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“A Pragmatic Compromise between the Ideal and the Realistic”: Debates over Human Rights, Global Distributive Justice and Minimum Core Obligations in the 1980s

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Abstract

This chapter provides a critical account of how human rights debates during the 1980s engaged with questions of global inequality, redistribution and sufficiency. It shows how during this period a focus on basic needs and “minimum core obligations” rather than distributive justice was consolidated in economic and social rights frameworks. It traces key debates and seeks to understand the motivations and intentions of human rights practitioners and activists, as well as the background of profound global changes against which these discussions occurred.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See particularly P. Alston, Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, A/HRC/29/31 (27 May 2015); R. Balakrishnan, J. Heintz and D. Elson. Rethinking Economic Policy for Social Justice: The Radical Potential of Human Rights (Abingdon: Routledge, 2016); S. Moyn, Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World (Harvard University Press, 2017).

  2. 2.

    For reflections on genealogy as a critical method of human rights histories, see Ben Golder, “Contemporary Legal Genealogies” in Justin Desautels-Stein and Christopher Tomlins (eds.) Searching for Contemporary Legal Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017).

  3. 3.

    On the defeat of the NIEO, see John Linarelli, Margot Salomon, and M. Sornarajah, The Misery of International Law: Confrontations with Injustice in the Global Economy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), Chapter 3; Christopher R. W. Dietrich, Oil Revolution: Anticolonial Elites, Sovereign Rights, the Economic Culture of Decolonization (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017), Conclusion.

  4. 4.

    For an overview of World Bank policy over this period, see Patrick Allan Sharma, Robert McNamara’s Other War: The World Bank and International Development (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017).

  5. 5.

    Susan Marks, ‘Four Human Rights Myths’ in David Kinley, Wojciech Sadurski and Kevin Walton (eds.) Human Rights: Old Problems, New Possibilities (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2014); see also N. Klein, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (Toronto: Random House of Canada, 2007).

  6. 6.

    See, for example, Silvia Federici, Constantine George Caffentzis and Ousseina Alidou, A Thousand Flowers: Social Struggles Against Structural Adjustment in African Universities (Trenton: Africa World Press, 2000).

  7. 7.

    See Giovanni Andrea Cornia, Frances Stewart and Richard Jolly, Adjustment with a Human Face (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987); Richard Jolly, “Adjustment with a Human Face” in R. Jolly (ed.) Milestones and Turning Points in Development Thinking (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012); Richard Jolly, ‘Adjustment with a Human Face: A UNICEF Record and Perspective on the 1980s’, World Development 19, no. 12 (1991): 1807–1821.

  8. 8.

    Branko Milanovic, Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2016), 3.

  9. 9.

    Branko Milanovic, ‘Essay III: Unequal World: Inequality Among Citizens of the World’ in The Haves and the Have-Nots: A Brief and Idiosyncratic History of the World (New York: Basic Books, 2010), 150.

  10. 10.

    Charles Beitz “Justice and International Relations,” Philosophy and Public Affairs 4, no. 4 (Summer 1975): 360–389; Charles Beitz,Political Theory and International Relations (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979); For a discussion, see Samuel Moyn, “The Political Origins of Global Justice” in Joel Isaac, James T. Kloppenberg, Michael O’Brien, and Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen (eds.) The Worlds of American Intellectual History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016).

  11. 11.

    Thomas Nagel, “The Problem of Global Justice” Philosophy & Public Affairs 33, no. 2 (2005): 121–122.

  12. 12.

    Samuel Moyn, The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012); J. Eckel and S. Moyn (eds.) The Breakthrough: Human Rights in the 1970s (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014).

  13. 13.

    Steven L.B. Jensen, The Making of International Human Rights: The 1960s, Decolonization, and the Reconstruction of Global Values (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016).

  14. 14.

    Julia Dehm, “Highlighting Inequalities in the Histories of Human Rights: Contestations over Justice, Needs and Rights in the 1970s” Leiden Journal of International Law 31, no. 4 (2018): 871–895.

  15. 15.

