction to International Human Rights Law (Martinus Nijhoff, 2010)
o
Paul O'Connell, Vindicating Socio-Economic Rights (Routledge, 2012)
Ø Chapter 1, ‘Introduction’ 1-21
Ø Chapter 2, ‘International Standards on Socio-Economic Rights’ 22-47
o
International Commission of Jurists, ‘Courts and the Legal Enforcement of Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights’ (Geneva, 2008)
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Jeanne M. Woods, ‘Justiciable Social Rights as a Critique of the Liberal Paradigm’ (2003)
38 Texas International Law Journal 763-793
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Balakrishnan Rajagopal, ‘Pro-Human Rights but Anti-Poor? A Critical Evaluation of the
Indian Supreme Court from a Social Movement Perspective’ (2007) Human Rights Review
157-186
2. The Nature of ESC Rights & Obligations - International Cooperation & Extra-Territorial
Obligations
Wednesday 21st September, 3-6pm
Assigned reading:
o
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 3, The Nature of
States Parties' Obligations (Fifth session, 1990), U.N. Doc. E/1991/23, annex III at 86 (1991)
o
Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
annexed to UN General Assembly Resolution 63/117 (10 December 2008)
o
Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the area of Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights (2011)
o
Arne Vandenbogaerde and Wouter Vandenhole, ‘The Optional Protocol to the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: An Ex Ante Assessment of its Effectiveness
in Light of the Drafting Process’ (2010) 10 Human Rights Law Review 207-237
o
Shane Darcy & Josh Curtis, ‘The Right to a Social and International Order for the Realisation of
Human Rights: Article 28 of the Universal Declaration and International Cooperation’ in Keane
& McDermott (eds), The Challenge of Human Rights: Past, Present and Future (Elgar, 2012)
o
Fons Coomans, ‘Situating the Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in
the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ (Maastricht Faculty of Law Working Paper,
2013)
Further reading:
o
Matthew Craven, ‘The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ in Eide, Krause
& Rosas (eds.) 455-472
o
Henry J. Steiner, Philip Alston & Ryan Goodman, International Human Rights in Context: Law,
Politics, Morals (Clarendon Press, 3rd edn., 2008) 313-357
o
Allan Rosas & Martin Scheinen, ‘Implementation Mechanisms and Remedies’ in Eide, Krause &
Rosas (eds.) 425-454
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Olivier De Schutter, Asbjørn Eide, Ashfaq Khalfan, Marcos Orellana, Margot Salomon & Ian
Seiderman, ‘Commentary to the Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in
the area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ (2012) 34 Human Rights Quarterly 1084-1169
o
Margot Salomon, Global Responsibility for Human Rights: World Poverty and the Development
of International Law (Oxford University Press, 2007)
o
Malcolm Langford, Wouter Vandenhole, Martin Scheinin & Willem van Genugten (eds.), Global
Justice, State Duties: The Extraterritorial Scope of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in
International Law (Cambridge University Press 2012)
o
Fons Coomans and Rolf Kunnemann (eds.), Cases and Concepts on Extraterritorial Obligations
in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Intersentia, 2012)
o
Mark Gibney and Wouter Vandenhole (eds.), Litigating Transnational Human Rights
Obligations: Alternative Judgements (Routledge, 2014)
3. The International Economic Order: Trade, Investment & the Right to Development
Thursday 22nd September, 10am-1pm
Assigned reading:
o
Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (Tanzanian Publishing House, 1973)
Ø Chapter 1, ‘Some Questions on Development: What is Development? What is
Underdevelopment?’
