A/HRC/32/31
principle is that States shall, as required under international law, ensure that their domestic
law is consistent with their international legal obligations by, inter alia, incorporating norms
of international human rights law into their domestic law, or otherwise implementing them
in their domestic legal system.12 The key element here is the recognition of the norm itself,
not merely the adoption of measures that are pertinent to the subject-matter of the norm.
B.
Obligation to establish institutions
28.
Human rights are often expressed with great brevity and little or no elaboration as to
their content or corresponding obligations. The relevant treaties simply recognize that there
is a right to life, a right to social security or a right to recognition as a person before the
law. But the assumption underpinning this approach is that institutions will be created and
will help to develop the normative content of the relevant right, promote its implementation
and facilitate its realization. In Spanish, the term institucionalidad is sometimes used to
denote the institutional arrangements that are needed to underpin the rule of law and human
rights. Where no institutions are designated to take the lead in implementing a particular
human right, the likelihood is that little will be done to treat it as a human right per se. This
is especially the case in relation to economic and social rights.
C.
Obligation to promote accountability
29.
The principle of accountability provides the overarching rationale for the
establishment of an international human rights regime. It operates at two levels. One
involves State accountability to the international community, which has been promoted
through the creation of monitoring mechanisms such as the Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights and the universal periodic review process, and through regional
mechanisms. The other involves ensuring that governments are accountable to their citizens
and other rights holders. The right to a remedy is recognized in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and international human rights law has attached particular importance to
developing an understanding of the right to adequate, effective, prompt and appropriate
remedies, including reparations. Remedies have also been highlighted in transitional justice
contexts. In relation to economic, social and cultural rights, the Committee on those rights
has stated in its general comment No. 9 that “appropriate means of redress, or remedies,
must be available to any aggrieved individual or group, and appropriate means of ensuring
governmental accountability must be put in place” (para. 2).
IV. Applying these obligations to economic and social rights
30.
In recent years, there has been great progress in the attention devoted, at both the
national and international levels, to economic and social rights. In terms of scholarship, a
“renaissance” of economic and social rights is said to have occurred, leading to a
“burgeoning” literature.13 In terms of legal developments, a typical account noted as
follows:
ESC rights have gained increased acceptance in international law and comparative
jurisprudence. This is evident in an array of new treaties and resolutions and the
12
13
See General Assembly resolution 60/147, annex, para. 2.
Courtney Jung, Ran Hirschl and Evan Rosevear, “Economic and social rights in national
constitutions”, American Journal of Comparative Law, vol. 62, No. 4 (December 2014), p. 1043.
11
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