    UN General Assembly, Resolution 3201, Declaration on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order, A/RES/S-6/3201 (May 1, 1974); UN General Assembly, Resolution 3202(S-VI), Programme of Action on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order, A/RES/S-6/3203 (May 1, 1974); UN General Assembly, Resolution 3281 (XXIX), Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States, A/RES/29/3281 (Dec. 12, 1974); for an overview, see N. Gilman, ‘The New International Economic Order: A Reintroduction’ Humanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and Development 6, no. 1 (2015): 1, and M. Bedjaoui, Towards a New International Economic Order (Teaneck: Holmes & Meier, 1980).

  16. 16.

    T. Gonzales, ‘The Political Sources of Procedural Debates in the United Nations: Structural Impediments to Implementation of Human Rights’ International Law and Politics 13 (1981): 471, fn 192.

  17. 17.

    P. Alston, Development and the Rule of Law: Prevention versus Cure as a Human Rights Strategy (Geneva: International Commission of Jurists, 1981): 9.

  18. 18.

    Manouchehr Ganji, The Realization of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Problems, Policies, Progress, study prepared by Manouchehr Ganji, E/CN.4/1108/Rev.1 (1975), para 78.

  19. 19.

    UN General Assembly, Resolution 32/130, Alternative approaches and ways and means within the UN system for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms, A/RES/32/130 (Dec. 16, 1977), para 1(f).

  20. 20.

    UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 3: The Nature of State Parties’ Obligations, E/1991/23 (Dec. 14, 1990).

  21. 21.

    See, in particular, Katherine Young, “The Minimum Core of Economic and Social Rights: A Concept in Search of Content” Yale Journal of International Law 33 (2008): 113; Joshua Cohen, “Minimalism about Human Rights: The Most We Can Hope For?” The Journal of Political Philosophy 12, no. 2 (2004): 190–213. See also John Tasioulas, Minimum Core Obligations: Human Rights in the Here and Now (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2017).

  22. 22.

    Samuel Moyn, “Human Rights and the Crisis of Liberalism” in Stephen Hopgood et al. (eds.) Human Rights Futures (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017), 262.

  23. 23.

    Katherine G. Young, Constituting Economic and Social Rights (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 72.

  24. 24.

    Ibid., 72.

  25. 25.

    For a discussion of how the prioritization of civil and political rights over ESCR continues today, see Philip Alston, Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, A/HRC/32/31 (Apr. 28, 2016), para 8.

  26. 26.

    See John M. Howell, “Socioeconomic Dilemmas of U.S. Human Rights Policy” Human Rights Quarterly 3, no. 1 (1981): 78–92; see also 1979 special issue in International Studies Quarterly.

  27. 27.

    See, for a discussion, P. Alston, “U.S. Ratification of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: The Need for an Entirely New Strategy” American Journal of International Law 84, no. 2 (1990): 365.

  28. 28.

    UN General Assembly, Resolution 2542 (XXIV), Declaration on Social Progress and Development, proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 2542 (XXIV), A/RES/24/2542, (Dec. 11, 1969); for the repudiation, see http://undocs.org/A/C.3/42/SR.32.

  29. 29.

    Philip Alston, “Making Economic and Social Rights Count: A Strategy for the Future” The Political Quarterly 68, no. 2 (1997): 191.

  30. 30.

    See, for a discussion of Amnesty International, Jessica Whyte, “Humanizing Militarism: Amnesty International and the Tactical Polyvalence of Human Rights Discourse” in Anna Yeatman and Peg Birmingham, The Aporia of Rights: Explorations in Citizenship in the Era of Human Rights (Bloomsburg: Bloomsburg, 2014).

  31. 31.

    Ibid., 189.

  32. 32.

    Amnesty International, Human Rights for Human Dignity: A Primer on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, 2nd edition (London: Amnesty International British Section, 2014) 17.

  33. 33.

    One of the key proponents of this view was E. W. Vierdag, “The Legal Nature of the Rights Granted by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights” Netherlands Yearbook of International Law 9 (1978): 69–105; see, for a rebuttal, G. J. H. van Hoof, “The Legal Nature of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: a Rebuttal of Some Traditional Views” in P. Alston and K. Tomaševski (eds.), The Right to Food (Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1984), 97–110.

  34. 34.

    Vierdag, “The Legal Nature of the Rights”, 93.

  35. 35.

    Norman Hicks and Paul Streeten, “Indicators of Development: The Search for a Basic Needs Yardstick” World Development 7 (1979): 578–579.

