Editorial
| Published date | 01 June 1995 |
| Date | 01 June 1995 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/016934419501300201 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
Editorial
From the beginning, the United Nations system for the promotion and protection of
human rights has paid lipservice to the 'interrelatedness', 'interdependence' and
'indivisibility' of civil and political rights on the one hand and economic, social and
cultural rights on the other, but the actual level of protection of the latter category of
rights in no way measures up to that of the former. It may be true that efforts have been
made to rebut theories which deny the status of 'rights' to economic, social and cultural
rights, but such approaches still make their impact felt. The result is, as has been astutely
observed by one commentator, that there exist adequate opportunities to lodgea complaint
with international bodies seeking a remedy for alleged torture, arbitrary or unjust
imprisonment, the denial of trade union rights, the violation of the rights to free speech
and freedom of religion and many other abuses. But if one is 'merely' suffering from
chronic malnutrition, homelessness, grossly inadequate health care or total lack of
educational opportunities, or a combination all of these, then there is no such international
right of petition.
The period after the Second World War has witnessed initiatives aimed at strengthening
the implementation of economic, social and cultural rights, some of which have indeed
to some extent been successful. More particularly, proposals have been launched recently,
within the framework of the United Nations Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights and the Council of Europe's Social Charter, the materialization of which would
bring the level of implementation of economic, social and cultural rights a considerable
step closer to the present degree of protection of civil and political rights, i.e. to draft
(an) additional protocol(s) embodying the right of (individual) complaint with respect to
economic, social and cultural rights.
Against this background, the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) of the
University of Utrecht organized last January, a three-day experts-conference on the right
to complain about international economic, social and culturalrights. The objective of the
conference was to explore prospects and problems involved in the drafting of an Optional
embodying such a right to complain. To this end, material aspects were dealt with
focusing on the applicability of the proposed right to complain to the right to education,
the right to housing, the right to health, and the right to food. These core rights may
together be considered as a kind of 'right to subsistence', and are therefore of particular
importance. Secondly, it is with respect to these rights that problems of implementation
are felt most keenly.
Procedural issues involved in the proposed right to complain were discussed as well.
Some of the most obvious, important and at the same time most difficult questions to be
answered are the following: to whom is the right to complain to be granted: to
collectivities and NGOs, to individuals, or to both?; which conditions of admissibility are
to be applied in the procedure, in particular what role or form should be given to the
exhaustion of local remedies and what (victim-) requirements should be posed with
respect to applicants?; and, finally, questions concerning the composition, function and
powers of the body receiving the communications.
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