o
Margot Salomon, ‘From NIEO to Now and the Unfinishable Story of Economic Justice’
(2013) 62 International and Comparative Law Quarterly 31-54
o
Declaration on the Right to Development, UN General Assembly Resolution 41/128 (4
December 1986)
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Endorois Welfare Council v. Kenya, African Commission on Human and People’s Rights,
No. 276/2003 (Judgment of 2009)
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Arne Vandenbogaerde, ‘The Right to Development in International Human Rights Law: A
Call for its Dissolution’ (2013) 31:2 Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 187-209
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The Knife / Liv Strömquist, ‘End Extreme Wealth’ (Shaking the Habitual, 2013)
Further reading:
o
Vijay Prashad, The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South (Verso, 2012)
Ø Chapter 1, ‘The Demise of Northern Atlantic Liberalism’
o
Thomas Pogge, ‘Severe Poverty as a Human Rights Violation’ in Thomas Pogge (ed.),
Freedom from Poverty as a Human Right: Who Owes What to the Very Poor (Oxford
University Press, 2007) 11-53
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Thomas Pogge, World Poverty and Human Rights (Polity, 2nd edn., 2008)
o
Raul Prebisch, The Economic Development of Latin America and its Principal Problems
(United Nations Department of Economic Affairs, 1950)
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Mohammed Bedjaoui, Towards a New International Economic Order (Holmes & M, 1979)
o
Sundhya Pahuja, Decolonising International Law: Development, Economic Growth and the
Politics of Universality (Cambridge University Press, 2011)
Ø Chapter 2, ‘From Decolonisation to Developmental Nation State’ 44-94
o
Philip Alston, ‘Resisting the Merger and Acquisition of Human Rights by Trade Law: A
Reply to Petersmann’ (2002) 13:4 European Journal of International Law 815-844
o
Olivier De Schutter, ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food: Guiding
Principles on Human Rights Impact Assessments of Trade and Investment Agreements’,
UN Doc. A/HRC/19/59/Add.5, 19 December 2011
o
Sarah Joseph, ‘Trade to Live or Live to Trade: The World Trade Organization,
Development, and Poverty’ in Baderin & McCorquodale (eds.) 389-416
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Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom (Oxford University Press, 1999)
o
Stephen P. Marks (ed.), Implementing the Right to Development: The Role of International
Law (Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, 2008)
4. The Right to Food
Wednesday 28th September, 3-6pm
Assigned reading:
o
Asbjorn Eide, ‘The Right to an Adequate Standard of Living, including the Right to Food’ in
Eide, Krause & Rosas (eds.) 133-148
o
Olivier De Schutter, ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food: Agribusiness and
the Right to Food’, UN Doc. A/HRC/13/33, 22 December 2009
o
Rajeev C. Patel, ‘Food Sovereignty: Power, Gender, and the Right to Food’ (2012) 9:6 PLoS
Medicine 1-4
o
Shona Hawkes & Jagjit Kaur Plahe, ‘Worlds Apart: The WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture and
the Right to Food in Developing Countries’ (2013) 34:1 International Political Science Review
21-38
o
Transnational Institute, ‘The Global Land Grab: A Primer’ (February 2013)
Further reading:
o
UN Committee on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights, General Comment No.12 (1999) – The
Right to Adequate Food
o
Amartya Sen, Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement & Deprivation (Clarendon, 1981)
o
Jean Ziegler, Christophe Golay, Claire Mahon & Sally-Anne Way, The Fight for the Right to
Food: Lessons Learned (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011)
o
Christophe Golay, ‘The Right to Food and Access to Justice: Examples at the national, regional
and international levels’ (Food and Agriculture Organisation, 2009)
o
Paul O'Connell, Vindicating Socio-Economic Rights (Routledge, 2012)
Ø Chapter 4, ‘Developing Social Rights in India’ 78-107
