Socio-Economic Justice through Human Rights (GCHumanRights)

In recent decades, we have witnessed a multitude of increasingly urgent demands for social and economic justice whereby every human being should have equal access to health, well-being, wealth and opportunity. If “the age of rights” propelled some hopes in that direction, a series of recent global crises (financial, environmental, socio-political and medical) have instead propelled anxiety, reinforced inequalities, inflamed cleavages and negatively affected economic growth and social development.

We take the view that it is in times of crisis that human rights become more important and transformative. Far from being resolved, the current crises actually offer the opportunity to reclaim a fundamental role for the promotion, protection and implementation of human rights. From equality between women and men to dignified living and working conditions, from social movements to attempts at radical participatory democracy, from social protection to education, many are the areas where a rights-based approach - and socio-economic rights in particular - can and should intertwine with economic and social justice. Good practices and case-law already exist that call for a more attentive study of how social and economic justice can be enhanced through human rights.

Course Outline

The course runs over 4 weeks and is organised in 2 modules:

Module 1 introduces a rights-based approach to socio-economic justice, with a focus on legal, political and social perspectives on rights, justice and equality.

Module 2 is dedicated to Socio-Economic Justice through human rights in practice and aims to suggest ways forward by looking at specific themes and rights such as poverty, gender, education, socio-economic justice for children.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course participants will have gained:

- Knowledge about key international standards, documents and initiatives on a rights-based approach to socio-economic justice

- Understanding of progress and obstacles in the implementation of such standards

- Ability to identify multi-faceted aspects of current debates on the link between socio-economic justice and human rights

- Capacity to discuss specific issues and rights from a theoretical and practical perspective

- Awareness of multiple avenues for accountability and redress, as well as support for rights-based changes in the fight for socio-economic justice