Projects
Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
Philip Alston, Mary Robinson (former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights), and James Wolfensohn (then president of the World Bank) talk during a conference on the relationship between human rights and development issues.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes rights to food, housing and education alongside rights to liberty, freedom of expression, and equal protection of the law. However, the "civil and political rights" have often been favored while the "economic, social and cultural rights" have been neglected.
The Center aims to correct this imbalance by analyzing problems of implementation at the national level, examining the roles played by institutional actors within the international community, and fostering dialogue between the development and human rights communities. The Center has undertaken a number of projects to achieve these priorities, including:
- conducting a major project on the human rights accountability of transnational corporations and international organizations, which resulted in an edited volume, Non-State Actors and Human Rights
- being involved in efforts to promote the realization of the United Nations-endorsed Millennium Development Goals. In 2002 the Center’s Faculty Director and Chair, Philip Alston, was appointed by the late Sergio Vieira de Mello as Special Adviser to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, and his representative on the Millennium Project Task Force on Poverty and Economic Development, chaired by Prof. Jeffrey Sachs. To contribute to this process, the Center organized a workshop on Human Rights and Development: Towards Mutual Reinforcement.
Prof. Margaret Satterthwaite conducts right to water study at Twa Rivye, Port-de-Paix,Haiti.
- highlighting labor rights and the rights of migrants as core human rights issues. Center activities have emphasized the intersection of labor rights and women’s rights by focusing on migrant domestic workers. In October 2005, the Center co-sponsored, along with Global Rights, a general interest hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights concerning the rights of migrant domestic workers in the United States. Faculty Director Margaret Satterthwaite on the right to a remedy, which is frequently violated in relation to domestic workers who are employed by diplomats and others enjoying immunities before national courts. Professor Satterthwaite also presented on the same issue during the 2005 U.N. Human Rights Commission as the legal adviser to a delegation of domestic workers. In 2005, the Center completed a project examining labor rights as human rights; this project culminated in the volume, Labour Rights as Human Rights, edited by Center Faculty Director and Chair Philip Alston. The Center’s Working Paper series also includes several papers focusing on migrant’s rights and on labor rights as human rights.
- promoting a move beyond abstract discussions about the concept of economic and social rights to study of the ways in which specific rights can be given effect at the national level. A number of the papers included in our Working Paper series, many of which were written by Center members and former students, address the implementation of particular rights, including education, food, health, and housing
HIGHLIGHT
CHRGJ Expands its Focus on the Right to Water (2008)
During the 2007-08 academic year, the International Human Rights Clinic at NYU School of Law’s CHRGJ took on several key projects aimed at expanding its focus on economic, social, and cultural rights, with particular emphasis on the right to water as a basic human right. The projects benefitted richly from close collaborations with partner organizations and engaged a broad range of methodologies. Click here to view some highlights.
REPORT
Rights Groups Launch Groundbreaking Report on Right to Water in Haiti
Groups Allege U.S. and the IDB Violated Rights by Obstructing Vital Water Projects
(NEW YORK, June 23, 2008)—Lack of access to clean water in Haiti has devastating health consequences and constitutes a clear violation of Haitians’ right to water according to both domestic and international legal obligations, claims a new report released today by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ), Partners In Health (PIH), the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center (RFK Center), and Zanmi Lasante. The release of the report, “Wňch nan Soley: The Denial of the Right to Water in Haiti,” comes just months after public outrage over rising food prices led to a full-blown political crisis in Haiti.
The 87-page report—which combines health and water data gathered on the ground in Haiti, legal analysis, and discussion of the historical context—presents the findings of a joint project conducted by the groups, who worked together to research, author, and release it. The groups used human rights and public health methodologies to assess the right to water in Haiti by surveying community members, testing water sources, and meeting with community leaders and government officials.
Report Launch (June 23, 2008)
NEW
REPORT
Business: Rights at Risk in the Global Economy
Companies Harm Human Rights Worldwide
(New York, February 19, 2008) – People in countries across the world are regularly harmed when businesses fail to respect basic human rights, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at New York University School of Law.
The clear evidence of widespread abuse and government inaction detailed in the report shows that global standards are needed to ensure that corporate conduct respects internationally recognized human rights.
The 53-page report, On the Margins of Profit: Rights at Risk in the Global Economy, was jointly prepared by Human Rights Watch and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice. It illustrates how everyday business decisions have significant implications for the human rights of workers, local communities, suppliers, and consumers.
