Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

The United States has not ratified the International Convention on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). We think it should, and we think a bumper crop of great things will follow for the American people, and the American economy.

The economic social, and cultural rights guaranteed by countries that have ratified ICESCR are: rights to adequate food, adequate housing, health, education, social security, to take part in cultural life, water, sanitation, and to work.

Simply put, there are things which a purely Capitalist society cannot provide, and never will provide. Capitalism requires poverty, the disposessed, those without wealth. Capitalism when it relates to the housing market for example, provides housing at the market rate, which means those that canot afford housing at the market rate have nowhere to live. That’s where the state comes in.

Across the United States, homelessness is a major issue, particularly in sunny states with excellent welfare programs such as California. Homeless enclaves grow, and Capitalism doesn’t have an answer. There is an unusual exception however. New York City, the largest city in the United States, has one of the lowest rates of street homelessness in the country.

There could be several reasons for this, but one thing is for sure: New York residents enjoy a Right to Shelter. The Right to Shelter is essentially a right to housing, and New York City housing standards essentially make it so the housing that people receive meets a relatively good standard of adequacy.

The right to shelter system in NYC is a hodgepodge of different overlapping benefits programs, city, state, and federal agencies, and is largely propelled by the fact that it is cheaper to provide housing vouchers for people than it is to keep them in homeless shelters.

Additionally, NYC has a robust and large-scale rent-stabilization law, which protects millions of housing units in the city. Every year, tenants in rent stabilized units can only have their rent increased by pre-approved amounts, tenants are legally entitled to lease renewals, and can only be evicted for good cause shown.

This effectively means that for millions of hard-working, blue collar New Yorkers, their housing status is practically stress-free.

The Rent Stabilization system and the Right to Shelter System are both very complex and rife with flaws. The Right to Shelter system specifically is a hodgepodge of overlapping local, state, and federal benefits and agencies, and is chronically underfunded and short-staffed. We see this as clear opportunity for improvement, not evidence of failure.

The Right to Housing in ICESCR is essentially a right to shelter. All other rights in UNESCR should essentially be seen in the same way as the right to shelter. Rights create affirmative obligations upon the state, and state responses are designed to comply with legal obligations. Food becomes accessible to those that need it. Education, healthcare, retirement security.

The right to work is a little different. The right to work is not a guarantee that the state provide each person with a job. According general comment 18 on the ICESCR, the right to work means states recognize:

“the right to work, which includes the right of everyone to the opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or accepts, and will take appropriate steps to safeguard this right”. In paragraph 2, States parties recognize that “to achieve the full realization of this right” the steps to be taken “shall include technical and vocational guidance and training programmes, policies and techniques to achieve steady economic, social and cultural development and full and productive employment, under conditions safeguarding fundamental political and economic freedoms to the individual”

It means nobody gets left behind. It means everyone has value, and where Capitalism fails people, the state will ensure that they have the tools at their disposal to re-enter the work force, and reach their full potential, with the full freedom to choose what to do, and how to do it.

Economic, Social, and Cultural rights are the bedrock of what it means to be a Social Democracy. Policies that mimic the affirmative obligations of Economic Social and Cultural Rights, or ESC policies, can be cobbled together to effectively provide what ICESCR would legally require, which is a good thing. However, the long term stability, survivability, and effectiveness of ESC policies would be best secured by making ESCR the law of the land.

There is a long way to go for ICESCR to be ratified in the United States, since even if Congress and the President were to ratify the treaty, there is nothing stopping the reactionary Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) from simply striking it down. As it currently stands, it is unlikely that this SCOTUS would find that the Congress can legislatively create affirmative rights that support ESC. However, a friendly SCOTUS might find that the U.S. constitution does create ESC rights, and that the Congress can ratify the ICESCR in line with the Constitution.

In the meantime, we fight to advance policies that mimic ESC policies, and we push to take back SCOTUS, COTUS, and POTUS.