o x f o r d l a w - graduate taught courses: socio-economic rights and substantive equality

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Socio-Economic Rights and Substantive Equality
Although the indivisibility of rights is often proclaimed, socio-economic rights have traditionally been viewed as fundamentally distinct from civil and political rights. This corresponds to a set of further distinctions: liberty as against equality; liberalism as against socialism; and justiciable rights as against political aspirations. This demarcation is mirrored in international documents, with separate covenants at both international and European levels. The result has generally been to consign socio-economic rights to secondary status. More recently, however, there have been important moves to recognise the fundamental nature of socio-economic rights as human rights, and to integrate them within human rights documents. The Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women is a specific example. At domestic level, the South African Constitution expressly incorporates justiciable socio-economic rights, and the Indian Courts have developed the right to life in the Indian constitution to give justiciable status to socio-economic rights. The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights integrates socio-economic rights with civil and political rights and even the ECHR is increasingly being interpreted to include positive duties akin to socio-economic rights.

The course aims to an in-depth understanding of socio-economic rights in an international and comparative context, with a particular focus on the relationship with substantive equality. It does so from a theoretical, institutional and substantive perspective. The theoretical dimension draws on political theory and jurisprudence to assess the conceptual underpinnings of socio-economic rights, particularly in relationship to concepts of freedom, equality and democracy. The institutional dimension examines justiciability and its alternatives, both in principle and on the basis of experience of different jurisdictions. These concepts are then used to explore and assess substantive socio-economic rights as well as the relationship between socio-economic rights and substantive equality, particularly in the context of gender. The course uses an analytic comparative law approach, drawing on materials from a selection of developed and developing countries, including the UK, Canada, India and South Africa. It also assesses international and regional sources, including the International Covenant of Social, Economic and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Social Charter.


			text: larger smaller

	Socio-Economic Rights and Substantive Equality Although the indivisibility of rights is often proclaimed, socio-economic rights have traditionally been viewed as fundamentally distinct from civil and political rights. This corresponds to a set of further distinctions: liberty as against equality; liberalism as against socialism; and justiciable rights as against political aspirations. This demarcation is mirrored in international documents, with separate covenants at both international and European levels. The result has generally been to consign socio-economic rights to secondary status. More recently, however, there have been important moves to recognise the fundamental nature of socio-economic rights as human rights, and to integrate them within human rights documents. The Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women is a specific example. At domestic level, the South African Constitution expressly incorporates justiciable socio-economic rights, and the Indian Courts have developed the right to life in the Indian constitution to give justiciable status to socio-economic rights. The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights integrates socio-economic rights with civil and political rights and even the ECHR is increasingly being interpreted to include positive duties akin to socio-economic rights. The course aims to an in-depth understanding of socio-economic rights in an international and comparative context, with a particular focus on the relationship with substantive equality. It does so from a theoretical, institutional and substantive perspective. The theoretical dimension draws on political theory and jurisprudence to assess the conceptual underpinnings of socio-economic rights, particularly in relationship to concepts of freedom, equality and democracy. The institutional dimension examines justiciability and its alternatives, both in principle and on the basis of experience of different jurisdictions. These concepts are then used to explore and assess substantive socio-economic rights as well as the relationship between socio-economic rights and substantive equality, particularly in the context of gender. The course uses an analytic comparative law approach, drawing on materials from a selection of developed and developing countries, including the UK, Canada, India and South Africa. It also assesses international and regional sources, including the International Covenant of Social, Economic and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Social Charter.