Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T06:52:16.537Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - What the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies Tell Us about Economic Inequalities and Human Rights: An Empirical Analysis of Twenty Years of Practice

from Part I - Conceptualizing and Measuring Human Rights and Economic Inequalities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2021

Gillian MacNaughton
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Boston
Diane Frey
Affiliation:
San Francisco State University
Catherine Porter
Affiliation:
Lancaster University
Get access

Summary

Economic inequalities are increasingly prominent in public debates – from Thomas Piketty’s seminal Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Piketty 2014) and the subsequent creation of the World Inequality Database (Wid.World n.d.), to civil society reports such as that of Oxfam (Oxfam International 2019). In addition, major social movements of the last decade, including Tunisia’s 2011 revolution (Srebernik 2014) and the rise to power of demagogic leaders such as Donald Trump (Shiller 2016), have been attributed, at least in part, to economic inequalities.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abidjan Principles. 2019. “Abidjan Principles on the Right to Education.” Accessed April 10, 2019. www.abidjanprinciples.org/.Google Scholar
Alston, Philip. 2016. Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights. UN Doc. A/HRC/32/31. April 28.Google Scholar
Alston, Philip. 2015. “Extreme Inequality as the Antithesis of Human Rights.” OpenGlobalRights, August 27, 2015. www.openglobalrights.org/extreme-inequality-as-the-antithesis-of-human-rights/.Google Scholar
Balakrishnan, Radhika and Heintz, James. 2015. “How Inequality Threatens All Human Rights.” OpenDemocracy, October 29, 2015. www.opendemocracy.net/en/openglobalrights-openpage/how-inequality-threatens-all-human-rights/.Google Scholar
Balakrishnan, Radhika, Heintz, James, and Elson, Diane. 2016. “What Does Inequality Have To Do With Human Rights?” In Rethinking Economic Policy for Social Justice: The Radical Potential of Human Rights, 3233. London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). n.d. “World Factbook: Distribution of Family Income – Gini Index.” Accessed April 12, 2019. www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2172rank.htm.Google Scholar
Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR). “Inequality: Can Human Rights Make a Difference?” Accessed April 10, 2019. www.cesr.org/inequality-can-human-rights-make-difference-0.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2018. Concluding Observations on the Initial Report of South Africa. UN Doc. E/C.12/ZAF/CO/1. November 29.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2018. Concluding Observations on the Sixth Periodic Report of Spain. UN Doc. E/C.12/ESP/CO/6. April 25.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2017. Concluding Observations on the Initial Report of Pakistan. UN Doc. E/C.12/PAK/CO/1. July 20.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2016. Concluding Observations on the Third Periodic Report of Tunisia. UN Doc. E/C.12/TUN/CO/3. November 14.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2016. Concluding Observations on the Combined Fifth and Sixth Periodic Reports of the Philippines. UN Doc. E/C.12/PHL/CO/5–6. October 26.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2016. Concluding Observations on the Fourth Periodic Report of the Dominican Republic. UN Doc. E/C.12/DOM/CO/4. October 21.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2016. Concluding Observations on the Fifth Periodic Report of Costa Rica. UN Doc. E/C.12/CRI/CO/5. October 21.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2016. Concluding Observations on the Sixth Periodic Report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. UN Doc. E/C.12/GBR/CO/6. July 14.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2016. Concluding Observations on the Initial Report of Namibia. UN Doc. E/C.12/NAM/CO/1. March 23.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2015. Concluding Observations on the Fifth Periodic Report of Italy. UN Doc. E/C.12/ITA/CO/5. October 28.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2015. Concluding Observations on the Second Periodic Report of Greece. UN Doc. E/C.12/GRC/CO/2. October 27.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2015. Concluding Observations on the Third Periodic Report of Ireland. UN Doc. E/C.12/IRL/CO/3. July 8.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2015. Concluding Observations on the Fourth Periodic Report of Paraguay. UN Doc. E/C.12/PRY/CO/4. March 20.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2014. Concluding Observations on the Second Periodic Report of Slovenia. UN Doc. E/C.12/SVN/CO/2. December 15.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2014. Concluding Observations on the Third Periodic Report of Guatemala. UN Doc. E/C.12/GTM/CO/3. December 9.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2014. Concluding Observations on the Fourth Periodic Report of Portugal. UN Doc. E/C.12/PRT/CO/4. December 8.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2014. Concluding Observations on the Combined Third, Fourth and Fifth periodic reports of El Salvador. UN Doc. E/C.12/SLV/CO/3–5. June 19.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2012. Concluding Observations on the Fourth Report of Iceland. UN Doc. E/C.12/ISL/CO/4. December 11.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2011. Concluding Observations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of Turkmenistan. UN Doc. E/C.12/TKM/CO/1. December 13.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2009. Concluding Observations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of Brazil. UN Doc. E/C.12/BRA/CO/2. June 12.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2009. General Comment No. 20: Non-discrimination in Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (art. 2, para. 2, of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights). UN Doc. E/C 12/GC/20. July 2.Google Scholar
