OUVRAGE : C. Binder, J.A. Hofbauer, F. Piovesan, A. Úbeda de Torres (eds.), Research Handbook on International Law and Social Rights

Christina BINDER, Jane A. HOFBAUER, Flávia PIOVESAN, Amaya ÚBEDA de TORRES

For several decades, social rights lacked proper recognition in international law, being qualified as aspirational goals rather than rights, and therefore not enjoying the same level of protection or status as other human rights. This comprehensive Research Handbook provides a comparative overview of the history, nature and current status of social rights at the universal and regional level. 

 

Tracing their evolution from rather modest beginnings, to becoming the category of rights responding most accurately to the 21st century’s policy objectives of poverty eradication and equitable resource allocation, this Research Handbook assesses the mechanisms used to enhance the implementation and enforcement of social rights. Offering in-depth discussion of current debates in the field of social rights and international law, expert contributors analyse the ability of these rights to act as a tool to fight inequality, as well as to protect and ensure diversity. In so doing, they examine how social rights now play a central role in the shift from a state-centred to a value-based global order.

 


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Christina Binder, Jane A Hofbauer, Flávia Piovesan, Amaya Úbeda de Torres, Introduction: International Law and Social Rights

PART I. GENERAL ASPECTS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW AND SOCIAL RIGHTS

1. Manfred Nowak, Social Rights in International Law: Categorizations versus Indivisibility
2. Veronika Bílková, The Nature of Social Rights as Obligations of International Law – Resource Availability, Progressive Realization and the Obligations to Respect, Protect, Fulfil
3. Amaya Úbeda de Torres, Justiciability and Social Rights
4. Ralph Wilde, Pursuing Global Socio-Economic, Colonial and Environmental Justice through Economic Redistribution: The Potential Significance of Human Rights Treaty Obligations

PART II. THE PROTECTION OF SOCIAL RIGHTS IN INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW

A. Universal Protection

5. Zdzisław (Dzidek) Kędzia, Social Rights Protection in the ICESCR and its Optional Protocol – The Role of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
6. Thomas Kleinlein, Social Rights Protection through Core International Human Rights Treaties beyond the ICESCR

B. Regional Protection

7. Karin Lukas, The European Social Charter
8. Eugenia López-Jacoiste, Social Rights in the Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights
9. Flávia Piovesan, Mariela Morales Antoniazzi, Julia Cortez da Cunha Cruz, The Protection of Social Rights by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Rights
10. Eduardo Ferrer Mac-Gregor, Social Rights in the Jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
11. Frans Viljoen, Social Rights in the African System for the Protection and Promotion of Human and Peoples’ Rights

C. Social Rights as a Tool to Fight Inequality and to Protect and Ensure Diversity

12. Manuel Góngora-Mera, The Social Rights of African Descendants, with Focus on the Americas
13. Francesco Seatzu, Social Rights as Persons with Disabilities’ Rights
14. Marija Dobrić, Philipp Janig, Stateless Persons and Social Rights
15. Aris Constantinides, Social Rights of Minorities

PART III. THE IMPLEMENTATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF SOCIAL RIGHTS

16. Laura C Pautassi, Monitoring the Implementation of Social Rights through Indicators with Special Focus on the Inter-American Level
17. Andreas Th Müller, The Role of Domestic Actors in the Implementation and Enforcement of Social Rights
18. Daniela Ikawa, The Role of Civil Society Organizations in the Protection of Social Rights
19. Yota Negishi, The Proceduralization of Social Rights: Access to Information, Justice and Remedies

PART IV. CRISIS AND SOCIAL RIGHTS / CHALLENGES TO SOCIAL RIGHTS

20. Abby Kendrick, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, Austerity Measures and Women’s Social and Economic Rights: We Need to Look Deeper
21. Judith Schönsteiner, Corporations and Social Rights
22. Kolawole Olaniyan, The Implications of Corruption on Social Rights
23. Elise Dermine, Social Rights Adjudication and the Future of the Welfare State
24. Amrei Müller, Social Rights in Armed Conflict Situations

PART V. SOCIAL RIGHTS IN PERSPECTIVE: INTERLINKAGES WITH OTHER INTERNATIONAL REGIMES

25. Eric De Brabandere, International Investment Law and Social Rights: Interactions and Encounters
26. Matthias Goldmann, Financial Institutions and Social Rights: From Foes to Friends?
27. Inga T Winkler, Matheus de Carvalho Hernandez, Social Rights and the Sustainable Development Goals
28. Danwood Mzikenge Chirwa, Amanda ZT Mkhonza, The Environment and Social Rights
29. Siobhán McInerney-Lankford, Climate Change and Social Rights: Perspectives on Legal Obligations
30. Evelyne Schmid, International Criminal Law and Social Rights

Index

Christina BINDER, Jane A. HOFBAUER, Flávia PIOVESAN, Amaya ÚBEDA de TORRES (eds.), Research Handbook on International Law and Social Rights, Cheltenham/Northampton, Elgar, 2020 (592 pp.)