Law and You > Legal Concepts > Human Rights > Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
Human rights can be divided into two broad categories: (a) civil and political rights and (b) social, economic, and cultural rights. In previous articles, we have discussed civil and political rights. In this article, we shall discuss the Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. Economic, social, and cultural rights are those human rights relating to the workplace, social security, family life, participation in cultural life, and access to housing, food, water, health care, and education. Economic, Social, and Cultural rights include the following rights:
Workers’ Rights:
Everyone has the right to work. It includes the opportunity to earn a livelihood by work freely chosen or accepted. Workers’ rights encompass a large array of human rights from the right to decent work and freedom of association to equal opportunity and protection against discrimination. Specific rights related to the workplace include health and safety in the workplace and the right to privacy at work. In simple words it includes freedom from forced labour, the rights to decide freely to accept or choose work, to fair wages and equal pay for equal work, to leisure and reasonable limitation of working hours, to safe and healthy working conditions, to join and form trade unions, and to strike.
The Right to Social Security and Social Protection:
Everyone has the right to social security. The right to social security is the right to access and maintain benefits, whether in cash or in kind, without discrimination in order to secure protection, inter alia, from (a) lack of work-related income caused by sickness, disability, maternity, employment injury, unemployment, old age, or death of a family member; (b) unaffordable access to health care; (c) insufficient family support, particularly for children and adult dependents. Through the provision of social welfare or assistance, States must guarantee protection to everyone, particularly the most vulnerable members of society, in the event specified above. Such social security should be easily available, adequate, Accessible, and affordable.
Protection of and Assistance to the Family:
There is no standard definition of family. The concept of family may differ in some respects from State to State and even regionally within a State. This right includes the rights to marriage by free consent, to maternity and paternity protection, and to protection of children from economic and social exploitation. Poverty affects both the quality and length of children’s lives, reduces the ability of families to adequately provide for their children, and is a significant cause of family breakdown and child separation. Social assistance programmes aim to reduce child poverty and act as a safety net for families with minimal resources.
The Right to an Adequate Standard of Living:
The right to adequate standard of living is concerned as fundamental human rights. It is mainly concerned with right to food, pure drinking water, shelter and health. These are primary determinants to an adequate standard of living. These rights are avoiding to hunger, diseases and emphasis to provide continue living environment. Generally adequate standard of living implies living above the poverty line of the society concerned, which according to the World Bank includes two elements: ‘The expenditure necessary to buy a minimum standard of nutrition and other basic necessities and a further amount that varies from country to country, reflecting the cost of participating in the everyday life of society.’
The right to adequate standard of living is recognized under various international human rights instruments such as Article 252 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights1948, Article 113 of the International Covenant an Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966, Article 274 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989, Article 55 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Racial Discrimination, 1966 and Article 286 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
The Right to Health:
Health is a fundamental human right and indispensable for the enjoyment of other human rights. The right to health guarantees that every human being is entitled to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health which conducive to living a life of dignity. The growing recognition of right to health is not only a human right issue but also a fundamental building block of sustainable development, poverty reduction and economic prosperity. This right includes the right to access to health facilities, goods and services, to healthy occupational and environmental conditions, and protection against epidemic diseases, and rights relevant to sexual and reproductive health.
The Right to Education:
Education is a fundamental right and it is included in the Universal declaration of Human Rights, and many other international conventions. Education in itself is an empowering right and one of the most powerful tools by which economically and socially marginalized children and adults can lift themselves out of poverty and can participate in the society. This right includes the right to free and compulsory primary education and to available and accessible secondary and higher education, progressively made free of charge; and the liberty of parents to choose schools for their children.
Cultural Rights:
The UNESCO Declaration on Cultural Diversity affirmed that culture should be regarded as: “the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group and that it encompasses, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions, and beliefs.” The right to participate in cultural life has both individual and collective elements; they may be exercised as an individual, in association with others, and within a community or group. States should pay particular attention to the cultural rights of minority and indigenous groups, among others, and provide opportunities for them to both preserve their culture and shape cultural and social development, including in connection to language and land and natural resources. On 6 October 2016, the Human Rights Council adopted unanimously a resolution calling upon all States to respect, promote and protect the right of everyone to take part in cultural life, including the ability to access and enjoy cultural heritage, and to take relevant actions to achieve this. This right includes the right to participate in cultural life and to share in and benefit from scientific advancement, and protection of authors’ moral and material interests from scientific, literary or artistic production.
Conclusion:
Economic, social, and cultural rights are the freedoms, privileges, and entitlements that individuals and communities require to live a life of dignity. These human rights include the rights to food, housing, health, education, cultural identity, and more. These rights are used to bolster actions for justice and against oppression, and amplify progressive alternatives to enhance the enjoyment of the rights.
Related Topics:
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- Characteristics of Human Rights
- Civil Rights
- Political Rights
- Right of Self-Determination