Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR)

The Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) was established in 1993 to promote social justice through human rights. In a world where poverty and inequality deprive entire communities of dignity and even life itself, CESR promotes the universal right of every human being to housing, education, health and a healthy environment, food, work, and an adequate standard of living.

The legal framework recasts basic human needs for health, housing, education, food, a healthy environment, and work as enforceable human rights. It provides an umbrella for a diverse set of communities, organizations and activists to join together in demanding accountability and policy change from state and non-state actors in accordance with universal standards of law.

CESR's mission is to advocate for social justice using human rights tools and strategies. For more than ten years we have contributed to the development of a human rights culture that integrates economic security, social equality, and political freedom as established in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We build relationships with civil society groups and strengthen local initiatives for economic justice by connecting them with international institutions and legal mechanisms for protecting human rights.

CESR is working to promote the mainstreaming of economic, social and cultural rights in all economic and social policymaking, highlighting impacts of key global policy decisions; develop new methodologies for measuring and monitoring economic and social rights compliance, contributing to more effective accountability for economic, social and cultural rights; empower and build capacities of organizations within and beyond the human rights movement to advocate more effectively for the fulfillment of these rights; and advocate for greater accountability for economic, social and cultural rights within states and internationally, including at the United Nations and regional human rights forums.