  36. 36.

    Cited in Moyn, Not Enough, 132.

  37. 37.

    Mahbub Ul Haq, “The World Bank/IFC Archives: Oral History Program.” Transcript of Interview by Robert Asher, Dec. 3, 1983. Audio, http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/538481468338976295/pdf/790280TRN0Haq00iew0December03001982.pdf, 4.

  38. 38.

    Johan Galtung and Anders Wirak, “Human Needs and Human Rights: A Theoretical Approach” Security Dialogue 8, no. 3 (1977): 7.

  39. 39.

    Paul Streeten, “Basic Needs and Human Rights” World Development 8 (1980): 107.

  40. 40.

    Streeten, “Basic Needs and Human Rights” 111.

  41. 41.

    For a discussion of the history of the “basic needs” approach and its decline, see Julia Dehm, “Writing Inequality into the Histories of Human Rights”.

  42. 42.

    Philip Alston “Human Rights and Basic Needs: A Critical Assessment”, Human Rights Journal 12 (1979): 29.

  43. 43.

    Ibid., 23.

  44. 44.

    Moyn, Not Enough, 136.

  45. 45.

    Amartya Sen, Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981).

  46. 46.

    Amartya Sen, Equality of What? (The Tanner Lecture on Human Values delivered at Stanford University, 22 May 1979) http://www.ophi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Sen-1979_Equality-of-What.pdf; see also his 1982 Hennipman Lecture published as Amartya Sen, Commodities and Capabilities (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1987).

  47. 47.

    Amartya Sen, ‘Poor, Relatively Speaking’ Oxford Economic Papers 35 (1983): 161.

  48. 48.

    Asbjørn Eide, Arne Oshanug, Wenche Barth Eide “The Food Security and the Right to Food in International Law and Development” Transnational Legal and Contemporary Problems 1 (1991): 422, emphasis in original.

  49. 49.

    Bård-Anders Andreassen, Alan G. Smith, Hugo Stokke, “Compliance with Economic and Social Human Rights: Realistic Evaluations and Monitoring in Light of Immediate Obligations” in Asbjørn Eide and Bernt Hagtvet (eds.) Human Rights in Perspective: A Global Assessment (Blackwell, 1992), 259.

  50. 50.

    Henry Shue, Basic Rights: Subsistence, Affluence and U.S. Foreign Policy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980), 18.

  51. 51.

    Shue, Basic Rights, Preface, xi.

  52. 52.

    Moyn, Not Enough, 162.

  53. 53.

    Shue, Basic Rights, 52.

  54. 54.

    Shue, Basic Rights, chapter 2.

  55. 55.

    Bård-Anders Andreassen, Tor Skålnes, Alan G. Smith and Hugo Stokke, “Assessing Human Rights Performance in Developing Countries: The Case for a Minimal Threshold Approach to Economic and Social Rights” in Bård-Anders Andreassen and Asbjørn Eide (eds.) Human Rights in Developing Countries 1987/88: A Yearbook on Human Rights in Countries Receiving Nordic Aid (Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag, 1988), 338.

  56. 56.

    Ibid., 338, emphasis in original.

  57. 57.

    Andreassen et al., “Compliance with Economic and Social Human Rights”, 259.

  58. 58.

    Andreassen et al., “Assessing Human Rights Performance in Developing Countries”, 342.

  59. 59.

    Ibid., 338–339.

  60. 60.

    Asbjørn Eide, Report on the Right to Adequate Food as a Human Right, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1987/23 (Jul. 7, 1987), para 87.

  61. 61.

    International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted and opened for signature Dec. 16, 1966, entered into force Jan. 3, 1976, Article 11(2), emphasis added.

  62. 62.

    World Food Conference, Resolution 3/73, “World Food Security”, Rome, 10–29 November 1973.

  63. 63.

    Susan George, How the Other Half Dies: The Real Reasons for World Hunger (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1989).

  64. 64.

    World Food Conference, Resolution 3/75 “Implementation of the New International Economic Order within the Ambit of the FAO” and Resolution 9/75 “Strategy of International Agricultural Adjustment”, Rome, 8–27 November 1975.

  65. 65.

    World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, “Declaration of Principles”, Rome, 12–20 July 1979.

  66. 66.

