Foregrounding Socioeconomic Rights in Transitional Justice: Realising Justice for Violations of Economic and Social Rights

Human rights queryfalse are typically presented in terms of entitlements, correlative duties, claims, “trumps,” and remedies. 1 These framings, which draw principally on law and philosophy, emphasi...

Claiming the right to health

The work is an attempt of the author to, in a relatively systematic way, presents the norms of Economic and Social Rights in the Constitution of Serbia from 2006. Before that, in the introduction the author refers to the commonplace with regard to human rights and their institutionalization, constitutionalization and internationalization. The process of institutionalization of human rights was started in England by adoption of the Great Charter of Freedoms (Magna Carta Libertatum) in 1215. Constitutionalization of human rights begins with the adoption of the first ten amendments to the US Constitution in 1791. French writers of the Constitution unlike the American in Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen proclaimed certain new rights such as freedom of movement, freedom of assembly, the right to free expression of thought, right to petition or freedom of culture. At first human rights were an asset to limit state power, but with new theories by which the state can not be seen only as a political organization, but as a community that has a socio-economic content, the state must guarantee to the citizens a certain corpus of economic and social rights by Constitution. Economic, social and cultural rights are classified as second generation of rights. Economic and social rights are directed to the fact that individuals are brought to the position that they can enjoy their civil and political rights. These rights, known as social welfare, are rights based on the principles of equality and solidarity, and their purpose is, inter alia, to help to the socially vulnerable members of the community. Constitutional act, which is important for the world the constitutional recognition of these rights is the Weimar Constitution from 1919. which predicted legislative measures to implement these rights. For the internationalization of these rights very important is Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948 and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights from 1966. The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia from 2006 regulates economic rights as human rights that contribute to the economic stability of man in society. Serbian Constitution provides: The right of ownership; right to inheritance; right to work; the right to strike and freedom of entrepreneurship as economic rights. The Constitution of Serbia predicts the following social rights (such as rights whose purpose is to provide social security in society and economic life worthy of man): the right to health care; the right to social protection; the right to a healthy environment; special protection of family, mother as a single parent and child. It also provides an overview of a Constitutional Court decision which is the subject of protection of the right to health insurance. Finally the author concludes that there is no possibility of achieving the full realization of civil and political rights, if the majority of members of a society do not have the basic existential conditions for the development of their physical and mental potential. An individual who leads the battle for bare physical survival, cares little for the rights such as the right to freedom of thought or electoral law. The state can not ,of course , sacrifice political rights to economic and social, but physical existence and personal development are precondition for the enjoyment of political rights.

Privatization, the Role of Enterprises and the Implementation of Social and Economic Rights: A Comparison of Rights-Based and Administrative Approaches in India and China

This study investigated the role of mediation in grassroots transitional justice processes. The major aim of the study was to understand the role of mediation in transitional justice processes, ascertaining its effectiveness as a grassroots transitional justice mechanism and how its demand for use in transitional justice can be increased. The study was carried out using action research methodologies, with a mediation project carried out in the Makoni District of Manicaland in Zimbabwe. The mediation project involved community members addressing transitional-justice-related conflicts using mediation as a tool for conflict resolution. The mediators were provided with mediation skills through a training programme and their work was evaluated thrice to ascertain the role and impact of the mediation interventions on transitional-justicerelated conflicts. The project was termed Mediation for Everyday Transitional Justice because it was implemented in a natural community’s daily environment, by local people and for the local communities. The continuing failure of transitional justice mechanisms in Zimbabwe amid continued human rights violations justifies the undeniable value of this study. Zimbabwe’s past transitional justice efforts (since 1980, when the country became an independent republic) failed to build sustainable peace hence the country’s continued relapse into political and socio-economic turmoil. However, with appropriate transitional justice interventions that are built on grassroots-informed processes, sustainable peace is conceivable in Zimbabwe. Mediation, as an alternative dispute resolution process that is both persuasive and non-retributive, offers an interesting opportunity to the practice of transitional justice. The research concluded that the role of mediation in transitional justice is to facilitate truth telling, reparations, healing, and reconciliation among disputants without the need to use national-level transitional justice infrastructures. This means that, at the grassroots level, transitional justice processes can take place without waiting for the statist transitional justice approaches. However, in cases where the past human rights violations being addressed are tied to structural violence, driven from outside the community, local mediation processes may not be possible without the consent, cooperation, and willingness of those who sustain such conflicts. In addition, mediation cannot play any significant role in enabling prosecutorial justice, memorialisation, and institutional reforms at the grassroots level. Prosecutorial justice cannot be achieved because perpetrators can withdraw quickly when possibilities exist to be held criminally accountable for past human rights abuses. Institutional reforms also require changing governance policies and practices which are issues beyond the control of specific local communities. The study also observed that mediation is an effective tool for grassroots transitional justice issues because it is efficient, it saves time and financial resources, and it can be undertaken by local actors. To increase its demand and use in transitional justice processes at the grassroots level, these is a need to increase communities’ awareness of the importance of mediation in transitional justice, provide mediation-skills capacity-development interventions to potential mediators, and enhance the agency of various mediation actors at the grassroots levels.