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 2008. Concluding Observations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of Bolivia. UN Doc. E/C.12/BOL/CO/2. August 8.Google Scholar
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). 2015. Concluding Observations on the Combined Fifth and Sixth Periodic Reports of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. UN Doc. CEDAW/C/BOL/CO/5–6. July 14.Google Scholar
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). 2013. Concluding Observations on the Seventh Periodic Report of Greece. UN Doc. CEDAW/C/GRC/CO/7. March 26.Google Scholar
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). 2012. Concluding Observations on the Combined Fourth and Fifth Periodic Reports of Tajikistan. UN Doc. CEDAW/C/TJK/CO/4–5. October 29.Google Scholar
Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). 2012. Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child of Vietnam. UN Doc. CRC/C/VNM/CO/3–4. August 22.Google Scholar
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). 2011. Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women of Zambia. UN Doc. CEDAW/C/ZMB/CO/5–6. September 19.Google Scholar
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). 2008. Concluding Comments of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women of Burundi. UN Doc. CEDAW/C/BDI/4. January 16.Google Scholar
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). 2017. Concluding Observations on the Combined Twenty-third and Twenty-Fourth Periodic Reports of Ecuador. UN Doc. CERD/C/ECU/CO/23–24. September 15.Google Scholar
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). 2017. Concluding Observations on the Combined Twenty-First to Twenty-Third Periodic Reports of Canada. UN Doc. CERD/C/CAN/CO/21–23. September 13.Google Scholar
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). 2014. Concluding Observations on the Combined Sixteenth and Seventeenth Periodic Reports of El Salvador. UN Doc. CERD/C/SLV/CO/16–17. September 24.Google Scholar
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). 2013. Concluding Observations on the Combined Nineteenth to Twenty-First Periodic Reports of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. UN Doc. CERD/C/VEN/CO/19–21. September 23.Google Scholar
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). 2013. Concluding Observations on the Fifth to the Seventh Periodic Reports of Kyrgyzstan. UN Doc. CERD/C/KGZ/CO/5–7. April 19.Google Scholar
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). 2013. Concluding Observations on the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Periodic Reports of the Dominican Republic. UN Doc. CERD/C/DOM/CO/13–14. April 19.Google Scholar
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). 2012. Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination of Mexico. UN Doc. CERD/C/MEX/CO/16–17. April 4.Google Scholar
Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). 2016. Concluding Observations on the Third to Fifth Periodic Reports of Latvia. UN Doc. CRC/C/LVA/CO/3–5. March 14.Google Scholar
Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). 2011. Concluding Observations on Egypt. UN Doc. CRC/C/EGY/CO/3–4. July 15.Google Scholar
Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). 2009. Concluding Observations on Bangladesh. UN Doc. CRC/C/BGD/CO/4. June 26.Google Scholar
Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). 2008. Concluding Observations on United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. UN Doc. CRC/C/GBR/CO4. October 20.Google Scholar
Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). 2007. Concluding Observations on Kazakhstan. UN Doc. CRC/C/KAZ/CO/3. June 19.Google Scholar
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). 2016. Concluding Observations on the Initial Report of Lithuania. UN Doc. CRPD/C/LTU/CO/1. May 11.Google Scholar
De Schutter, Olivier. 2018. The Rights-Based Welfare State, Public Budgets and Economic and Social Rights. Bonn, Germany: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/genf/14943.pdf.Google Scholar
Equal Rights Trust. n.d. “Socio-Economic Rights and Equality.” Accessed December 20, 2019. www.equalrightstrust.org/thematic-projects/socio-economic-rights-and-equality.Google Scholar
European Convention on Human Rights. 2010. www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf.Google Scholar
Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice. n.d. Challenging Inequality. Accessed April 10, 2019. www.fordfoundation.org/work/challenging-inequality/.Google Scholar
Fredman, Sandra. 2016a. “Substantive Equality Revisited: A Rejoinder to Catherine MacKinnon.” International Journal of Constitutional Law 14(3): 747–51.Google Scholar
Fredman, Sandra. 2016b. “Substantive Equality Revisited.” International Journal of Constitutional Law 14(3): 712–38.Google Scholar