o
Right to Food Campaign, ‘Supreme Court Orders on the Right to Food: A Tool for Action’
(October 2005), relating to the case of People’s Union for Civil Liberties v. Union of India &
Others, Supreme Court of India [http://www.righttofoodindia.org/orders/interimorders.html]
o
FoodFirst Information and Action Network, ‘Advancing the Right to Adequate Food at the
National Level: Some Lessons Learned’ (2010)
o
Combat Poverty Agency, ‘Rights-Based Approaches to Food Poverty in Ireland’ (2008)
o
Via Campesina, ‘Combatting Monsanto’ (March 2012)
o
Olivier De Schutter, ‘The Green Rush: The Global Race for Farmland and the Rights of Land
Users’ (2011) 52 Harvard International Law Journal 503–561
o
Lorenzo Cotula, 'The International Political Economy of the Global Land Rush: A Critical
Appraisal of Trends, Scale, Geography and Drivers' (2012) 39 Journal of Peasant Studies 649
Recommended viewing:
o
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Film:
Documentary:
Dragão da Maldade Contra o Santo Guerreiro (Glauber Rocha, 1969)
Food, Inc. (Rovert Kenner, 2008)
5. The Right to Health
Thursday 29th September, 10am-1pm
Assigned reading:
o
Brigit Toebes, ‘The Right to Health’ in Eide, Krause & Rosas (eds.) 169-190
o
Alicia Ely Yamin, ‘Defining Questions: Situating Issues of Power in the Formulation of a Right to
Health under International Law’ (1996) 18 Human Rights Quarterly 398-438
o
Minister of Health and Others v. Treatment Action Campaign and Others, Constitutional Court
of South Africa 2002 (5) SA 721 (CC) (5 July 2002)
o
Paul O'Connell, ‘The Human Right to Health and the Privatisation of Irish Health Care’ (2005)
11:2 Medico-Legal Journal of Ireland 76
Further reading:
o
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 14 (2000) –
The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health
o
Soobramoney v. Minister of Health, KwaZulu-Natal, Constitutional Court of South Africa, Case
32/97 [1997] ZACC 17 (27 November 1997)
o
John Tobin, The Right to Health in International Law (Oxford University Press, 2012)
o
Manisuli Ssenyonjo, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in International Law (Hart, 2009)
Ø Chapter 8, ‘The Right to Health: Article 8’
o
Tony Evans, ‘A Human Right to Health?’ (2002) 23:2 Human Rights Quarterly 197-215
o
Paul O'Connell, ‘The Human Right to Health in an Age of Market Hegemony’ in Harrington &
Stuttaford (eds.), Global Health and Human Rights: Legal and Philosophical Perspectives
(Routledge, 2010) 190
o
Sheetal Shah, ‘Illuminating the Possible in the Developing World: Guaranteeing the Human
Right to Health in India’ (1999) 32 Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 435-467
o
Obijiofor Aginam, ‘Global Village, Divided World: South-North Gap and Global Health
Challenges at Century’s Dawn’ (2000) 7 Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies 603–628
o
Anand Grover, ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of
the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health: the right to health and
international drug control, compulsory treatment for drug dependence and access to controlled
medicines’, UN Doc. A/65/255, 6 August 2010.
o
Lisa Forman, ‘An Elementary Consideration of Humanity? Linking Trade-Related Intellectual
Property Rights to the Human Right to Health in International Law’ (2011) 14:2 Journal of World
Intellectual Property 155-175
Recommended viewing:
o
Film:
Dirty Pretty Things (Stephen Frears, 2002)
o
Documentary:
Fire in the Blood (Dylan Mohan Gray, 2012)
Sicko (Michael Moore, 2007)
6. Labour Rights: The Right to Work & Rights in Work
Wednesday 5th October, 3-6pm
Assigned reading:
o
Krzysztof Drzewicki, ‘The Right to Work and Rights in Work’ in Eide, Krause & Rosas (eds.)
223-243
o
Manual Couret Branco, Economics Versus Human Rights (Routledge, 2009)
Ø Chapter 2, ‘Economics versus the right to work’ 25-49
o
General Federation of employees of the national electric power corporation (GENOP-DEI) and
Confederation of Greek Civil Servants’ Trade Unions (ADEDY) v. Greece, Complaint No.
