Human Rights for Human Dignity
A primer on economic, social and cultural rights
Gross economic and social inequality is an enduring reality in countries of all political colours, and all levels of development. In the midst of plenty, many are still unable to access even minimum levels of food, water, education, health care and housing. This is not only the result of a lack of resources, but also unwillingness, negligence and discrimination by governments and others...
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights : Overview
All human beings are entitled to certain basic human rights. Economic, social and cultural rights covers a range of human rights, from rights to education, adequate housing, health, food, water, to the right to work and rights at work, as well as the cultural rights of minorities and indigenous peoples. States have primary responsibility for protecting and promoting these and other human rights. However, as stated in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, every part of society has a responsibility to protect and respect human rights.
Amnesty's work
Amnesty International is constantly working to make sure that states respect, protect and fulfill all human rights including economic, social and cultural rights. Our work includes:
- documenting grave violations of these rights;
- demanding justice where violations by states and other actors such as corporations have occurred;
- calling for the recognition of these rights places such as trade and investment agreements;
- and strengthening legal recognition of these rights within international and regional human rights systems
To date Amnesty International’s research and action work on economic, social and cultural rights can be organized into four main areas:
- Iinstances of grave violations of ESC rights such as housing rights in Angola: >> find out more
- Violations of ESC rights that increase the vulnerability of a particular group of people to other grave human rights abuses. For example chronic unemployment and poverty cause Indigenous women to seek risky employment which puts them at risk of being disappeared or murder: >> find out more
- Addressing the impact of grave human rights violations such as demanding that women have access to to adequate health and psycho-social services following cases of rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo: >> find out more
- Strengthening the standards surrounding ESC rights and compliance with them such as the Optional Protocol to the ESC Convention.
What you can do
- Take action:
Your letters and e-mails can make a difference. Click on the action links in the right side bar to find opportunities to make a difference.
- Inform yourself:
Read the Human Rights for Human Dignity: A Primer on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Review the reports listed in the right side bar
- Join Amnesty International
- Subscribe to "Speak Out", Amnesty International's campaign newsletter, to find out where your voice is needed. Look for the subscribe form at the bottom of this page.
Statement by Nelson Mandela upon receiving the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award, in Johannesburg, South Africa, November 2006
"It is my wish that this award can help all activists around the world to shine their candle of hope for the forgotten prisoners of poverty. Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is people who have made poverty and tolerated poverty, and it is people who will overcome it."
Photo credits: (left to right) Education: Romani children studying a reduced curriculum at the Special School in Letanovce. Education professionals told AI representatives that the curriculum used in special schools falls four years behind the curriculum at ordinary primary schools. There is almost no possibility for transferring to mainstream education and advancing to secondary education. © AI. Housing: Angolan children play in front of their iron shacks in Luanda 21 May 2007. In some parts of the city shacks are pulled down to build new luxurious neighbourhoods. ALEXANDER JOE/AFP/Getty Images. Health: Bangladeshi NGO activists take part in a rally in Dhaka to mark World AIDS Day, 1 December 2006. SHAFIQ ALAM/AFP/Getty Images. Work: Indonesian housemaid Dorkas Mamik, an alleged victim of abuse by her Malaysian domestic employers, stares out of her dormitory window at a shelter for migrant workers in Kuala Lumpur, 25 June 2007. Indonesian workers seek refuge at their embassy in Malaysia every year because they have not been paid by their employers or have been abused. TENGKU BAHAR/AFP/Getty Images
Updated: 8 October 2007