The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is a multilateral treaty adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1966 and entered into force in 1976, converting the economic, social and cultural rights set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including the rights to work, an adequate standard of living, education and health, into binding treaty obligations on the states that ratify it, generally understood as requiring progressive realization rather than immediate full achievement given differing national resources.
Facts
Key ProvisionAdopted alongside the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on 16 December 1966 and entering into force in 1976, it binds states parties to the progressive realization, to the maximum of available resources, of economic, social and cultural rights the Universal Declaration of Human Rights had proclaimed but not made legally binding: the rights to work under just and favorable conditions, to social security, to an adequate standard of living including food, clothing and housing, to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, and to education. Its progressive-realization standard in Article 2(1), rather than the immediate-effect standard the sister covenant applies to civil and political rights, has itself been a subject of continuing legal debate over how quickly a state's obligations become enforceable. 1 Classification
Document Type Original Language Connections
Associated With
The Covenant converts the economic, social and cultural rights the Declaration first proclaimed in 1948 into binding treaty obligations, subject to progressive realization.
Source International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (OHCHR)
Influenced
Source International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (OHCHR)
Influenced By
The Universal Declaration's economic, social and cultural rights were converted into binding treaty law by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966).
Sources
1. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (OHCHR)
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human RightsDocument type, description
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is a multilateral treaty adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1966 and entered into force in 1976, converting the economic, social and cultural rights set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including the rights to work, an adequate standard of living, education and health, into binding treaty obligations on the states that ratify it, generally understood as requiring progressive realization rather than immediate full achievement given differing national resources.
- Associated With: Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- Influenced: Welfare State
View the Source 2. Wikidata: International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- Wikidata Q457862, class allow-list match, case-insensitive label variant (w-bbfill-smallsix2-0926/resolve_ci.ps1)
- Wikidata Q457862 via P407 (w-bbfill-smallsix2-0926/propfill_varchar.ps1)
View the SourceInternational Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Wikipedia)
In Group: United Nations Human Rights Instruments, Lead paragraphQuote, In Group: United Nations Human Rights Instruments, Lead paragraph
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (GA) on 16 December 1966 through GA. Resolution 2200A (XXI), and came into force on 3 January 1976.
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