66/2011, European Committee of Social Rights, Decision on the Merits, 23 May 2012
o
Conor Gearty, ‘Up With the Unions’, The Rights Future, 13 December 2010
o
David Graeber, ‘On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs’, Strike, 17 August 2013
Further reading:
o
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No.18 (2005) – The
Right to Work
o
International Labour Organisation, ‘ILO Principles Concerning the Right to Strike’ (1988)
o
Guy Mundlak, ‘The Right to Work—The Value of Work’ in Daphne Barak-Erez & Aeyal Gross,
Exploring Social Rights: Between Theory and Practice (Hart, 2007) 341–366
o
Manisuli Ssenyonjo, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in International Law (Hart, 2009)
Ø Chapter 7, ‘Right to Work and Rights in Work: Articles 6 and 7’
o
Virginia Mantouvalou, ‘Are Labour Rights Human Rights?’ (2012) 3 European Labour Law
Journal 151-172
o
JL Rey Pérez, ‘The Right to Work Reassessed: How We Can Understand and Make Effective
the Right to Work’ (2005) 2:1 Rutgers Journal of Law & Urban Policy 217–37
o
Rory O’Connell, ‘The Right to Work in the European Convention on Human Rights’ (2012) 2
European Human Rights Law Review 176-190
o
Keith Ewing, ‘The Draft Monti II Regulation: An Inadequate Response to Viking and Laval’
(Institute of Employment Rights, 2011)
o
Watch: Joel Beinin, ‘Workers’ Struggles in the Arab Spring’, Portland State University, 25
February 2012 [www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB6mc4U8yTY]
o
George Osborne, Speech to the Conservative Party Conference, 8 October 2012
o
Paul Lafargue, ‘The Right to Be Lazy’, Egalité (1880)
Recommended viewing:
o
Film:
Bread and Roses (Ken Loach, 2000)
o
Documentary:
Harlan County, USA (Barbara Kopple, 1976)
Which Side Are You On? (Ken Loach, 1985)
7. The Right to Housing
Wednesday 12th October, 3-6pm
Assigned reading:
o
UN Committee on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 4 (1991) – The
Right to Adequate Housing & General Comment No. 7 (1997) – Forced Evictions
o
Scott Leckie, ‘’The Human Right to Adequate Housing’ in Eide, Krause & Rosas (eds.) 149-168
o
Government of the Republic of South Africa v. Grootboom and Others 2001 (1) SA (CC); 2000
(11) BCLR 1169 (CC)
o
I.D.G. v. Spain, UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Communication No.
2/2014, Views adopted by the Committee at its fifty-fifth session, UN Doc. E/C.12/55/D/2/2014,
13 October 2015
Further reading:
o Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
annexed to UN General Assembly Resolution 63/117 (10 December 2008)
o
Scott Leckie, ‘When Push Comes to Shove: Housing Rights and Forced Evictions’ (Habitat
International Coalition, 1995)
o
Mike Davis, Planet of the Slums (Verso, 2006)
o
Brian Ray, ‘Occupiers of 51 Olivia Road v. City of Johannesburg: Enforcing the Right to
Adequate Housing through Engagement’ (2008) 8 Human Rights Law Review 703
o
Miloon Kothari, ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the
right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context:
Mission to South Africa’, UN Doc. A/HRC/7/16/Add.3, 29 February 2008
o
Aoife Nolan, ‘Litigating Housing Rights: Experiences and Issues’ (2006) 28 Dublin University
Law Journal 145-171
o
Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, ‘Fair Play for Housing Rights: Mega-Events, Olympic
Games and Housing Rights’ (2007)
o
Al-Jazeera – The Stream, ‘Favela Residents Face Eviction for World Cup and Olympics Prep’
(October 2011) [http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/favela-residents-face-eviction-world-cup-andolympics-prep]
o
David Harvey, ‘The Right to the City’ (2008) 53 New Left Review 23-40
o
Marcelo Lopes de Souza, ‘Which Right to Which City?: In Defence of Political-Strategic Clarity
(2010) 2:1 Interface 315-333
o
Tristan Gorgens & Mirjam van Donk, ‘From Basic Needs Towards Socio-spatial Transformation:
Coming to Grips with the “Right to the City” for the Urban Poor in South Africa (Isandla Institute,
2011)
Recommended viewing:
o
Film:
District 9 (Neill Blonkamp, 2009)
o
Documentary:
Dear Mandela (Dara Kell & Christopher Nizza (2012)
