Beneficiaries of ESC Rights

Article 2(2) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) provides that ESC rights are to be enjoyed and exercised “without discrimination of any kind as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” Certain groups (below) suffer disproportionately when ESC rights are violated. Effective defense of ESC rights therefore requires disaggregating experiences and mainstreaming the following marginalized groups, amongst others, into social justice initiatives.

Migrant Workers

Some initial resources available for ESC rights defenders seeking to fully protect and promote the rights of migrants are:

Older Persons

When older persons are the target population of ESC rights projects, human rights defenders should pay close attention to their particular needs for:

  1. adequate retirement pensions that allow them to meet food, clothing, shelter, and healthcare needs;
  2. lifelong appropriate educational and training programs that take due account of socioeconomic and technological changes and culture; and
  3. safe and non-exploitative environments that are free from physical and mental abuse.

The following case summary illustrates how human rights defenders have used the ESC rights approach to promote and protect the rights of older persons:

Some initial resources available for ESC rights defenders seeking to fully protect and promote the rights of older person are:

Persons with Disabilities

Some initial resources available for ESC rights defenders seeking to fully protect and promote the rights of people who have permanent or transitory functional limitations linked to their physical, intellectual or sensory impairments, medical conditions or mental illnesses are:

People living with HIV/AIDS

Some initial resources available for ESC rights defenders seeking to fully protect and promote the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS are:

The following case summary illustrates how human rights defenders have used the ESC rights approach to promote and protect the rights of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA):

Forcibly Evicted Persons and Otherwise Internally Displaced Persons

Some initial resources available for ESC rights defenders seeking to fully protect and promote the rights of forcibly evicted persons and otherwise internally displaced persons are:

The following case studies illustrate how human rights defenders have used the ESC rights approach to protect the rights of forced evictees:

Refugees

Some initial resources available for ESC rights defenders seeking to fully protect and promote the rights of refugees are:

Stateless Persons

One initial resource available for ESC rights defenders seeking to fully protect and promote the rights of persons who are not considered to be a national of any state under the operation of its law is: