Monitoring of ESCR

OUR VISION

Public policies, judicial decisions, and initiatives of private actors in the socio-economic sphere can contribute significantly to fulfilling economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR).  The ESCR-Net Working Group on Monitoring ESCR focuses on how to harness innovative tools and techniques for monitoring these various actions from a human rights perspective.

AIMS OF OUR WORK

Strengthen the capacity of ESCR-Net members to effectively monitor ESCR by:

  • Disseminating innovative methodological tools for ESCR monitoring.
  • Providing opportunities for mutual learning and sharing of experiences.
  • Providing a space to explore conceptual questions related to the development of new monitoring methodologies, as well as for practical questions on their use.
  • Foster collaborations among members and with other working groups to apply various methodological tools in their monitoring and advocacy activities.
  • Increase oversight of socio-economic and fiscal policies, such as public budgets and tax systems, to ensure they are accountable, responsive and oriented towards human rights principles and obligations.

HOW WE WORK

In recent years, NGOs, academics, and international bodies have proposed different initiatives to overcome the challenge of monitoring ESCR such as formulating indicators, benchmarking, indexing, conducting budget analysis, and developing human rights action plans. These initiatives have been developed in different contexts, ranging from international treaty monitoring to community level scrutiny of public budgets. However, these initiatives have tended to be developed in parallel and there have been limited opportunities for sharing experiences across fields of practice. The Working Group on Monitoring ESCR seeks to promote dialogue about how new tools and techniques may be employed—individually or in combination—to more effectively monitor socio-economic policies and strengthen accountability for states’ human rights obligations.

WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED TOGETHER

ESCR-Net has been involved in various aspects of ESCR monitoring since its inception, including facilitating capacity building related to budget analysis, monitoring enforcement of judicial decisions, identifying systemic patterns of human rights abuses involving corporations, and documenting the human rights impacts of economic policies. Similarly, this Working Group builds on the efforts of a number of individual ESCR-Net Members to open spaces for sharing experiences and capacity building around ESCR monitoring. At the most recent ESCR-Net worldwide strategy meeting in Nairobi (2008) Network Members emphasized the importance of strengthening their ESCR monitoring and documentation efforts.  Since the meeting, Members have been seeking opportunities to collaborate on developing monitoring methods and tools at both the global and national level.  As one recent example, the Center for Economic and Social Rights hosted a seminar on New Horizons in Economic and Social Rights Monitoring in March 2012, which brought together human rights and development practitioners to discuss progress towards and ongoing methodological challenges of monitoring ESCR fulfillment.

FIND OUT MORE

To visit a website dedicated to knowledge-sharing and mutual learning around monitoring of economic, social and cultural rights click here

For Activities and Actions of this group, click here.

For Resources on Monitoring ESCR, click here.

View previous ESCR-Net work on Budget Analysis and ESCR.

Working Group Concept Note

Materials from the New Horizons Seminar: http://www.cesr.org/article.php?id=1255

 

GET INVOLVED!

We welcome you to subscribe to our activities and actions here http://monitoring.escr-net.org/subscribe
Please contact Thea Gelbspan (tgelbspan@escr-net.org) and Allison Corkery (acorkery@cesr.org) if you:

  • Would like more information or are interested in getting involved in these projects;
  • Want to share new ESCR monitoring strategies or challenges; or
  • Have proposals for joint actions and projects on ESCR monitoring.

PARTICIPATING MEMBERS

The Working Group is co-coordinated by

  • The Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR)
 
With a steering commitee of members includding:
 
  • Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) in Thailand
  • La Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia (ACIJ) in Argentina
  • Centre for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Hakijamii) in Kenya
  • Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) at Rutgers University, in the United States
  • Centro de Análisis e Investigación (FUNDAR) in México
  • Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) in Argentina
  • Instituto de Estudos Socioeconômicos (INESC) in Brazil
  • Aoife Nolan, Professor at Nottingham University School of Law in the United Kingdom
  • Duncan Wilson, Head of Strategy and Legal at the Scottish Human Rights Commission