International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is a United Nations treaty based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Because the Universal Declaration of Human Rights contained both first-generation civil and political rights and second-generation economic, social and cultural rights, ti could not garner the international consensus necessary to become a binding treaty. Particularly, a divide developed between democratic nations such as the United States, which emphasized civil and political rights, and socialist or communist nations, which emphasized economic, social and cultural rights. To solve this problem, two binding Covenants were created instead of one, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights being one of them.
The Covenant contains some of the most significant international legal provisions establishing economic, social and cultural rights, including rights relating to work in just and favorable conditions, to social protection, to an adequate standard of living, to the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health, to education, and to the enjoyment of the benefits of cultural freedom and scientific progress. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights monitors compliance by States parties with their obligations under the Covenant.
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