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Caselaw Database

ESCR-Net Caselaw Database: A database of ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS related jurisprudence, cases and other decisions

WELCOME TO THE ESCR-NET CASELAW DATABASE, a collaborative project developed under the leadership of the Steering Committee Members, our Academic partners, and many groups and individuals working to advance economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) throughout the world. The Caselaw database makes ESCR-related pleadings, commentary and decisions available to a wide audience of ESCR activists and defenders from a range of countries, legal traditions and languages (Spanish and English). In doing so, it serves to facilitate the exchange of information and strategies.

Our GOALS are:

to encourage discussion of crucial challenges for ESCR advocacy and to inspire joint projects and actions to address those challenges
to disseminate tools for a rights-based approach to economic and social justice, and to encourage the use of legal strategies as valid and effective means for claiming economic, social and cultural rights
to increase collaboration and facilitate the exchange of information among NGOs, community-based organizations and other civil society organizations working towards claiming the fulfillment of economic and social rights

The database is a work in progress and we hope to develop it further with the involvement of interested ESCR advocates and organizations.

Highlighted Issue Areas:

Women's ESCR

Right to Health

Corporate Accountability

Trade, Investment and Finance

Get involved!

Please subscribe to the justiciability listserve to send proposals, new cases, and information or share strategies with other ESCR advocates interested on ESCR enforceability.

Please contact us at dikawa@escr-net.org or write to the justiciability group if you:
- are interested in getting involved in this project
- have additional information on these or other cases or translations of legal documents or secondary documentation
- know of other important cases that should be added
- want to share new strategies to adjudicate ESCR
- have proposals for joint actions and project on ESCR adjudication

How Do We Select Cases for the Caselaw Database?

We wish to express our thanks and appreciation to all the advocates, researchers and rights claimants who contributed to the creation of this database.

Language:

English

Featured Cases

Ramakant Rai v. Union of India, W.P ( C) No 209 of 2003

Supreme Court of India

Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition requesting the Indian Supreme Court to direct the Union of India and all Indian state governments to implement the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Guidelines on Standards of Female Sterilization, enacted in October 1999. The petition further sought compensation for victims of medical negligence in sterilization procedures, as well as accountability for violations of the guidelines. Reproductive Rights, Right to Health, Women’s Rights.

Head of Department: Mpumalanga Department of Education and Another v. Hoerskool Ermelo and Another

Constitutional Court of South Africa

Constitutional Court decision concerning the State obligation to ensure access to education in the official language of one’s choice (section 29(2) of the Consitution); Remedial action against past discrimination; Affirmative State obligation; Negative State obligation; Statutory delegation of powers; Right to education in a language of one’s choice; Constitutional rights and remedies; Right to due process

Case of the Sawhoyamaxa Indigenous Community v. Paraguay

Inter-American Court of Human Rights

Complaint alleging the State's failure to acknowledge indigenous communities property rights over ancestral land. Protecting territory through a collective right to private property. Violation of right to life by depriving communities of traditional means of livelihood. State obligation to adopt positive measures to fulfill dignified life standard. Priority treatment of vulnerable groups.

Mouisel v. France (Application No. No 67263/01 (2002) ECHR 740)

European Court of Human Rights

Petition alleging Jean Mouisel’s rights under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights were violated. In the context of serious illness, Mouisel’s continued detention, and conditions of detention constituted torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; right to adequate medical treatment; right to conditional release for serious illness; right to be free from excessive hardship due to incarceration; State’s positive obligations to elderly, sick or frail prisoners.

The Case of Keenan v. the United Kingdom (Application no. 27229/95)

European Court of Human Rights

Petition alleging Mark Keenan and his mother Susan Keenan, rights to life, not to be tortured and to have access to effective remedies under the European Convention on Human Rights were violated. No adequate remedy for the violation of Mark Keenan’s rights under the Convention; right to psychiatric treatment; Right to adequate medical treatment; lack of access to psychiatric/medical treatment as inhuman and degrading treatment; right to protection from self harm; Lack of effective domestic remedy for violations of the ECHR; States’ positive obligations to protection from self harm.

LMR v. Argentina (UN Doc. CCPR/C/101/D/1608/2007)

United Nations Human Rights Committee

Petition by VDA, on behalf of her daughter LMR, alleging violation of LMR’s rights under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Alleged violations include the right to freedom from torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the right to privacy; right to be free from discrimination in access to medical care; right to privacy regarding medical treatment decisions; right to access to medical care; right to a legal abortion.

International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights (INTERIGHTS) v. Greece Complaint No. 49/2008

European Committee of Social Rights

Collective complaint brought to the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) under Article 16 of the European Social Charter (ESC); Right of the family to social, legal and economic protection; Remedies; Due process; Forced evictions; Right to social rights without discrimination under the preamble of the ESC.

MEDHA KOTWAL LELE & ORS. v. Union of India and Others. [2012] INSC 643

Supreme Court of India

Suit aimed at the enforcement of previous Supreme Court decision. Sexual harassment at the work place. Vishaka guidelines.