Fukuda-Parr, Sakiko, Lawson-Remer, Terra, and Randolph, Susan. 2015. Fulfilling Social and Economic Rights. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
GI-ESCR Database. 2019. “What the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies Tell Us About Economic Inequalities and Human Rights”. Last modified May 31, 2020. www.gi-escr.org/inequality-database.Google Scholar
Human Rights Committee (HRC). 2016. Concluding Observations on the Sixth Periodic Report of New Zealand. UN Doc. CCPR/C/NZL/CO/6. April 28.Google Scholar
Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER). 2018. “Civil Society Launches Report Revealing Government is Failing to Ensure Marginalized Communities in Karamoja Equitably Access Healthcare.” Accessed April 10, 2019. www.iser-uganda.org/news-events/news/377-iser-launches-report-revealing-government-is-failing-to-ensure-marginalized-communities-in-karamoja-equitably-access-health-care.Google Scholar
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). 1966. UNGA res. 2200 A (XXI), UN Doc. A/6316.Google Scholar
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). 1966. UNGA res. 2200 A (XXI), UN Doc. A/6316.Google Scholar
MacNaughton, Gillian. 2013. “Beyond a Minimum Threshold: The Right to Social Equality.” In The State of Economic and Social Human Rights: A Global Overview, edited by Minkler, Lanse. 271305. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Moyn, Samuel. 2018. Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
OECD. 2018. “A Broken Social Elevator? How to Promote Social Mobility.” Paris, France: OECD Publishing. Accessed April 10, 2019. www.oecd.org/publications/broken-elevator-how-to-promote-social-mobility-9789264301085-en.htm.Google Scholar
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). n.d. “Universal Human Rights Index.” Accessed May 12, 2019. https://uhri.ohchr.org/en/.Google Scholar
Open Democracy. n.d. “Economic Inequality and Human Rights.” Accessed April 11, 2019. www.opendemocracy.net/en/tagged/economic-inequality-and-human-rights/.Google Scholar
Oxfam International. “Inequality.” Accessed April 11, 2019. www.oxfam.org/en/tags/inequality.Google Scholar
Piketty, Thomas. 2014. Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Translated by Arthur Goldhammer. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.Google Scholar
Pogge, Thomas. 2002. “Can the Capability Approach Be Justified?Philosophical Topics 30(2): 167228.Google Scholar
Rawls, John. 1971. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saiz, Ignacio. 2018. “Economic Inequality and Human Rights: Towards a More Nuanced Assessment.” Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR), April 26, 2018. http://cesr.org/economic-inequality-and-human-rights-towards-more-nuanced-assessment.Google Scholar
Sen, Amartya. 1999. Development as Freedom. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Shiller, Robert. 2016. “Why Did US Voters Back Trump? Economic Powerlessness.” The Guardian, November 22, 2016. www.theguardian.com/business/2016/nov/22/why-did-americans-support-trump-economic-powerlessness.Google Scholar
Soros, George. 2018. “Remarks Delivered at the World Economic Forum.” George Soros, January 25, 2018. www.georgesoros.com/2018/01/25/remarks-delivered-at-the-world-economic-forum/.Google Scholar
Srebernik, Dor. 2014. “Inequality and Corruption: Drivers of Tunisia’s Revolution.” Inquiries Journal 6(10): unpaginated. www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/924/inequality-and-corruption-drivers-of-tunisias-revolution.Google Scholar
Standing, Guy. 2019. Plunder of the Commons: A Manifesto for Sharing Public Wealth. London, UK: Pelican Books.Google Scholar
Stewart, Francis. 1998. “The Root Causes of Conflict: Some Conclusions.” QEH Working Paper Series, Working Paper Number 16, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford, Oxford UK. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5886/6645d93d07a74be03f16d128a853b28161aa.pdf.Google Scholar
The Equality Trust. n.d. “How is Economic Inequality Defined?” Accessed May 10, 2020. www.equalitytrust.org.uk/how-economic-inequality-defined.Google Scholar
Tomasevski, Katarina. 2001. “Removing Obstacles in the Way of the Right to Education.” Right to Education Primers No. 1. Swedish International Development Corporation Agency, Gothenburg.Google Scholar
UN General Assembly (UNGA). 2015. Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. UN Doc. A/RES/70/1. October 21.Google Scholar
UN General Assembly (UNGA). 1989. Convention on the Rights of the Child. UN Doc. RES/44/25. November 20.Google Scholar
UN General Assembly (UNGA). 1979. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. UN Doc. RES/34/180. December 18.Google Scholar
United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). 2019. “High Commissioner Bachelet calls on States to take strong action against inequalities.” Accessed July 21, 2019. www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24265&LangID=E.Google Scholar
Uprimny Yepes, Rodrigo, and Hernandez, Sergio Chaparro, 2019. “Inequality, Human Rights and Social Rights: Tensions and Complementarities.” Humanity Journal, 10, no. 3: 376–94.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, Richard and Pickett, Kate. 2009. The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better. London, UK: Allen Lane.Google Scholar
World Inequality Database. n.d. “Wid.World.” Accessed April 10, 2019. http://wid.world/wid-world/.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×