Voices of Cabrini: Remaking Chicago's Public Housing (Ronit Bezalel, 1999)
8. The Right to Water
Wednesday 19th October, 3-6pm
Assigned reading:
o
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 15 (2002) –
The Right to Water
o
Manual Couret Branco, Economics Versus Human Rights (Routledge, 2009)
Ø Chapter 3, ‘Economics Versus the Provision of Goods and Services’ à ‘Economics
versus the right to water’ 50-59
o
Jackie Dugard, ‘Civic Action and Legal Mobilisation: The Phiri Water Meters Case’ in Jeff
Handmaker & Remko Berkhout (eds,), Mobilising Social Justice in South Africa: Perspectives
from Researchers and Practitioners (Hivos, 2010) 71-99
o
Willem Assies, ‘David versus Goliath in Cochabamba: Water Rights, Neoliberalism, and the
Revival of Social Protest in Bolivia’ (2003) 30:3 Latin American Perspectives 14-36
o
Paul Laverty, introduction to the screenplay of Even the Rain
+ Watch the film También la lluvia [Even the Rain]
Further reading:
o
Matthew Craven, ‘Some Thoughts on the Emergent Right to Water’ in E. Riedel & P. Rothen
(eds.), The Human Right to Water (2006) 37
o
Damon Barrett & Vinodh Jaichand, ‘The Right to Water, Privatised Water and Access to
Justice: Tackling United Kingdom Water Companies' Practices in Developing Countries’ (2007)
23 South African Journal on Human Rights 543-562
o
Inga Winkler, ‘Judicial Enforcement of the Human Right to Water – Case Law from South
Africa, Argentina and India’ (2008) 1 Law, Social Justice & Global Development Journal
o
Patrick Bond & Jackie Dugard ‘Water, Human Rights and Social Conflict: South African
Experiences’ (2008) 1 Law, Social Justice & Global Development Journal
o
UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, ‘Climate Change and the Human Rights
to Water and Sanitation: Position Paper’ (2009)
o
Al-Haq, ‘Water For One People Only: Discriminatory Access and “Water-Apartheid” in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory’ (2013)
Recommended viewing:
o
Film:
También la lluvia [Even the Rain] (Icíar Bollaín, 2010)
o
Documentary:
Flow: For the Love of Water (Irena Salina, 2008)
Thirst (Alan Snitow, 2004)
9. Economic, Social & Cultural Rights in Ireland
Wednesday 26th October, 3-6pm
o
Tim Murphy, ‘Economic Inequality and the Constitution’ in Tim Murphy & Patrick Twomey
(eds.), Ireland’s Evolving Constitution, 1937-1997: Collected Essays (1998)
o
T.D. v. Minister for Education [2001] 4 I.R. 259
o
Paul O'Connell, Vindicating Socio-Economic Rights (Routledge, 2012)
Ø Chapter 6, ‘The Rejection of Socio-Economic Rights in Ireland’ 138-167
o
Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, ‘Report of the independent expert on the question of human
rights and extreme poverty: Mission to Ireland’, UN Doc. A/HRC/17/34/Add.2, 17 May 2011
o
Centre for Economic & Social Rights, ‘Mauled by the Celtic Tiger: Human Rights in Ireland’s
Economic Meltdown’ (February 2012)
o
C.A. and T.A. (a minor) v. Minister for Justice & Equality et al (2013/751/JR)
o
Eight Report of the Convention on the Constitution: Economic, Social & Cultural Rights (March
2014)
o
Constitutional Convention debates – watch:
Tom Arnold (chair) – intro - start 1’15’’ (2mins) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgBouJQdOx4
Ø C. O’Gorman (Amnesty) & Mary Murphy (IHREC) 20mins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOsk5znm5mw
Ø Michael McDowell – the case against ESC rights (20 mins) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp3eFbC-27E
Ø Panel: O’Gorman, M. Allen vs. McDowell, Fanning (40mins) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoUvUdJcfOk
Ø
o
UN Committee on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights, ‘Concluding observations on the third
periodic report of Ireland’, UN Doc. E/C.12/IRL/CO/3, 19 June 2015
10. “It’s the Economy”? Socio-Economic Rights in a Capitalist World
Thursday 27th October, 10am-1pm
Assigned reading:
o
Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness (Signet, 1964)
Ø Chapter 12, ‘Man’s Rights’ 69-74
o
George Monbiot, ‘Neoliberalism – the ideology at the root of all our problems’, The Guardian, 15
