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Summary: This campaign digest describes key challenges in access to justice and effective remedies: Lack of recognition of economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) in many country's laws; ineffective remedies; lack of enforcement of decisions by government and barriers to access to justice faced by people living in poverty.
It shows positive examples of where legal enforcement of ESCR has made a positive difference to people's rights, and indicates what worked to produce these successes. The challenges and successes are illustrated with snapshots from Brazil, Czech Republic, India, Nigeria, Paraguay, South Africa and the United States. It explains the new international mechanism to secure access to justice for ESCR - the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR, and the need for its ratification. It includes recommendations for national level reforms to ensure legal enforcement of all rights. Introduction: Economic, social and cultural rights such as the rights to food, adequate housing, health, education and work are enshrined inthe universal Declaration of Human rights and in various treaties,including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights, which 160 countries are parties to. They are recognized in the national laws of many countries. Yet millionsof people are denied these rights on a daily basis. Governments too often pay only lip serviceto their obligations under international law to ensure economic, social and culturalrights for all. Some deliberately violatepeople’s rights, for example when they forcibly evict people from their homes. Theysometimes fail to prevent, investigate and punish others who abuse people’s rights, for example when mining companies pollute the drinking water that communities rely on. Many governments violate rights by failing to take the urgent and feasible steps needed to ensure that economic, social and cultural rights are realized for all people, for example if they do not prioritize disadvantaged groups when allocating public resources. When such violations occur, people often have no opportunity to obtain justice. In many countries, people cannot demandthese rights because they are not recognized by national law. Remedies,where they do exist, can be ineffective or inaccessible. People living in poverty in particular face significant obstacles in accessing justice. And governments do not always enforce decisions by courts andinternational human rights mechanisms. Consequently, human rights continue to beviolated with impunity by governments who are not held accountable for their actions.