ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND
CULTURAL RIGHTS & THIRD
GENERATION RIGHTS
International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights is the primary
source of economic, social, and cultural
rights. State parties have the legal
obligation to respect, protect, and fulfill
these rights, to wit:
 Right To Social Security
Several key human rights principles are
fundamental to guaranteeing the right to
social security:
 Comprehensiveness: Social
security implicitly covers all the risks
involved in the loss of means of
subsistence for reasons beyond a
person’s control.
 Flexibility: The retirement age
should be flexible, depending on
the occupations performed and
the working ability of elderly
persons, with due regard to
demographic, economic, and
social factors.
 Non-discrimination: Social
security must be provided without
discrimination (in intent or effect)
based on health status, race,
ethnicity, age, sex, sexuality,
disability, language, religion,
national origin, income, or social
status.
 The Right to Heath
 The right of everyone to the
enjoyment of the highest
attainable standard of
physical and mental health.
 Steps to be taken to achieve
the full realization of this right
shall include those necessary
for:
o The provision for the
reduction of the stillbirth-
rate and of the infant
mortality and for the
healthy development of a
child;
o The improvement of all
aspects of environmental
and industrial hygiene;
o The prevention, treatment
and control of epidemic,
endemic occupational and
other diseases.
o The creation of condition
which would assure to all
medical service and
medical attention in the
event of sickness.
 RIGHT TO EDUCATION
 right of everyone to
education
 that education shall be
directed to the full development
of the human personality
 education shall enable all
persons to participate
effectively in a free
society, promote
understanding, tolerance
and friendship among all
nations and all racial.
 primary education shall be
compulsory and available
free to all
 secondary education shall
be made generally
available and accessible to
all
 higher education shall be
made equally accessible
to all
 fundamental education
shall be encouraged or
intensified as far as
possible for those persons
who have not received or
completed the whole
period of their primary
education;
 the development of a
system of schools at all
levels shall be actively
pursued,
 an adequate fellowship
system shall be
established,
 material conditions of
teaching staff shall be
continuously improved.
 respect for the liberty of
parents and, when
applicable, legal guardians
to choose for their children
schools
THIRD GENERATION RIGHTS
The term "third-generation human rights"
remains largely unofficial, just as the
also-used moniker of "green" rights, and
thus houses an extremely broad
spectrum of rights, including:
 Group and collective rights
 Right to self-determination
 Right to economic and social
development
 Right to a healthy environment
 Right to natural resources
 Right to communicate and
communication rights
 Right to participation in cultural
heritage
 Rights to intergenerational equity and
sustainability
Historical background
In 1979, KarelVasak presented a brief
but systematic theory of what he called
"the third generation of human
rights.“Vasak argued that several new
human rights, such as the rights to
development, to a healthy environment,
and to peace, were already beginning to
emerge in international law. He
suggested that these three generations
of human rights corresponded
respectively to the three ideals
proclaimed in the French revolution:
liberty, equality and fraternity.
Accordingly, these new human rights
should be thought of as solidarity rights.
Third-generation or ‘solidarity’ rights are
the most recently recognised category of
human rights.
 3. Expressing the will and the
aspirations of all peoples to
New Human Rights (Solidarity Rights) eradicate war from the life of
mankind and, above all, to avert a
A. The right to development
world-wide nuclear catastrophe.
For the millions of people around
4. Convinced that life without war
the world who live in abject
serves as the primary international
poverty, the United Nations
prerequisite for the material well-
Declaration on the Right to
being, development and progress
Development offers hope. Indeed,
of countries and for the full
the aspiration to make the right to
implementation of the rights and
development a reality for all is the
fundamental human freedoms
foundation for the quest to achieve
proclaimed by the United Nations.
the Millennium Development
5. Aware that in the nuclear age the
Goals (MDGs), the internationally
establishment of a lasting peace on
agreed global development goals.
Earth represents the primary
condition for the preservation of
Millennium Development Goals
human civilization and the survival
(MDGs)
of mankind.