Cronin v. Minister for Education and Science

High Court of Ireland

Interlocutory application for mandatory injunction brought by the mother of an autistic four-year old against the Minister for Education and Science to provide her child a free and appropriate pre-school education. Right to free primary education appropriate to his needs; Article 13 (Effective Remedy) and Article 2 of the First Protocol (Right to Education) of the European Convention on Human Rights Act.

O’Donoghue v. Minister for Health & Ors, [1993] I.E.H.C.2 (Ir.)

High Court of Ireland

Order of Mandamus brought on behalf of applicant suffering from profound and severe mental and physical disabilities against the Minister for Health, the Minister for Education, and the Attorney General to compel the provision of free primary education.

Disability Advocates, Inc. v. David A. Paterson and Others, 653 F.Supp.2d 184 (2009)

United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York

Petition brought by Disability Advocates, Inc. (DAI) claiming violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act’s (ADA) and Rehabilitation Act’s integration mandate with regards to individuals in New York State’s adult care facilities; Denial of access to supportive housing; Services must be provided in most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of persons with disabilities; Disability-based discrimination; Fundamental alteration defense.

Glor v. Switzerland

European Court of Human Rights

Petition by Sven Glor alleging violations of rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. Analysis of article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) in conjunction with Article 7 (right to respect for private and family life); Right to private life; Reasonable accommodation of a physical disability; Prohibtion against discrimination on grounds of a physical disability; Prohibtion against discrimination based on level of physical disability.

Georgina Ahamefule V. Imperial Medical Centre & Dr. Alex Molokwu (Suit No. ID/1627/2000)

The High Court of Lagos State

Lawsuit challenging the employment termination of Georgina Ahamefule, auxiliary nurse by the Imperial Medical Center, by the Chief Medical Director, Dr. Alex Molokwu, based on her HIV-positive status. Right to health; Right to informed consent for HIV testing; Right to pre and post HIV test counseling.

Judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court in the proceeding 1 BvL 10/10

Constitutional Court of Gambia

Submissions by the Higher Social Court of North Rhine-Westphalia to the German Constitutional Court on the right to a minimum existence; Asylum seekers; Social Benefits; Asylum Seekers; Fundamental Right to a Dignified Minimum Standard of Living.

R.K.B. v. Turkey (Communication No. 28/2010)

Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

Communication presented to the Committee, alleging dismissal of a woman due to gender-based discrimination at work; Gender-based stereotypes and the right to work; Access to Justice.

Dorothy Ann Finch and others v. Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, May 6, 2011 and January 6, 2012

Decision challenging restriction of health benefits provided by the State to legal immigrants. Equal protection, immigration law, and social welfare.

Decision T-841

Constitutional Court

Writ of injunction (tutela) aimed at the protection of women's reproductive and health rights as well as children's rights to health, dignity, personal integrity and free development of their personality; Undue delay in providing for an abortion permitted by the law; Recognition of women's right to privacy and anonymity as well as reaffirmation of women's right to abortion as a reproductive right (both in terms of autonomy and access to health services).

Western Cape Forum for Intellectual Disability v. Government of the Republic of South Africa & Government of the Province of Western Cape, Case no: 18678/2007

High Court of South Africa, Western Cape

Complaint alleged the educational needs of children with severe and profound intellectual disabilities were not being adequately met by the South African and Western Cape governments; Right to education; Right to equality and non-discrimination; Disability rights; Right to human dignity; Children's right to protection from neglect and degradation; Implementation of national laws and policies; Reasonableness of state policy.

A.S. v. Hungary, Communication No. 4/2004, CEDAW/C/36/D/4/2004

UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women

Communication that Ms. A.S.'s rights were violated when a doctor in a public hospital performed a forced sterilization procedure without providing adequate information regarding the sterilization procedure to obtain Ms. A.S.'s free and informed consent; Requirements of free and informed consent; Right to decide the number and spacing of children; Right to access sexual and reproductive health education and family planning information; Exhaustion of Domestic Remedies; Equality and Non-discrimination.

Additional Resources

NOUVEAU! Fiche d'information sur les droits économiques, sociaux et culturels des femmes

This factsheet provides a basic overview of the content of economic, social and cultural rights for women.

The working paper, “Seeding Hope? Land in the International Human Rights Agenda: Challenges and Prospects” builds on the work of many members to promote a stronger international recognition of human rights issues related to land, and to elevate the perspectives and demands of social movements in human rights advocacy relating to issues of land and territory..

The toolkit has been created for NGOs and other civil society groups as well as States, in order to facilitate international and national advocacy work for the ratification of the Protocol and the national implementation of economic, social and cultural rights. The Toolkit includes four Booklets, downloadable on this page.

Proceedings before domestic courts, administrative tribunals, international judicial and quasi-judicial bodies and other legal entities are key avenues through which the implementation of ESCR may be advanced.

Caselaw Database

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ESCR-Net Caselaw Database: A database of ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS related jurisprudence, cases and other decisions

Get involved!

Featured Cases

Additional Resources