Considerations regarding the European system for the protection of economic, social and cultural rights

Abstract

Phrased in idealistic terms and having benefited from positive and fastidious correlative obligations, economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) — also termed “claim-rights” — have long been regarded as “poor relatives” of their elder “brothers”, i.e. civil and political rights (CPR) or “liberty-rights”, which are surrounded by an aura of historic authority and judicial force. These rights have often been pushed by doctrine towards the field of legal rhetoric. However, jurisprudence has proved that, despite such criticism, ESCR may well be subject to judicial control, either by the indivisibility principle of human rights or interpreting correlative obligations. The article aims to show that, by virtue of its complex structure, the European system for the protection of human rights contributes to enhancing the judicial efficiency of ESCR in social space. The understanding of this phenomenon may be used by the national advocate for a more efficient handling of international instruments for the protection...