    Peter G. Brown and Henry Shue, “Introduction” in Peter G. Brown and Henry Shue (eds.) Food Policy: The Responsibility of the United States in Life and Death Choices (London: The Free Press, 1977), 2; see also UN General Assembly, Resolution 3180 (XXVIII) “The Declaration of the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition”, A/RES/3180 (XXVIII), (Dec. 17, 1974).

  67. 67.

    Thomas Nagel, “Poverty and Food: Why Charity Is Not Enough,” in Food Policy: The Responsibility of the United States in the Life and Death Choices, ed. Peter G. Brown and Henry Shue (New York: Free Press, 1977), 54.

  68. 68.

    Independent Commission on International Development Issues, North-South, A Programme for Survival: Report of the Independent Commission on International Development Issues (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1980); on the Brandt Commission, see also Umut Özsu, “Neoliberalism and Human Rights: The Brandt Commission and the Struggle for a New World” Law and Contemporary Problems 81 (2018): 139–165.

  69. 69.

    See Asbjørn Eide, Preparatory document on the relationship between the enjoyment of human rights, in particular, economic, social and cultural rights and income distribution, prepared by Mr. Asbjørn Eide, in accordance with Sub-Commission resolution 1993/40, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1994/21 (5 July 1994); Asbjørn Eide, “Rights of indigenous peoples—achievements in international law during the last quarter of a century” Netherlands Yearbook of International Law 37 (2016) 115–212; Asbjørn Eide “An overview of the UN Declaration and major issues involved” in Ugo Caruso & Rainer Hofmann (eds.), The United Nations Declaration on Minorities: an academic account on the occasion of its 20th anniversary (1992–2012) (Leiden: Brill Nijhoff, 2015).

  70. 70.

    “International Congress of Nutrition” United Nations University, accessed Jul. 4, 2018, http://archive.unu.edu/unupress/food/8F042e/8F042E08.htm.

  71. 71.

    See Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities resolution 1982/7; Commission on Human Rights resolution 1983/16; Economic and Social Council decision 1983/140.

  72. 72.

    Alston and K. Tomaševski (eds.), The Right to Food, 5.

  73. 73.

    Asbjørn Eide and Wenche Barth Eide (eds.), Food as a Human Right (Shibuya: United Nations University Press, 1984).

  74. 74.

    Ibid., vii.

  75. 75.

    Asbjørn Eide “The New International Economic Order and the Promotion of Human Rights—Report on the right to adequate food as a human right submitted by Mr. Asbjørn Eide, Special Rapporteur”, E.CN.4/Sub.2/1987/23 (Jul. 7, 1987), para 40.

  76. 76.

    Asbjørn Eide, “The New International Economic Order and the Promotion of Human Rights—Study on the Right to Adequate Food as a Human Right” (Preliminary Report), E/CN.4/Sub.2/1983/25 (Jul. 25, 1983); Asbjørn Eide, “The New International Economic Order and the Promotion of Human Rights—Study on the Right to Food as a Human Right” (Progress Report), E/CN.4/Sub.2/1984/22 (Oct. 19, 1984) and its two addenda: E/CN.4/Sub.2/1984/22/Add.1 (29 June 1984) and E/CN.4/Sub.2/1984/22/Add.2 (3 July 1984); Asbjørn Eide, “The New International Economic Order—Progress Report on the right to adequate food as a human right”, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1985/23 (Jul. 29, 1985).

  77. 77.

    See Asbjørn Eide “Report on the right to adequate food as a human right (1987); subsequently Eide also acknowledged the input of both Philip Alston and Wenche Barth Eide “whose contributions left a major imprint on the study” (Eide, “Realization of Social and Economic Rights and the Minimum Threshold Approach”, 35, fn 1).

  78. 78.

    Eide, “Study on the Right to Adequate Food as a Human Right” (1983), para 6.

  79. 79.

    Eide, “Study on the Right to Adequate Food as a Human Right” (1984).

  80. 80.

    Eide “Report on the Right to Adequate Food as a Human Right” (1987), para 7.

  81. 81.

    Eide, “Study on the Right to Adequate Food as a Human Right” (Addendum II) (1984), para 3.

  82. 82.

    Eide, “Report on the Right to Adequate Food as a Human Right” (1987), para 47.