Introduction: Looking at Ourselves -Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann and Claude E. Welch, Jr. PART I. PHILOSOPHY, LAW, AND POLITICS OF ECONOMIC RIGHTS Justifying Socioeconomic Rights -Brian Orend 2. International Law of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: A U.S. Perspective -David Weissbrodt 3. On the Margins of the Human Rights Discourse: Foreign Policy and International Welfare Rights -David P. Forsythe and Eric A. Heinze PART II. POVERTY 4. Homelessness in Canada and the United States -Barbara Wake Carroll 5. Welfare Racism and Human Rights -Kenneth J. Neubeck 6. The Movement to End Poverty in the United States -Mary Bricker-Jenkins and Willie Baptist PART III. CONTENTIOUS AND EMERGING ISSUES 7. So Close and Yet so Different: The Right to Health Care in the United States and Canada -Virginia A. Leary 8. International Labor Rights and North American Labor Law -James B. Atleson 9. Deconstructing Barriers: The Promise of Socioeconomic Rights for People with Disabilities in Canada -Sarah Armstrong, Mindy Noble, and Pauline Rosenbaum 10. The Economic Rights of Migrants and Immigrant Workers in Canada and the United States -Vic Satzewich PART IV. A EUROPEAN COMPARISON 11. The Netherlands: A Walhalla of Economic and Social Rights? -Peter R. Baehr Appendix 1. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Appendix 2. Excerpts from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's State of the Union Address, January 6, 1941 Appendix 3. Excerpts from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's State of the Union Address, January 11, 1944 Abbreviations Contributors Notes Index Acknowledgments

Досліджено процеси формування та набуття соціальними правами правового спрямування на основі законодавчого досвіду країн європейської спільноти. Проаналізовано еволюцію функцій держави в умовах набуття соціальними правами юридичного спрямування. Зауважено, що важливим аспектом у роботі цього напряму є аналіз міжнародних стандартів, стандартів Ради Європи та Європейського Союзу щодо реалізації та забезпечення соціальних прав людини.

When studying accountability for human rights violations in Cambodia, it is crucial to understand the role human rights non-governmental organisations (ngos) can play in holding duty-bearers accountable. This article consists of two parts. The first traces how some prominent Cambodian ngos use the language of human rights and which issues they prioritise. The analysis shows that issues related to civil and political rights dominate their discourse, while there is remarkably little attention to issues relating to economic, social and cultural rights. This prioritisation is not rooted in popular priorities, nor can it be adequately explained by referring to mainstream theories of donor influence or professionalised elites. To better understand where these priorities come from, the second part of the article examines the Cambodian transitional justice process. This analysis shows a significant overlap between the priorities of the selected ngos and those of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (eccc). It is therefore argued that transitional justice mechanisms, like the eccc, may have an agenda-setting power far beyond what is commonly assumed. In this specific case, this influence raises questions about accountability for past and on-going violations of economic, social and cultural rights.

Reviewed by: Human Rights and the Global Marketplace: Economic, Social and Cultural Dimensions Barbara Stark (bio) Jeanne M. Woods & Hope Lewis, Human Rights and the Global Marketplace: Economic, Social and Cultural Dimensions (Ardsley, NY, Transnational Publishers2005); ISBN 1571052747; 959 pp. The human rights community has waited a long time for Human Rights and the Global Marketplace, which explicates—and vindicates—long-neglected economic, social and cultural rights.1 It provides a thorough and rigorous introduction to their theoretical foundations, a gripping and scholarly account of their historical development, and an illuminating up-to-the-minute guide to their practical applications throughout the world. It is a stunning achievement. There have, of course, been precursors, and Professors Jeanne M. Woods and Hope Lewis introduce a new generation of human rights lawyers to the groundbreaking work of Louis Henkin,2 Abjørn Eide,3 Philip Alston, and Henry Steiner,4 as well as rising stars like Antony Anghie,5 Karen Engle,6 and Makau wa Mutua.7 But this book could not have been written until the dust had settled from the end of the Cold War and it would not be so urgently needed had it appeared before what the authors aptly characterize as the turmoil of globalization. Human Rights and the Global Marketplace, in short, is the right book at the right time.8 [End Page 515] Even as globalization has brought unprecedented prosperity to some, it has brought unprecedented impoverishment to many. The polarization between the richest and the poorest is enormous, and growing. The Preface notes the tension between resistance to rights and the selective neoliberal embrace of some rights and asks whether post-World War II frameworks can in fact respond to twenty-first century realities. Even if economic, social and cultural rights are requisite to the enjoyment of any rights, how can they be assured for the most vulnerable? Human Rights and the Global Marketplace provides a powerful set of analytic tools for justifying, understanding, and realizing these rights. This review describes the scope and organization of the project, noting some of the highlights and the daunting problems that remain. The book is divided into four free-standing but complementary parts: I. Discursive Themes, II. International Instruments and Their Implementation, III. Power, Politics, and Poverty: Structural Challenges to the Realization of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and IV. Comparative Approaches. As the authors helpfully illustrate in their Preface, this modular structure offers instructors a broad range of options. Once the foundational material of the first part is grasped, the instructor can proceed to any of the other parts, depending on the objectives of the course. Drawing on politics, economics, history, philosophy, and law, each part carefully builds on the reader's knowledge, making an otherwise overwhelming range of material manageable. The result is a volume that serves both as a student-friendly introduction to a complex and unfamiliar area of the law, and as an invaluable resource for scholars with a working knowledge of economic rights in general seeking a more recondite grasp of a particular right or application. Part I introduces the major themes of the volume and serves as a compelling introduction to human rights, accessible to undergraduates but equally rewarding for more sophisticated graduate and law students. Chapter 1, Global Narratives/Global Realities, begins with a collection of unforgettable stories, vividly illustrating the effects of the denial of economic rights.9 As philosopher Richard Rorty observes, such stories drive human rights by enabling the reader to emphasize with those denied them.10 They teach compassion. Lewis and Woods are demanding teachers, however, and these stories and data are also intended to stimulate rigorous analysis and challenge feel-good assumptions. The materials in Chapter 1 begin with three provocative questions: (1) Why should any of these issues rise to the level of a human rights concern?; (2) If the problems described are human rights violations, who are the respective rights-holders and duty-holders and what remedies would be appropriate?; and (3) How would you rank the issues in comparison to classic violations of civil and political rights, for example, reports of torture of political prisoners?11 The authors suggest that students revisit these...