6. Recognizing that the maintenance
1. Reduce poverty, hunger and
of a peaceful life for peoples is the
disease
sacred duty of each State.
2. Promote gender equality,
education, environmental
sustainability and global
partnerships C. The Right to a Healthy
Environment
The right to a healthy enviornment
was recognised in Stockholm
B. The Right to Peace
Conference in 1972 in an inter-
Declaration on the Right of Peoples national environmental law
to Peace was approved by General document. The conference
Assembly Resolution 39/11 of 12 adopted what is known as the
November 1984 with the following Stockholm Declaration, consisting
details: of three non-binding instruments:

1. Reaffirming that the principal aim of 1. A resolution on institutional

the United Nations is the
maintenance of international peace
and security.
2. Bearing in mind the fundamental
Principles of International Law set
forth in the Charter of the United
Nations.
and financial arrangements;
2. Declaration containing 26
principles;
3. An action plan containing 109
recommendations.
 In June 1992, the UN Conference
on Environment and Development
(UNCED) was held in Rio de Ja-
neiro, Brazil. The purpose of the
conference was to elaborate
strategies and measures to halt
and reverse the effects of
environmental degradation and to
strengthen national and
international efforts to promote
sustainable and environmentally
sound development in all
countries. In the international
context, the Rio Declaration with
its Plan of Action ("Agenda 21”)
contains measures to be taken for
implementation of the Rio
principles and the other major
treaties produced in Rio.
The measures are;
a. provision of financial resources
and mechanisms;
b. transfer of environmentally sound
technologies;
c. support for capacity-building;
d. education and awareness;
e. development of enforceable
international legal instruments;
f. environmental impact
assessments; and
g. information and tools for meas-
uring progress
The environment is mentioned
directly in the ICESCR in article 12(2)
on the right to health:
“ (a)The steps to be taken by the States
Parties to the present Covenant to
achieve the full realization of this right
shall include those necessary for . . . (b)
The improvement of all aspects of
environmental and industrial hygiene.”
THE RIGHT TO AN ADEQUATE
STANDARD OF LIVING
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN
RIGHTS
Article 25
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard
of living adequate for the health and
well-being of himself and of his
family, including food, clothing,
housing and medical care and
necessary social services, and the
right to security in the event of
unemployment, sickness, disability,
widowhood, old age or other lack of
livelihood in circumstances beyond
his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are
entitled to special care and
assistance. All children, whether born
in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the
same social protection.
INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON
ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL
RIGHTS
Article 11
1. The States Parties to the present
Covenant recognize the right of
everyone to an adequate standard of
living for himself and his family,
including adequate food, clothing and
housing, and to the continuous
improvement of living conditions. The
States Parties will take appropriate
steps to ensure the realization of this
right, recognizing to this effect the
essential importance of international
co-operation based on free consent.
2. The States Parties to the present
Covenant, recognizing the
fundamental right of everyone to be
free from hunger, shall take,
individually and through international
co-operation, the measures,
 including specific programmes, which
are needed:
a. To improve methods of
production, conservation and
distribution of food by making
full use of technical and
scientific knowledge, by
disseminating knowledge of
the principles of nutrition and
by developing or reforming
agrarian systems in such a
way as to achieve the most
efficient development and
utilization of natural
resources;
b. Taking into account the
problems of both food-
importing and food-exporting
countries, to ensure an
equitable distribution of world
food supplies in relation to
need.
The right to an adequate standard of
living is recognized as a human
right in international human rights
instruments and is understood to establish a
minimum entitlement to food, clothing and
housing at an adequate level.
The right to an adequate standard of
living is enshrined in Article 25 of
the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (UDHR) and Article 11 of
the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights. The most
significant inspiration for the inclusion of the
right to an adequate standard of living in the
UDHR was the Four Freedoms speech by
US President Franklin Roosevelt, which
declared amongst others the "freedom from
want". Fulfillment of the right to an adequate
standard of living depends on a number of
other economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to property, the right to
work, the right to education and the right to
social security.
