Beyond Civil Rights

With the implementation of the Human Rights Act in October 2000, civil and political rights are for the first time directly enforceable in UK law. While welcoming this significant advance, the authors of this text argue for further legislation, extending protection to economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights, such as the right to education, to health care and to a decent standard of living. Poverty and social exclusion are presented as a denial of human rights and ESC entitlements as an essential foundation of citizenship. The report considers the nature of ESC rights and their historical development, examines the international and European framework for promoting and protecting them and considers how well the UK currently complies with the requirements of international human-rights treaties. The authors respond to objections that ESC rights are non-justifiable, that they distort democracy and that they undermine the current government's emphasis on responsibilities rather than rights. They end with recommendations suggesting how non-government organizations might act to promote ESC rights on behalf of impoverished sectors of society.

Sandy Ruxton is Oxfam's Policy Adviser on UK and EU Poverty Issues; previously he worked as a Senior Policy Officer at NCH Action for Children.

Razia Karim was formerly employed as a Legal Officer at JUSTICE, a law-reform group based in London which works for human rights worldwide as the British section of the International Commission of Jurists; she now works for the Commission for Racial Equality.