The economic and social dimension of transitional justice has been largely ignored in favour of traditional emphasis on violations of civil and political rights. While early transitional justice processes mainly focused on criminal prosecutions for bodily integrity violations, socioeconomic issues, including economica and social rights (herein ESRs) violations, were seen just as part of background. However, scholarship and practitioners are increasingly calling to include ESRs violations in transitional justice processes. Indeed, economic and social conditions are frequently linked to human rights abuses, often constituting a cause, means or consequence of conflict and authoritarianism. Including the assessment of ESRs violations as an issue for transitional justice might serve the purpose of establishing a more comprehensive understanding of the root causes of past human rights violations as well as to facilitate the pathway to achieve a sustainable peace.

Social Development at the University of Cape Town where she is Head of Department.Her research and policy work focus on the politics of transforming social policy in South Africa, social development, social protection and issues in addressing poverty

The article addresses the problems of realization of social and economic human rights in the context of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as their connection with civil and political rights. It is drawn to the fact that there are certain contradictions between the principles enshrined in the declaration. The author raises the issue of dignity, cultural differences, and justice in the distribution of public goods. The question of the state’s responsibilities in the provision of social and economic rights is considered. States have a primary responsibility for the social and economic well-being of their citizens. Fair economic growth must play a decisive role in this area, and it is important to consolidate the link between the economic policy and the human rights. The support of the international community should, to a certain extent, be conditional on the governments of individual countries fulfilling their own responsibilities. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights leaves open the question of the placement of social and economic rights in the constitutions of the countries and the issue of their judicial protection. The most effective instrument for realizing these rights will be the development of social legislation, rather than the general provisions of social rights in the constitutions of countries. However, the problems faced by many states can not be fully solved by the efforts of the state alone. The question of morality is the interpretation of the provisions of the Declaration on Social and Economic Rights as an obligation of the international community to act to prevent poverty in the world. The possibility of involving not only states but also international enterprises in the process of combatting poverty is considered. On the basis of the Declaration, the companies and other interested parties begin to formulate sectoral standards of human rights. Possible ways to implement social and economic rights at the local and global levels are also discussed.Article received 10.04.2018

The violation of human rights has become one of the defi ning characteristics of the Zimbabwe crisis. This article highlights some of the main elements of the human rights debate in Zimbabwe between 2000 and 2008. However, while civil and political rights are well articulated in Zimbabwe's human rights debate, property and social rights issues are largely ignored. What is framed as political contestation today is a culmination of abuses of human rights, including political, civil, social and economic rights. Using a historical analysis, this article points out that there has been selective amnesia in Zimbabwe's human rights discourse, and argues for the equal treatment of civil and political rights on one hand, and economic and social rights on the other

In this chapter, questions are asked relating to the character of economic, social and cultural rights, their relationship with civil and political rights, whether economic, social and cultural rights are judicially enforceable and what the obligations of states are in terms of international agreements which protect economic, social and cultural rights. The chapter focuses on the drafting of the International Covenants on Civil and Political and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This is followed by an examination of the arguments traditionally raised against economic, social and cultural rights. Two important arguments in support of economic, social and cultural rights are then analysed: firstly, the notion that all human rights are interdependent and indivisible, and secondly, the concept that all human rights impose on the state duties to 1) respect, 2) protect and 3) fulfill. Finally, the extent to which economic, social and cultural rights are justiciable is studied.Keywords: Bossuyt; Cranston; cultural rights; economic rights; right to education; social rights; Vierdag

Gender and Conflict: Potential Gains of Civil Society Efforts to Include Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Transitional Justice