Enforcement/Implementation of ESCR

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Toolkit for Action for the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights - available in 4 languages

Developed by the International NGO Coalition for an Optional Protocol, the Toolkit for Action for the Optional...

Developed thanks to the collective work of ESCR-Net Members

The authors, Indigenous Peoples of the Torres Strait Islands, brought a petition against Australia for violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The petitioners argued that Australia’s insufficient climate action violated their human rights, under ICCPR Articles 6 (right to life), 17 (right to private, family and home life) 24(1) (right of the child to protective measures), and 27 (right to culture). 

In 2003, seven-year-old Andrea was murdered by her father, who subsequently committed suicide, during a court-approved parental visitation. Andrea’s mother, Andrea González, had reported over forty-seven (47) instances of physical abuse to the police and sought restraining orders against him to protect herself and her daughter – but the father had refused to accept supervised visitations and a court of law eventually allowed for the unsupervised visits that led to the death of Andrea. After the murder, Ms.

Inter-American Court Enforces Positive Duty of Progressive Realization in Health Case on Persons Living with HIV

This case was presented by 49 victims—15 of whom had died while the case was being examined—and their family members, all of whom shared intersecting characteristics that made them more vulnerable to harm, such as living in poverty. The Court noted that Guatemala is the Central American country with the highest number of people living with HIV, approximately 52,000 people in 2018. The Guatemalan government attempted to address this crisis through legislation and public policy, including the availability of anti-retroviral therapy starting in 1999, but its response was inadequate.

On November 5, 2018, members gathered for a webinar discussion titled: “Implementing CESCR Decisions: Lessons from the Experience of the Follow-Up Procedure in MBD v. Spain.” The online seminar about the...
Inter-American Court of Human Rights Upholds the Human Right to a Healthy Environment

Amidst rising international concern about the human rights implications of a trans-oceanic canal in Nicaragua and concerned with implications for the people residing within the Colombian island of San Andrés, Colombia had requested an advisory opinion from the IACtHR in 2016 concerning state obligations in relation to the environment in the context of the protection and guarantee of the rights to life and to personal integrity.

International Court of Justice Advances Progressive Environmental Jurisprudence

This case is preceded by the 2015 ICJ decision which found that disputed territory between Costa Rica and Nicaragua belonged to Costa Rica, and that, by excavating three caños (channels) and establishing a military presence, Nicaragua violated Costa Rica’s territorial sovereignty. This finding rendered Nicaragua’s activities unlawful under international law, which gave rise to an obligation of reparation by Nicaragua.


A toothless tool? First impressions on the Draft Optional Protocol to the Legally Binding Instrument on Business and Human Rights


Authored by ESCR-Net members: Gabriela Kletzel & Andrés López Cabello, Centro de Estudios...

Inter-American Court recognizes the direct enforceability of ESCR

Alfredo Lagos del Campo was fired from his job on July 1, 1989. Mr. Lagos del Campo had previously been a union leader but, at the time of his dismissal, he was the President of the Electoral Committee, an elected representative of the company’s Industrial Community (a type of employee organization in Peru created through law). Mr. Lagos del Campo gave an interview for a magazine in his capacity as President of the Electoral Committee, stating he had publicly denounced actions by his employer who he believed was pressuring workers using extortion and coercive tactics.

African Commission advances corporate accountability for human rights abuses

In 2004, a small number of lightly armed rebels tried to take control of Kilwa, a remote fishing town in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo). About 50 km away from Kilwa there is a copper and silver mine, where Anvil Mining Company (Anvil Mining), a small Australian-Canadian mining company, had mining operations. Notably, the port in Kilwa was the only transport link to export the mine ore to processing plants in other countries.