  83. 83.

    Eide “Report on the Right to Adequate Food as a Human Right” (1987), para 56, emphasis in original.

  84. 84.

    Ibid., para 170–174.

  85. 85.

    Ibid., para 175–179.

  86. 86.

    Ibid., para 180–181.

  87. 87.

    Ibid., para 71–72.

  88. 88.

    Ibid., para 72.

  89. 89.

    Ibid., para 195, emphasis in original.

  90. 90.

    Human Rights Commission, Resolution 1985/42 “Question of the realization in all countries of the economic, social and cultural rights contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and a study on the special problems that the developing countries face in their efforts to achieve these human rights” E/CN.4/1985/66 (Dec. 13, 1985), 86–87.

  91. 91.

    UN Economic and Social Council, Sub-Commission resolution 1988/22, ‘Report of the Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities on its Fortieth Session’, E/CN.4/1989/3, (Oct. 25, 1988).

  92. 92.

    Economic and Social Council, Resolution 1985/17, “Review of the composition, organization and administrative arrangements of the Sessional Working Group of Governmental Experts on the Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights” E/RES/1985/17, (May 28, 1985); see also Philip Alston, “Out of the Abyss: The Challenges Confronting the New U.N. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights” Human Rights Quarterly 9, no. 3 (1987): 332.

  93. 93.

    See “Introduction—Symposium: The Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights” Human Rights Quarterly 9, no. 2 (1987): 121; as well as “The Limburg Principles on the Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights”; E. V. O. Dankwa and Cees Flinterman, “Commentary by the Rapporteurs on the Nature and Scope of the State Parties’ Obligations”; David Harris, “Commentary by the Rapporteur on the Consideration of States Parties’ Reports and International Co-operation” from the same volume.

  94. 94.

    “The Limburg Principles on the Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights”, Principle 6.

  95. 95.

    Ibid., Principle 7 and 8.

  96. 96.

    Ibid., Principle 25.

  97. 97.

    Ibid., Principle 72.

  98. 98.

    Alston, “Out of the Abyss”, 352.

  99. 99.

    Ibid.

  100. 100.

    Ibid., 352–353.

  101. 101.

    Ibid., 353.

  102. 102.

    T. Campbell et al. (eds.), Human Rights: From Rhetoric to Reality (New York: Basil Blackwell, 1986).

  103. 103.

    E. Örücü, “The Core of Rights and Freedoms: The Limit of Limits” in ibid., 37.

  104. 104.

    Ibid., 45.

  105. 105.

    Ibid., 37, 55; note this is cited in P. Alston, “Out of the Abyss” at 352, fn 138.

  106. 106.

    Andreassen et al., “Assessing Human Rights Performance in Developing Countries”, 333.

  107. 107.

    Ivar Kolstad and Hugo Stokke, “Rights with Bite: 20 years of Human Rights Research at the Chr. Michelsen Institute” in Ivar Kolstad and Hugo Stokke (eds.) Writing Rights: Human Rights Research at the Chr. Michelsen Institute 1984–2004 (Bergen: Fagbokforlaget, 2005), 2.

  108. 108.

    Ibid., 2.

  109. 109.

    Ibid., 3.

  110. 110.

    Ibid., 9.

  111. 111.

    Bård-Anders Andreassen, Alan G. Smith, Hugo Stokke, “Compliance with Economic and Social Human Rights: Realistic Evaluations and Monitoring in Light of Immediate Obligations” in Asbjørn Eide and Bernt Hagtvet (eds.) Human Rights in Perspective: A Global Assessment (Blackwell, 1992), 315, fn 17.

  112. 112.

    Alan G. Smith, “Human Rights and Choice in Poverty” Journal of Social Studies (Dacca) 32 (1986): 44–78, 44.

  113. 113.

    Ibid., 45.

  114. 114.

    Ibid., 45–46, emphasis in original.

  115. 115.

    Ibid., 45.

  116. 116.

    Ibid., emphasis in original.

  117. 117.

    Andreassen et al., “Compliance with Economic and Social Human Rights”, 259; see also Alan G. Smith, Human Rights and Choice in Poverty: Food Insecurity, Dependency, and Human Rights-Based Development Aid for the Third World Rural Poor (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 1997).

