Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (and Beyond) in the UN Human Rights Council

Economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) have been subject to increased attention in recent decades including within the United Nations. Created in 2006, the Human Rights Council is the only intergovernmental UN body dealing exclusively with human rights. Since a flurry of activity at its inception, the academic attention paid to the Council overall, much less specifically on ESCR, has been surprisingly scant. This article lessens that gap by analysing the Council's performance on ESCR and ESCR-related rights. It demonstrates that there has been progress, which, as with anything in the multilateral system, remains measured. The old debate on the hierarchy between civil and political rights (CPR) and ESCR is less relevant: the ideological battleground now centres on the scope and nature of international cooperation, and so-called 'third generation rights'. Expectations should be realistic as to what an intergovernmental body can achieve but the Council's treatment of ESCR is undoubtedly an improvement on the situation prior its creation in 2006.