International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 16 December 1966 in resolution 2200A (XXI) and entered into force on 3 January 1976, three months after the thirty-fifth ratification. It is one half of the pair that turned the Universal Declaration into binding law, its twin being the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted in the same resolution on the same day.

Its preamble states why the split does not mean a hierarchy. The rights it contains derive from the inherent dignity of the human person, and the Covenant records that the ideal of free human beings enjoying freedom from fear and want can only be achieved if conditions are created whereby everyone may enjoy economic, social and cultural rights as well as civil and political ones. It also names a duty running the other way: the individual, having duties to other individuals and to the community, is under a responsibility to strive for the promotion and observance of these rights.

Article 1 is identical in substance to Article 1 of the civil and political Covenant. All peoples have the right of self-determination, freely determining their political status and pursuing their economic, social and cultural development, and all peoples may freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to obligations arising out of international economic cooperation based on mutual benefit. The clause that in no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence sits in the same article, and States Parties responsible for Non-Self-Governing and Trust Territories are required to promote the realisation of that right.

The obligation in Article 2 is different in kind from the immediate obligations of the civil and political Covenant, and the difference is stated openly rather than hidden. Each State Party undertakes to take steps, individually and through international assistance and cooperation, especially economic and technical, to the maximum of its available resources, with a view to achieving progressively the full realisation of the rights recognised. Progressive realisation to the maximum of available resources is the standard, and it is what allows a poor state to be bound by the same text as a rich one. The guarantee of non-discrimination in the exercise of those rights is not progressive but immediate. Article 3 requires the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all the rights in the Covenant. Article 4 permits limitation only by law, only compatibly with the nature of the rights, and solely for the purpose of promoting general welfare in a democratic society. Article 5 forbids reading the Covenant as authorising activity aimed at destroying any of its rights, and forbids restricting rights recognised in a country on the pretext that this Covenant does not recognise them or recognises them less fully.

Articles 6 to 10 cover work and the family. The right to work includes the opportunity to gain a living by work freely chosen or accepted, supported by technical and vocational guidance and training and by policies aimed at full, productive employment. Just and favourable conditions of work mean fair wages and equal remuneration for work of equal value without distinction, and in particular equal pay for equal work between women and men, a decent living, safe and healthy conditions, equal opportunity for promotion subject only to seniority and competence, and rest, leisure, reasonable limitation of working hours, periodic paid holidays and remuneration for public holidays. Trade union rights include forming and joining unions, forming national and international federations, functioning freely, and the right to strike exercised in conformity with national law, with lawful restrictions permitted for armed forces, police and state administration and with nothing authorising measures that prejudice the guarantees of ILO Convention 87. Everyone has the right to social security including social insurance. The family is named the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is to receive the widest protection, marriage requires free consent, mothers are to receive special protection before and after childbirth including paid leave, and children and young persons are to be protected against economic and social exploitation with age limits for paid child labour set and enforced by law.

Articles 11 to 15 cover living standards, health, education and culture. Everyone has the right to an adequate standard of living including adequate food, clothing and housing and to continuous improvement of living conditions, and the fundamental right to be free from hunger obliges states to improve methods of production, conservation and distribution of food and to ensure equitable distribution of world food supplies in relation to need. The right to health is stated as the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, with named steps covering the reduction of stillbirth and infant mortality and healthy child development, environmental and industrial hygiene, prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases, and the creation of conditions assuring medical service and attention to all in the event of sickness. Education is to be directed to the full development of the human personality and sense of dignity, to strengthening respect for human rights, to enabling participation in a free society and to promoting understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations and racial, ethnic and religious groups; primary education compulsory and free to all, secondary generally available and progressively free, higher education equally accessible by capacity and progressively free, fundamental education encouraged for those who did not complete primary schooling, with an adequate fellowship system and continuously improved conditions for teaching staff. Parents keep the liberty to choose non-public schools meeting minimum standards and to secure religious and moral education in conformity with their own convictions, and individuals keep the liberty to establish and direct educational institutions within those standards. Article 14 requires any State Party that has not secured compulsory free primary education to adopt, within two years, a detailed plan for its progressive implementation. Article 15 recognises the right to take part in cultural life, to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications, and to benefit from protection of the moral and material interests arising from one's own scientific, literary or artistic production, and commits states to respect the freedom indispensable for scientific research and creative activity.

The Covenant's supervisory machinery is reporting-based rather than judicial. States report to the Secretary-General and to the Economic and Social Council, which may make recommendations and refer matters onward, with transmission to specialised agencies and provision for technical assistance and regional meetings. Article 25 preserves peoples' inherent right to their natural wealth and resources. The authentic texts are Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.