Economic, social and cultural rights
[4] A range of secondary legal sources exist on economic, social and cultural rights which provide guidance on their normative definition.
The Limburg Principles have been extensively used in national legal systems as an interpretive tool for establishing violations of economic, social and cultural rights.
The Maastricht Guidelines build on the Limburg Principles and identify the legal implications of acts and omissions which are violations of economic, social and cultural 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.
[9] Sympathetic critics argue that socio-economic rights appear 'quite negligible' factors in terms of ensuring overall human development.
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.
[11] Civil society movements have advanced alternative institutions, norms and practices for constitution-making and making socio-economic rights effective.
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),[7] and further Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has been established in accordance with Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action.
State parties must show genuine efforts to secure the economic, social and cultural rights enshrined in the ICESCR.
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.
And each may transmit to the Human Rights Council reports of individual cases when a state is the subject of a Universal Periodic Review.
It offers an internationally agreed normative framework for the standards that states must not fall beneath concerning the education of its citizens and non-citizens.
This means that for the specific areas related to education, states must act within the boundaries permitted under international human rights law (IHRL).
[18] The main aspects of education are:[18] Networking groups such as ESCR-Net are working to create online resources and spread information about effective cases, initiatives, and working groups promoting ideals and celebrating victories of human rights initiatives and the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Currently, human rights advocacy groups are working diligently to fine-tune rules, regulations and implementation schemes; little news of complaint successes or failures is available.
