Economic and social rights remain a weak and under-developed tool for effectivelyaddressing the mass-scale assault on human dignity that poverty and inequality represent, and the complex political and economic forces shaping the course of human development.

 

How will states be able deliver on their economic and social rights obligations if their role in social welfare provision becomes more and more constrained,and if international trade, aid and debt policies do not recognize international obligations to respect, protect and fulfil rights beyond the state’s jurisdiction? What needs to be done in order to transform human rights into guiding principles of economic and social policy at the domestic and international levels?