Protecting Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Inter-American System: A Manual for Presenting Claims (review)

I. Introduction

I recently taught part of a training course for human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on Strengthening the Protection of the Rights to Health and Education through the Use of the Inter-American System, which was co-sponsored by the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute; I wish I had already received Protecting Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Inter-American System: A Manual for Presenting Claims (Manual) in order to make use of it. Rarely have I seen a human rights manual which is so timely, so well-conceived and so well-executed.

Latin America is the region of the world with the greatest income disparities, with a concomitant abundance of violations of economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR). ¹ Despite growth, these disparities have been growing over the last fifty and, in particular, over the last twenty years. ² Most of the region emerged from the dictatorships and civil conflicts of the 1980s burdened with enormous debts and with limited room to negotiate with international financial institutions (IFIs), which quickly moved to impose neoliberal economic policies. ³ These policies included harsh Structural Adjustment Programs, which in turn generally led, among other things, to cutting social spending and making more flexible labor laws to allow employers to move toward "services contracts" which did not entail benefits or guarantees. Real wages have decreased, unemployment has risen, and the middle classes that did exist have shrunk, while at the same time spending on health, education and other social services has dramatically decreased across the region. For example, in Argentina, even before the crisis exploded, austerity programs reduced public spending on health from 4.2 percent of GDP in 1990 to 2.4 percent in 1998; similarly, in Peru already very low public expenditure on education dropped over the same period from 3.6 percent to 2.9 percent as a percentage of GNP. ⁴ In Ecuador, the government allocated 3.8 percent of its 1999 national budget to the health sector, in contrast to 38 percent to debt repayment and in 2000, those figures changed to 2.8 percent and 54 percent, respectively. ⁵

Further, government leaders who were once hailed as the star pupils of the International Monetary Fund—from Salinas in Mexico to Fujimori in Peru to Menem in Argentina—have left office amidst allegations of unprecedented corruption as well as other crimes and grave human rights abuses. ⁶ In this context, human rights NGOs have been central actors in raising popular awareness about the connections between corruption, repressive policing practices and violations of civil and political rights (CPR) in general, on the one hand, and laws, policies, and actions that violate ESCR, on the other. ⁷

Despite great differences in context across the region, a "Latin American human rights movement" can be identified and it has shown itself to be one of the most effective human rights movements in the world. NGOs and civil society organizations were largely formed during the era of military dictatorships and proved themselves in the course of seeking people's release from custody; challenging and changing laws, policies and procedures; publicizing abuses and mobilizing public opinion; getting truth commissions established; and having elections monitored, among other things. The women's rights movement in Latin America has also demonstrated its adeptness in using human rights tactics, procedures and institutions to advance reproductive rights and gender equity in the hemisphere. Today, many of these varied NGOs across the region have begun to turn their attention more systematically to the promotion and protection of ESCR in the region, while others have pursued an approach of indivisibility from their inception. ^8...