Recent years have seen an expansion in the scale and importance of economic, social, and cultural rights within international law. This has led to the adoption of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in December 2008, giving individuals and groups the ability to bring complaints about violations of these rights before the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. In this context, this book assesses how effective efforts have been to realize international ESC rights, investigating the contemporary challenges obstructing their protection. It investigates the impact of the global financial crisis, the need for ESC rights to be implemented in a non-discriminatory manner, and the interrelationship between ESC rights and other international legal regimes. It provides a careful analysis of the new tools and indicators available to measure the progressive realisation of ESC rights. This book clarifies and illuminates the multiple aspects of the law governing ESC rights, by bringing together all the different aspects of ESC rights, re-stating the challenges they face, and assessing the progress that has been made in expanding their adoption. The book addresses the main issues related to the progressive realization of ESC rights and their monitoring mechanisms. The chapters take an interdisciplinary approach to move beyond the traditional analysis of ESC rights, contextualizing their discussions against wider contemporary international law challenges. In reflecting this diversity of perspectives, the book sheds light on the new methodologies for implementation and the many obstacles faced by the realization of ESC rights.

Contents:
I. Introduction
1. The Development of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in International Law
Eibe Riedel, Gilles Giacca, and Christophe Golay
II. Challenges in the Protection of ESC Rights in Times of Crisis
2. The Sovereign Bond Markets and Socio-Economic Rights
Mary Dowell-Jones
3. Economic and Social Rights in the ‘Great Recession’
Sally-Anne Way, Nicholas Lusiani, and Ignacio Saiz
4. Realizing Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights for All
Sandra Ratjen, and Manav Satija
5. Gender and Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
Christine Chinkin
III. International Dimension of ESC Rights Obligations
6. The Nature and Meaning of ‘International Assistance and Cooperation’ under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Takhmina Karimova
7. Corporations and Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
Olivier De Schutter
IV. The Relationship between ESC rights and other Legal Regimes
8. Trade and Investment Agreements
Hans Morten Haugen
9. Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in the World Trade Organization
Holger P. Hestermeyer
10. From the Other Shore
Stéphanie Chuffart, and Jorge E. Viñuales
11. The Relationship between Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and International Humanitarian Law
Gilles Giacca
12. Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
Larissa van den Herik
V. Concepts and Tools to Measure the Progressive Realization of ESC Rights
13. Budget Analysis and Economic and Social Rights
Aoife Nolan
14. Human Rights Impact Assessments
Simon Walker
VI. Trends in the Justiciability and Monitoring of ESC Rights at the National and International Level
15. Judicial Review in National Courts
Malcolm Langford
16. The Intersection of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and Civil and Political Rights
Ioana Cismas
17. Building Bridges
Allison Corkery, and Duncan Wilson
18. Transitional Justice Without Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights?
Frank Haldemann, and Rachelle Kouassi
End Matter