PS531, The International Law of Human Rights
Fall Semester 2004
Study Guide for Week 9
Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
Reading Assignment:
Symonides, chapters 4-5
UN Human Development Report 2003 --Overview (recommended)
Human Development Indicators (UN Development Report) (take a glance)
Websites to check:
International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
World Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen 1995)
World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg 2002)
UN Human Development Report 1999 (Globalization with a Human Face)
UN Human Development Report 2004 (Cultural Liberty in Today's Diverse World)
Questions to consider in reading in the Eide article (chapter 4 in Symonides)
1. Should economic and social rights be considered as important as civil and political rights? In other words, are the various parts of the International Bill of Human Rights equally valid?
2. What are the principal international agreements that express economic and social rights?
3. What does Eide see as the historical origins of economic and social rights both nationally and internationally?
4. What responsibilities do states have in regard to the implementation of economic and social rights (including the levels of obligation)?
5. What are the principal economic and social rights identified identified in the major international human rights treaties?
Economic
Social
6. What procedures are there for implementing and enforcing economic and social rights?
7. What potential implications does the trend toward economic globalization have for the realization of economic and social rights?
Questions to consider in reading Symonides, chapter 5
8. What major international treaties address cultural rights?
9. What are the principal types of internationally recognized cultural rights?