Introduction

Economic, Social and Cultural (ESC) rights are part of the internationally-recognized fundamental human rights. The basic document that lays down these rights is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which has been supplemented by the consequent International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Under the UDHR these rights were incorporated with civil and political rights. But afterwards disagreement over the level of importance between the two groups of rights resulted in the ESC rights being put in a separate Covenant. Some people refer to these rights as “second generation”, coming, next in importance, after civil and political rights. However many human rights experts do not agree with this distinction, stating that both groups of rights should have equal status.

The usual distinction used to differentiate between civil and political rights, on the one hand, and ESC rights, on the other, is that while almost all civil and political rights operate by way of prohibiting the government from interfering in their enjoyment, ESC rights require the state to actively provide for the welfare of individuals. For example freedom from torture is a civil right which operates by preventing the government from inflicting torture on people in custody. In effect the government is expected to do nothing in the realization of the stated right. However if we take the right to education, which is an ESC right, its enjoyment requires that the government provide school buildings, teaching materials and teaching staff and other necessary facilities to the community. But this distinction is not an absolute one. Civil and political rights do not always require the State’s inaction on the part of the government . Taking the right to a fair trial as an example, we can see that this right involves the provision of the necessary court house, staff, stationery materials, and qualified judges to adjudicate cases. Here, the State has to provide the funds to build offices and buy the necessary equipment and also to make the system accessible to all.

The government’s duties with regard to human rights implementation are grouped into three categories, namely, to respect, to enforce and to provide for the realization of these rights. In the first case, the state is required to respect the rights of the people. This means it should refrain from actions that infringe on the enjoyment of human rights by citizens. Secondly, enforcement requires the government to ensure respect for citizens’ rights by other citizens and non-state actors. This involves, for example, establishing a police force to ensure safety and security, establishing courts and legislating rules to protect rights of citizens. Lastly, the government is expected to facilitate the realization of human rights through its administrative organs.

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Economic, social and cultural rights are directed at ensuring the welfare and wellbeing of human beings in general. They set internationally-recognized minimum standards to protect individuals against social and economic insecurity and the threat they pose to human integrity, freedom and equality. They differ from civil and political rights in that civil and political rights in general intend to protect the freedom of people. However this does not mean that the fulfilment of the two classes of rights should be given unequal importance. If a person’s freedom is fully recognized but if the same person is denied the means to an adequate material life, his freedom would ultimately mean nothing to him. In fact there may be instances where people may prefer foregoing their civil and political rights in exchange for a better standard of living. So the fulfilment of the two classes of rights should go in parallel.

ESC rights consist of three interrelated components, namely, economic, social and cultural. The enjoyment of an economic right is connected to social and cultural rights and vice versa. For example, if the right to work, which is an economic right, is not respected, then we cannot expect that person to have an adequate standard of living, which in turn is a social right.

After looking at what economic, social and cultural rights consist of, we will look as four specific rights falling in this category. These are the rights to housing, to health, to education and to food.

The Right to Housing

The right to housing is one component of the right to an adequate standard of living, which includes other elements such as clothing and food. The right to housing embodies the right of a person to reside in an “adequate” housing and the fulfilment other facilities that go together with access to housing. These include security of tenure, housing affordability, non-discrimination, and access to public services related to housing (such as potable drinking water, electricity and sewage disposal). The term “adequate” above expresses the fact that provision of a mere residence by itself is no guarantee for the fulfilment of housing right. The residence needs to fulfil the above mentioned conditions so that it can be considered adequate. However, the right to housing does not necessarily mean that the state should provide housing to every citizen in the land, although states are required to facilitate the active fulfilment of the conditions listed above. This right is not expressly stated under the Ethiopian Constitution. Under article 41, which deals with ESC rights, the state’s obligation towards providing social services and allocating “ever increasing resources” to their realization is stated. Since housing is one of the basic human needs, we can assume that this is among the important services that the state is expected to provide for its citizens. The state is expected to respect the right to housing of its citizens by refraining from acts that infringe on enjoyment of this right. This mainly relates to security of tenure and prevention of arbitrary displacement from houses. In addition to this the state is also expected to lay down mechanisms to ensure that the rights of citizens are not violated by other citizens and non-state parties. This involves for example making clear demarcation of property lines of citizens so that disagreements over property holdings between neighbours can be minimized.