  118. 118.

    Andreassen et al., “Compliance with Economic and Social Human Rights”, 260, emphasis in original.

  119. 119.

    Andreassen et al., “Assessing Human Rights Performance in Developing Countries”, 333.

  120. 120.

    Ibid., 334.

  121. 121.

    Ibid., emphasis in original.

  122. 122.

    Ibid., 338–339, emphasis in original.

  123. 123.

    Ibid., 337.

  124. 124.

    Ibid., 337–338.

  125. 125.

    Ibid., 340, emphasis in original.

  126. 126.

    Ibid., 341.

  127. 127.

    Ibid., 341, emphasis in original.

  128. 128.

    Ibid., 341–342.

  129. 129.

    Ibid., 342.

  130. 130.

    Ibid., 342.

  131. 131.

    Ibid., 343.

  132. 132.

    Daniel Lack, “Human Rights and the Disadvantaged” Human Rights Law Journal 10 nos. 1–2 (1989) 53.

  133. 133.

    Asbjørn Eide, “Realization of Social and Economic Rights and the Minimum Threshold Approach” Human Rights Law Journal 10, no. 1–2 (1989): 35.

  134. 134.

    Ibid., 44, emphasis in original.

  135. 135.

    Ibid.

  136. 136.

    Ibid.

  137. 137.

    Ibid.

  138. 138.

    Ibid.

  139. 139.

    Ibid.

  140. 140.

    Ibid.

  141. 141.

    Ibid., 45.

  142. 142.

    Ibid., 46.

  143. 143.

    Ibid., 47.

  144. 144.

    Ibid.

  145. 145.

    Ibid.

  146. 146.

    Lack, “Human Rights and the Disadvantaged”, 54.

  147. 147.

    Ibid., 55.

  148. 148.

    Ibid.

  149. 149.

    Danilo Türk, “The New International Economic Order and the Promotion of Human Rights: Realization of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights”, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1989/19 (Jun. 28, 1989).

  150. 150.

    Ibid., para 31. However, the main focus of his report was on structural adjustment and the reality of extreme poverty as “broad socio-economic phenomena” that generate “adverse effects on the realization of these rights” (para 53).

  151. 151.

    Philip Alston and Bruno Simma, “First Session of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights” American Journal of International Law 81, no. 3 (1987): 749.

  152. 152.

    Ibid.

  153. 153.

    Ibid., 755.

  154. 154.

    Philip Alston and Bruno Simma, “Second Session of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights” American Journal of International Law 82, no. 3 (1988): 603–604.

  155. 155.

    Ibid., 604.

  156. 156.

    Ibid., 604.

  157. 157.

    Ibid., 605.

  158. 158.

    Danilo Türk, “The Realization of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Final Report” E/CN.4/Sub.2/1992/16 (Jul. 3, 1992).

  159. 159.

    Ibid., para 84; see also paras 76–84.

  160. 160.

    Ibid., para 35.

  161. 161.

    Ibid., para 91.

  162. 162.

    Ibid., para 35.

  163. 163.

    Ibid., para 35.

  164. 164.

    Ibid., para 35.

  165. 165.

    Ibid., para 35.

  166. 166.

    Ibid., para 35.

  167. 167.

    Ibid., para 34.

  168. 168.

    See Audrey R. Chapman, “A ‘Violations Approach’ for Monitoring the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights” Human Rights Quarterly 18, no. 1 (1996): 23.

  169. 169.

    For a discussion of debates about economics, debt and inequality at the end of the Cold War, see Julia Dehm, “Rupture and Continuity: North/South Struggles Over Debt and Economic Co-operation at the End of the Cold War” in Sundhya Pahuja, Matthew Craven and Gerry Simpson (eds.) Cold War International Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming).

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    Julia Dehm

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  1. School of Culture and Society, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark

    Christian Olaf Christiansen

  2. The Danish Institute for Human Rights, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Steven L. B. Jensen

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Dehm, J. (2019). “A Pragmatic Compromise between the Ideal and the Realistic”: Debates over Human Rights, Global Distributive Justice and Minimum Core Obligations in the 1980s. In: Christiansen, C.O., Jensen, S.L.B. (eds) Histories of Global Inequality. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19163-4_7

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-19163-4

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