Research Handbook on International Law and Social Rights

This thoroughly revised and updated second edition of the Research Handbook on International Law and Social Rights provides an in-depth discussion of current debates at the intersection of these topics. Expert contributors analyse the use of social rights as a tool to fight inequality and protect diversity.

Broadening the geographical and thematic coverage of the first edition, this Research Handbook introduces new chapters on social rights protection in Asia and for marginalised groups such as Indigenous peoples, women and migrants. Recontextualising the scope of the book in light of global developments including Russia’s war on Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic, contributing authors examine the history, nature and current status of social rights at the universal and regional level. They also address the impact of emerging global challenges on social rights, covering algorithmic governance, AI and climate change and explore how social rights frameworks respond to instability, inequality and ecological limits.

This expansive Research Handbook is a valuable resource for students and academics specialising in social rights in international human rights law and other fields of public international law. It is also beneficial for lawyers, NGOs and state officials concerned with the enforcement and implementation of social rights.

Edited by Christina Binder, Jane A. Hofbauer, Department for Public Law and International Law, University of the Bundeswehr Munich, Germany, Flávia Piovesan, Faculty of Law, Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo, Brazil and Amaya Úbeda de Torres, Senior Lawyer, Council of Europe