The right to an adequate standard of
living is also enshrined in the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women, which aimed to create
conditions under which women and mothers
would be economically secure and
independent. The Convention requires
states to end discrimination against women
in relation to employment and other
economic activities. The right to an adequate
standard of living is reiterated in
the Convention on the Rights of the
Child with Article 27 recognizing ever child's
right to a standard of living adequate for the
child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral and
social development. The parents of the child
have primary responsibility to secure this
right within their abilities, while the state must
take appropriate steps to assist parents and
others responsible for children. States must
if necessary provide material assistance,
particularly in relation to nutrition, clothing
and housing.
The UDHR establishes that the right to
an adequate standard of living requires as a
minimum the enjoyment of subsistence
rights that is adequate food and nutrition,
clothing, housing and care when required.
It also recognizes that the right to an
adequate standard of living will require
different measures depending on the
situation of a person. It specifies that persons
who are unable to secure the enjoyment of
conditions necessary for an adequate
standard of living have a right to care.
Article 11 also recognizes the right of
everyone to an adequate standard of living.
This includes, but is not limited to, the right to
adequate food, clothing, housing, and "the
continuous improvement of living
conditions". It also creates an obligation on
parties to work together to eliminate world
hunger.
(1) Right to adequate food, also
referred to as the right to food, is
 interpreted as requiring "the
availability of food in a quantity and
quality sufficient to satisfy the dietary
needs of individuals, free from
adverse substances, and acceptable
within a given culture". This must be
accessible to all, implying an
obligation to provide special
programmes for the vulnerable. This
must also ensure an equitable
distribution of world food supplies in
relation to need, taking into account
the problems of food-importing and
food-exporting countries. The right to
adequate food also implies a right to
water.
(2) Right to adequate housing, also
referred to as the right to housing, is
"the right to live somewhere in
security, peace and dignity". It
requires "adequate privacy,
adequate space, adequate security,
adequate lighting and ventilation,
adequate basic infrastructure and
adequate location with regard to work
and basic facilities – all at a
reasonable cost". Parties must
ensure security of tenure and that
access is free of discrimination, and
progressively work to eliminate
homelessness. Forced evictions,
defined as "the permanent or
temporary removal against their will
of individuals, families and/or
communities from the homes and/or
land which they occupy, without the
provision of, and access to,
appropriate forms of legal or other
protection", are a prima facie violation
of the Covenant.
(3) Right to adequate clothing, also
referred to as the right to clothing,
has not been authoritatively defined
and has received little in the way of
academic commentary or
international discussion. What is
considered "adequate" has only been
discussed in specific contexts, such
as refugees, the disabled, the elderly,
or workers.
Article 11 of the ICESCR establishes two
human rights, the right to be free from
hunger, known as the right to food, and the
right to an adequate standard of living,
specifically in relation to subsistence rights
to clothing, housing and food. The ICESCR
requires as a minimum that the subsistence
rights are protected by the state. The right to
food and the right to housing have
subsequently been defined as independent
rights in other human rights
instruments. The ICESC makes it clear that
states must take appropriate steps to ensure
the realization of the right to an adequate
standard of living, by for example requiring
the state to take the necessary measures to
ensure that hunger does not occur.
Relationship with other Rights
Overall the right to an adequate
standard of living is understood as a social
right, which requires respect for a number of
other economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to education as
enshrined in Article 26 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and
Articles 13 and 14 of the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (ICESCR), the right to property,
which is enshrined in Article 17 of the UDHR,
the right to work as enshrined in Article 23
of the UDHR and Article 6 of the ICESCR,
and the right to social security as
enshrined in Article 22 of the UDHR and
Article 25 of the ICESCR. When the right to
property, the right to work and the right to
social security, three core economic rights,
are implemented in combination, it is
assumed that an adequate standard of living
can normally be secured.