Enforcement/Implementation of ESCR

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Latin America: Private Wealth, Public Poverty

CIDSE (Cooperation Internationale pour le Developpement et la Solidarite), an international network of Catholic agencies of cooperation, and partner organizations realized a documentary on alternative strategies against the dominant model of natural resources extraction.

Click here to watch the documentary

South Fork Band and others v. United States DOI, 588 F.3d 718, (2009)

In this case, the South Fork Band and other Western Shoshone tribes were appealing a lower court decision denying an injunction[1] against the construction of the gold mine. In their appeal to the Court, the South Fork Band argued that an injunction should be granted against Barrick Cortez because the U.S.

Centre for Minority Rights Development (Kenya) and Minority Rights Group International on behalf of Endorois Welfare Council v. Kenya, 276/2003

In the 1970s, the Kenyan government evicted hundreds of Endorois families from their land around the Lake Bogoria area in the Rift Valley to create a game reserve for tourism. The Endorois, an indigenous people, had been promised compensation and benefits, but these were never fully implemented, and the community's access to the land was restricted to the discretion of the Game Reserve Authority. This prevented the community from practicing their pastoralist way of life, using ceremonial and religious sites, and accessing traditional medicines.

Victoria (City) v. Adams, 2009 BCCA 563; 2008 BCSC 1363

A group of homeless people erected overhead shelter in the form of tents, tarps and cardboard boxes at a local park in the City of Victoria. The City sought a permanent injunction (legal order requiring the homeless to refrain from erecting shelters) and declaration that such structures contravened the Park Regulation Bylaw and Streets and Traffic Bylaw. The City had a documented shortfall of spaces in homeless shelters.

Resources on Enforcement of ESCR

Below are a list of articles relevant for writers and participants in the Enforcement of ESCR Symposium as well as those generally interested in learning more on the topic.

Project on Enforcement of ESCR Judgments

ESCR-Net, Dejusticia (Center for Law, To Justice and Society, Colombia) and the Norwegian Centre on Human Rights convened a two-day workshop in Bogota to advance dialogue on conceptual and empirical issues with discussion on joint strategies for promoting the implementation of ESC rights.

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) v. Federal Republic of Nigeria and Universal Basic Education Commission, No. ECW/CCJ/APP/0808

In SERAP v. Nigeria, the ECOWAS Court[1] considered whether it had the jurisdiction to adjudicate a claim involving the right to education under the African Charter, even if such a right was arguably non-justiciable in domestic constitutional or statutory law. The complainant initiated the case due to lack of adequate implementation of Nigeria's Basic Education Act and Child's Rights Act of 2004.

Lindiwe Mazibuko & Others v City of Johannesburg & Others, Case CCT 39/09, [2009] ZACC 28

Five residents of Phiri in Soweto brought a case against the City of Johannesburg, Johannesburg Water (a company wholly owned by the City) and the national Minister for Water Affairs and Forestry. There were two key questions at issue.

Considerations of the International NGO Coalition for an Optional Protocol to the ICESCR

This paper presents the NGO Coalition's views regarding key provisions of the OP ICESCR that it considers should be reflected in the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Committee) Rules of Procedure related to individual communications.

Statement by Navanethem Pillay, United Nation High Commissioner for Human Rights

Statement by Navanethem Pillay, United Nation High Commissioner for Human Rights during the signing ceremony of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, held in New York on September 29, 2009.