Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Two-way engagement and cooperation with local communities with a human rights based approach are essential tools in the response to outbreaks and transmission prevention in transnational health emergencies. The response to the 2013-2015 EVD outbreak in West Africa highlighted the importance of preparedness for communication and strong engagement with local communities when designing and implementing containment measures.

Stories of abuse and exploitation linked to the overseas domestic-work industry have always dominated the airwaves in the Philippines. However, the global pandemic has added a new layer of ill-treatment for Filipino female domestic workers.

The COVID-19 pandemic creates the necessary momentum to transform short-term solutions into permanent policies in addressing inequalities in cities. For us to be the better version of ourselves individually and collectively, the time to redesign our cities is now.

There has been normative clarification of the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications. However certain aspects of the right remain poorly defined and present challenges, notably in relation to the corporate, profit-driven orientation of contemporary scientific innovation.

The Kenyan government’s recent evictions in Kariobangi, Nairobi, contravened a court order and the constitution, as well as breaching international human rights law and causing additional hardship to poverty-stricken citizens already adversely impacted by COVID-19.

A lack of labour rights, particularly workplace health and safety standards, makes entire populations vulnerable to disaster.

Mikel Mancisidor, a member of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, introduces the Committee’s guidance on science and economic, social and cultural rights.

The Inter-American Commission (IACHR) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (I/A Court) are responding to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on human rights.

What would constitute a first step in a human-rights based approach to the global allocation of pandemic vaccines? One possibility would be to encourage states parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to acknowledge their indirect obligations of participation and diligence.

"Home is not where you were born; home is the place where all your desires for escape, cease." Naguib Mahafoud