The Right to Health

The right to health is concerned with achieving the highest attainable state of health to the population. This does not mean that everyone has a right to be healthy because this cannot be ensured by anybody as it involves many factors which cannot be readily controlled. When we talk about the highest attainable state of health, we have to examine this in light of the existing situation. This is because the highest attainable state of health changes from time to time due to factors like advances in medicine and medical technologies, which enables us to tackle health problems more effectively. In this regard, the concept of highest attainable state of health will have to be updated with advances in the medical field. This is one of the rights expressly mentioned under the Ethiopian Constitution. Under article 41 (4), the state is obliged to provide ever increasing resources to provide for health (services) to the public. This provision is directed towards ensuring that the government takes the public health needs when it apportions its budget. As our most pressing need now is to increase the coverage of health facilities to as many people as possible, the emphasis on allocation of resources to the health sector is to be expected. However, the right to health does not only involve increasing the number of health facilities. It also involves the state’s intervention to ensure that the health facilities provide adequate service and also to regulate situations that may adversely affect the health of individuals. This involves formulating standards for health facilities, hygiene rules, anti-pollution rules and other similar regulations. The right to health also requires theealth of its citizens. The Right to Education state itself to refrain from acting in a way which jeopardizes the h

The right to education is a complex right involving a number of issues within it. It involves provision of education by the State to its citizens, respecting the right of parents to choose the kind of education given to their children, defining the aims and objectives of education and other related issues. In addition to being a human right, education is considered to be a precondition for the exercise of other human rights. This is because education creates greater awareness about these rights and people can therefore claim their enforcement. It can also be used to promote human rights among the community.

Although the objectives and aims of education vary from society to society general guidelines exist in this regard in international law. Article 26(2) of UDHR declares that:

Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

This underlying principle should be common to all kinds of education as it stipulates that the purpose of education should aim at the mental development of human beings. In addition to this, there are a number of specific requirements to be fulfilled. The first one is that educational institutions should be available. This does not only mean that there should be sufficient number of schools to cater for the community; but it also implies that schools should have the necessary facilities to serve students adequately. This also includes having qualified and adequate number of teachers to provide an acceptable level of education to students.

Secondly, educational institutions should be accessible to all. This means, first of all, there should be no discrimination between different groups or individuals of the society based on race, colour, religion or sex. It also means that these institutions should be situated within reach of all people. This would require building more and more schools to minimize the distance that students have to travel to get there. This requirement also requires that education expenses should take into account the ability of the people to cover them. Under the ICESCR, the signatories have agreed to make primary education free for all and to make secondary education progressively free with time.

The third requirement is acceptability. This means that the content and modes of giving education should possess adequate qualities and that it should be acceptable to the society at large by conforming to its culture and accepted principles. Finally, it is required that education should be adaptable to changing situations and needs of the community. This would require constant review of the content and methods of instruction and updating the same from time to time.

The Right to Food

The right to food, like the right to housing, is part of the right to an adequate standard of living. The right to food is not a simple requirement where providing food is sufficient for its realization. It requires the food provided to be adequate. Adequate food has been defined as food that contains the necessary nutrients for the health, the mental and physical development of human beings and that is affordable and easily accessible. And it should also be culturally acceptable to the consumer.

As with the other rights discussed above the state has the duty to respect, enforce, and to provide for the realization of this right. This, first of all, requires the state to respect property and work rights of citizens so that they can exercise the right themselves. Secondly, it involves the state to protect its citizens from infringement of the right by other non-state actors. Finally the state is required to facilitate the realization of this right by carrying out income-generating activities, creating jobs, providing technological advances in production of food and overall capacity building of food producers to increase food production.

In addition to these duties, the state is expected to provide food for its citizens in case of food shortages due to natural or man-made disasters. However, this duty is not left to the affected state alone. The international community is also expected to provide relief to people affected by disasters. These duties have been incorporated in a number of international conventions. In fact Argentina, Australia, Canada, EU and its member states, Japan, Norway, Switzerland and the US have committed themselves to provide food to countries affected by food shortages. The international community is expected to provide assistance without putting conditions on that state. This is especially important when we consider countries that follow an ideology that may not be acceptable to other states. As food aid is expected to save people from illness and death, it would be unfair to put conditions when such aid is provided.

Conclusion

As has been discussed above Economic Social and Cultural rights are parts of international human rights law. Thus they have to be given the same level of importance as that of civil and political rights. International human rights law sets a minimum standard for national legislation and policies and establishes a framework within which legislative and administrative choices can be made at the national level. It follows that all signatory states, including Ethiopia, have to operate within the framework set forth in the covenant and provide everything necessary for the progressive realization of these rights. The signatories of the covenant are also required to submit a report as to the measures taken for the full realization of the rights in question to the treaty monitoring bodies of the UN. This indicates that it is incumbent upon the states to perform acts, carried out either through omission or commission, and also report as to the actions taken as fulfilment of the obligation entered into.