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ESCR-Net International Gatherings and General Assembly Meetings

In 2000, leading ESCR activists from key human rights organizations in the Americas, Africa and Asia came together to develop an international network for the promotion of economic, social and cultural rights. The process culminated in the founding of a General Assembly and the Inaugural ESCR-Net Conference, Creating New Paths towards Social Justice, held in Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2003. Over 250 human rights activists from 50 different countries came together to launch the Network and to elect the first ESCR-Net Board. 

In 2008, building on the collective achievements of ESCR-Net and its Members since the Inaugural Conference, the International Strategy Meeting on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Kenya was a significant occasion to explore new and more systematic avenues for collective action for social and economic justice through human rights. Participants met together in one location in order to network, strategize and advance their collective agendas.  The gathering also represented a crucial step forward in strengthening ESCR-Net's institutional capacity to influence decision-making processes regarding state and non-state accountability for the implementation of socio-economic rights. Members also set ESCR-Net's priorities for the coming years, elected a new Board, and defined criteria and procedures to launch solidarity actions, among other institutional decisions.