Beyond Civil Rights: Developing Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in the Uk (Oxfam Working Paper.) - Softcover

Ruxton, Sandy; Karim, Razia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0855984740 ISBN 13: 9780855984748

Verlag: Oxfam, 2002

Inhaltsangabe

The authors of this text argue for further legislation, extending protection to economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights, such as the right to education, to health care and to a decent standard of living. Poverty and social exclusion are presented as a denial of human rights and ESC entitlements as an essential foundation of citizenship.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Since 1996 Sandy Ruxton has undertaken freelance policy and research. Organizations for whom she has worked include NSPCC, Oxfam, Age Concern, The Institute for Public Policy Research, European Women's Lobby, UNHCR, Separated Children in Europe Programme, and Cirque du Soleil.

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Beyond Civil Rights

Developing Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in the UK

By Sandy Ruxton, Razia Karim

Oxfam Publishing

Copyright © 2001 Oxfam GB
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-85598-474-8

Contents

Oxfam and JUSTICE, iv, 
Preface, v, 
Abbreviations and acronyms, vi, 
Executive summary, 1, 
1 Introduction, 7, 
2 The nature of ESC rights and the historical development of human rights, 11, 
3 The UK government's approach to ESC rights, 21, 
4 The European framework for promoting and protecting ESC rights, 29, 
5 The international framework for promoting and protecting ESC rights, 37, 
6 Developing NGO advocacy on ESC rights: recommendations, 46, 
Appendix: Procedures and addresses for UN and ILO mechanisms, 50, 
Glossary, 53, 
Notes, 56, 
Index, 61, 

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

The importance of economic, social, and cultural rights

The implementation of the Human Rights Act represented a significant milestone in the promotion of human rights in the UK. For the first time, human rights standards are directly applicable and enforceable in UK law, and will be binding on government and public administration. They now inform the process of law making and decision taking, and are subject to enforcement in domestic courts and tribunals.

As it incorporates most of the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Act will have greatest impact upon the exercise of civil and political rights. However, it is inevitable that the rights guaranteed – for example, the rights to life and to freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment, the right to respect for one's home and private and family life, the rights to education and property – will also touch on economic, social, and cultural rights.

The introduction of the Act also raises questions about the nature, status, and implementation of other key human rights instruments. In relation to social and economic and cultural rights, these include the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Social Charter of the Council of Europe, other more specific UN and ILO Conventions, and the European Union's Charter of Fundamental Rights.

The UK government's Annual Human Rights Report, published in 1999 by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), stressed the importance of recognising the 'indivisibility' (i.e. the equal value) of the whole family of rights – not just civil and political rights, but also social and economic rights:

The achievement of social and economic rights is enhanced by progress in achieving civil and political rights. The commitment to a right to development – which draws together the social and economic rights laid down in the Universal Declaration – underlines a vital lesson: that we fail to honour the Universal Declaration and cannot claim to be upholders of human rights unless we commit ourselves to securing all rights for all people.

This welcome defence of the principle of indivisibility confirms the government's stated commitment to the promotion of human rights. Indeed, in its third report, the FCO states that 'Securing full respect for human rights is not only an objective of foreign policy – it is also a central objective of this Government's domestic policy'.

These statements endorse the UK's longstanding adherence to all the major international human rights instruments, including those relevant to ESC rights. If the UK government is to implement as well as promote its obligations under these instruments, it is timely to consider how economic, social, and cultural rights can be given greater prominence in domestic policy as well as foreign policy.

Poverty and social exclusion as a denial of fundamental human rights

Until relatively recendy, the link between poverty, social exclusion, and the denial of human rights was rarely recognised. However, understanding has grown of the close interrelationship between these issues. At the international level, the UN General Assembly reaffirmed in 2001:

... that extreme poverty and exclusion from society constitute a violation of human dignity and that urgent national and international action is therefore required to eliminate them;

and

... that it is essential for States to foster participation by the poorest people in the decision-making process in the societies in which they live, in the promotion of human rights and in efforts to combat extreme poverty, and for people living in poverty and vulnerable groups to be empowered to organise themselves and to participate in all aspects of political, economic, and social life, in particular the planning and implementation of policies that affect them, thus enabling them to become genuine partners in development.

Within the UK (and elsewhere in Europe), this approach has been forcefully promoted by ATD Fourth World, an international NGO with a long-standing rights-based approach to poverty: 'Torture, detention without trial or denial of freedom of speech are unquestionable human rights abuses. But poverty is also a violation of human rights because it prevents people exercising their full rights.'

The majority of UK citizens have come to rely upon a certain level of security, based on solid foundations such as employment, health care, housing, and education. Furthermore, the available evidence suggests that in practice the public recognises the importance of these rights: one recent poll found that 96 per cent of UK citizens believe in the right to 'free medical treatment at the time of need', expressing the view that this provision should be enshrined in a Bill of Rights for the UK. In Northern Ireland, an opinion survey for the Human Rights Commission indicated that well over 80 per cent of respondents supported the inclusion of rights in respect of health, housing, and employment in a Bill of Rights.

Yet for those facing poverty and social exclusion, the predominant experience is one of insecurity, often transmitted from generation to generation. A recent survey revealed that in 1999, for example, 24 per cent of households in the United Kingdom lacked three or more necessities (items that more than half of the population believes 'all adults should be able to afford and which they should not have to do without') because they could not afford them, compared with 14 per cent in 1983. By the end of 1999, 26 per cent of the population were living in poverty, measured in terms of low income and multiple deprivation of necessities. In addition:

• roughly 9.5 million people in Britain today cannot afford adequate housing conditions;

• about 8 million cannot afford one or more essential household goods;

• almost 7.5 million people are too poor to engage in common social activities considered necessary by the majority of the population;

• about 2 million British children are deprived of at least two things they need;

• about 6.5 million adults lack essential items of clothing;

• around 4 million are not properly fed by today's standards;

• more than 10.5 million suffer from financial insecurity.

In recent years, poverty and social exclusion have increasingly been seen as a denial of fundamental rights. For instance, the European Anti-Poverty Network has suggested as follows:

This is how those affected experience it themselves: they have no way of exercising those rights recognised in the Conventions and Charters signed up to by the...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Oxfam
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2002
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0855984740
• ISBN 13: 9780855984748
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 74
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: preigu GmbH & Co. KG; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; Niedersachsen; 49078; Deutschland