April 2016
o
Paul O’Connell, ‘On Reconciling Irreconcilables: Neo-liberal Globalisation and Human Rights’
(2007) 7 Human Rights Law Review 483-509
o
Samuel Moyn, ‘A Powerless Companion: Human Rights in the Age of Neoliberalism’ (2014) 77
Law & Contemporary Problems 147
o
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Open Letter to all States Parties, UN
Doc. CESCR/48th/SP/MAB/SW, 16 May 2012
o
John Reynolds, ‘Socio-Economic Rights & Budget Analysis: Some Notes on Available
Resources, “Progressivity” and Non-Retrogression’, Human Rights in Ireland, 16 October 2014
o
Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, ‘Report of the Independent Expert on the Question of Human
Rights and Extreme Poverty: On Tax, Fiscal Policy and Human Rights’, UN Doc. A/HRC/26/28,
22 May 2014
Further reading:
o
Philip Alston, ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights: on
extreme inequality and human rights’, UN Doc. A/HRC/29/31, 27 May 2015
o
Manual Couret Branco, Economics Versus Human Rights (Routledge, 2009)
Ø Chapter 1, ‘Economics and Human Rights Lost in Translation’ 8-24
Ø Conclusion, ‘Economics for Human Rights’ 134-147
o
Radhika Balakrishnan & Diane Elson, ‘Auditing Economic Policy in the Light of Obligations on
Economic and Social Rights’ (2008) 5:1 Essex Human Rights Review 1-19
o
Paul O'Connell, ‘Let Them Eat Cake: Socio-Economic Rights in an Age of Austerity’ in Aoife
Nolan, Rory O'Connell & Colin Harvey (eds.), Human Rights and Public Finance: Budget
Analysis and the Promotion of Economic and Social Rights (Hart, 2013)
o
Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, ‘Report of the Independent Expert on the Question of Human
Rights and Extreme Poverty: On the Human Rights Based Approach to Recovery from the
Global Economic and Financial Crises, with a Focus on those Living in Poverty’, UN Doc.
A/HRC/17/34, 17 March 2011
o
Aoife Nolan, ‘Budget Analysis and Economic and Social Rights’ in Eibe Riedel, Gilles Giacca &
Christophe Golay, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Contemporary Issues and Challenges
(Oxford University Press, 2013)
o
Radhika Balakrishnan, Diane Elson & Rajeev Patel, ‘Rethinking Macro Economic Strategies from
a Human Rights Perspective’ (Marymount Manhattan College, 2009)
o
Ignacio Saiz, ‘Rights in Recession? Challenges for Economic and Social Rights Enforcement in
Times of Crisis’ (2009) 1:2 Journal of Human Rights Practice 277-293
o
Centre for Economic & Social Rights, ‘Fiscal Fallacies: 8 Myths about the ‘Age of Austerity’ and
Human Rights Responses’ (July 2012)
11. Group presentations
Wednesday 2nd November, 3-6pm
12. The Economic, Social & Cultural Rights of Migrants & Refugees
Thursday 3rd November, 10am-1pm
o
Film & Discussion
Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes to take steps … to the maximum of its available resources,
with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the rights recognized in the present Covenant by all
appropriate means …’
International Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights (1966)
Gil Scott-Heron, Whitey on the Moon (1969)
A rat done bit my sister Nell
With Whitey on the moon
Her face and arms began to swell
And Whitey's on the moon
I can't pay no doctor bills
But Whitey's on the moon
Ten years from now I'll be paying still
While Whitey's on the moon
You know, the man just upped my rent last night
Cause Whitey's on the moon
No hot water, no toilets, no lights
But Whitey's on the moon
I wonder why he's uppin' me?
Cause Whitey's on the moon?
Well I was already given him fifty a week
And now Whitey's on the moon
Taxes takin' my whole damn check
The junkies make me a nervous wreck
The price of food is goin up
And if all that crap wasn't enough
A rat done bit my sister nell
With Whitey on the moon
Her face and arms began to swell
And Whitey's on the moon
With all that money I made last year
For Whitey on the moon
How come I ain't got no money here?
Hmm, Whitey's on the moon
You know I just about had my fill
Of Whitey on the moon
I think I'll send these doctor bills
airmail special
(To Whitey on the moon)