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New Reflections on Humankind as a Subject of International Law Read chapter Read first chapter

2021 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

TWAILing the Minimum Core Concept: Re-thinking the Minimum Core of Economic and Social Rights in the Third World

Author : Caroline Omari Lichuma

Published in: Nigerian Yearbook of International Law 2018/2019

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

The deployment of the minimum core concept in the sphere of Economic and Social Rights (hereinafter ESRs) can be attributed to the treaty body charged with the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic and Social Rights (hereinafter ICESCR). This treaty body, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (hereinafter CESCR) first adopted the minimum core concept in 1990 in its General Comment No. 3 on the Nature of State Obligations [UNCESCR, General Comment No. 3: The Nature of State Parties’ Obligations (Art. 2, Para. 1 of the Covenant), 14 December 1990, E/1991/23 (Hereinafter General Comment No. 3)]. The Committee averred that a failure on their part to introduce such a minimum core obligation would have amounted to depriving the ICESCR of its raison d’être. Since the inception of this concept however, numerous criticisms have been levelled against its normative and conceptual foundations as well as its implementation in practice. This article intends to contribute to this critical reflection on the prospects and challenges of the minimum core concept by utilizing a Third World Approaches to International Law (Hereinafter TWAIL) lens to critique the application of the concept to the Third World. The Article is divided into five sections. Sections 1 and 2 briefly sketch the contours of TWAIL as a critical school of thought, and focus on highlighting its application particularly in the area of international human rights law. Section 3 thereafter takes up the task of tracing the origins and utilization of the minimum core concept by the CESCR in its assessment of compliance with the ICESCR. The penultimate Sect. 4 undertakes an ambitious critical analysis of the minimum core concept from a TWAIL perspective. The paper concludes with Sect. 5 which offers a reconceptualized application of the minimum core concept potentially capable of alleviating the TWAIL concerns raised in earlier sections of the paper.

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previous chapter The Law’s Response to the Plight of Victims of Trauma in the Context of International Criminal Justice
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Footnotes
1
Mutua (2000b), pp. 31–39.
 
2
Gathii (2011), p. 26.
 
3
Ibid.
 
4
Ibid.
 
5
Okafor (2005).
 
6
Mutua (2000a), p. 841.
 
7
Young (2008), pp. 113–175.
 
8
Ibid.
 
9
Ibid.
 
10
See the bibliography given in Gathii (2011).
 
11
Okafor (2014), pp. 9–105.
 
12
Mutua (2000a).
 
13
Ibid.
 
14
UN General Assembly, Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, 12 July 1993, A/CONF.157/23, available online: https://​www.​refworld.​org/​docid/​3ae6b39ec.​html.
 
15
Langford (2008).
 
16
Alston (2008).
 
17
Young (2008).
 
18
Mutua and Anghie (2000), pp. 31–40.
 
19
Ibid.
 
20
Anghie and Chimni (2003), pp. 77–103.
 
21
Mickelson (1998), p. 375.
 
22
Anghie and Chimni (2003).
 
23
Badaru (2008), pp. 379–387.
 
24
Ibid.
 
25
Ibid.
 
26
Ibid.
 
27
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General Comment No. 3: The Nature of States Parties’ Obligations (Art. 2, Para. 1, of the Covenant), 14 December 1990, para. 10.
 
28
Chowdhury (2009).
 
29
Badaru (2008).
 
30
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General Comment No. 3: The Nature of States Parties’ Obligations (Art. 2, Para. 1, of the Covenant), 14 December 1990 paragraph 10.
 
31
Ibid.
 
32
Young (2008).
 
33
Chowdhury (2009).
 
34
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General Comment No. 12: The Right to Adequate Food (Art. 11 of the Covenant), 12 May 1999, paragraph 6.
 
35
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General Comment No. 12: The Right to Adequate Food (Art. 11 of the Covenant), 12 May 1999, paragraph 8.
 
36
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General Comment No. 13: The Right to Education (Art. 13 of the Covenant), 8 December 1999 paragraph 13.
 
37
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General Comment No. 14: The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health (Art. 12 of the Covenant), 11 August 2000 paragraph 43 and 44.
 
38
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General Comment No. 15: The Right to Water (Arts. 11 and 12 of the Covenant), 20 January 2003 paragraph 37.
 
39
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant: concluding observations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Kenya, 19 November 2008, E/C.12/KEN/CO/1.
 
40
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant: concluding observations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: the Kingdom of Netherlands, 9 December 2010, E/C.12/NLD/CO/4-5.
 
41
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), Concluding observations on the 4th report of Iceland, adopted by the Committee at its 49th session, 12–30 November 2012: Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 11 December 2012, E/C.12/ISL/CO/4.
 
42
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report of Ukraine, 13 June 2014, E/C.12/UKR/CO/6.
 
43
Chairperson of the CESCR, Letter Dated 16 May 2012 Addressed by the Chairperson of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to States Parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2012) UN Doc HRC/NONE/2012/76, UN reference CESCR/48th/SP/MAB/SW.
 
44
Max (2013), p. 10.
 
45
Ibid.
 
46
Wesson (2012), p. 221 at 242.
 
47
Government of Republic of South Africa v Grootboom, 2001 (1) SA 46 (CC) para. 24.
 
48
Minister of Health v Treatment Action Campaign (No. 2) 2002 (5) SA 721 (CC) para 26.
 
49
Young (2008).
 
50
Ibid.
 
51
Badaru (2008).
 
52
Okafor (2014).
 
53
Chimni (2006), p. 5.
 
54
Ibid.
 
55
Ibid.
 
56
Brand and Russel (2008).
 
57
Limburg Principles on the Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Annex, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/1987/17 (June 2–6, 1986).
 
58
Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, U.N. Doc. E/C.12/2000/13.
 
59
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General Comment No. 12: The Right to Adequate Food (Art. 11 of the Covenant), 12 May 1999, paragraph 6.
 
60
Development Policy and Analysis Division (DPAD) of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat (UN/DESA), World Economic Situation and Prospects, 2012.
 
61
Young (2008).
 
62
Ibid.
 
63
Waldron (2009).
 
64
Shue (1996).
 
65
Sen (1981).
 
66
Young (2008).
 
67
Sen (1992).
 
68
Young (2008).
 
69
Id.
 
70
Leckie (1989), pp. 522–560.
 
71
Bolivar and Gonzalez (2000).
 
72
Young (2008).
 
73
Alston (1992).
 
74
Young (2008).
 
75
Ibid.
 
76
Benvenisti (1999), p. 843.
 
77
Young (2008).
 
78
Ibid.
 
79
Ibid.
 
80
Ibid.
 
81
Ibid.
 
82
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, para. 6 (Jan. 1997).
 
83
Ibid. para 7.
 
84
Ibid.
 
85
Melish (2006), p. 171.
 
86
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General Comment No. 3: The Nature of States Parties’ Obligations (Art. 2, Para. 1, of the Covenant), 14 December 1990, E/1991/23.
 
87
Young (2008).
 
88
Waldron (1985).
 
89
Young (2008).
 
90
Badaru (2008).
 
91
Chimni (2006).
 
92
Kelsen (1997).
 
93
Ibid.
 
94
Flores (2011).
 
95
Hart (2012).
 
96
Ibid.
 
97
Hart (1957), pp. 593–629.
 
98
Hart (2012).
 
99
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General Comment No. 3: The Nature of States Parties’ Obligations (Art. 2, Para. 1, of the Covenant), 14 December 1990.
 
100
Young (2008).
 
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Metadata
Title
TWAILing the Minimum Core Concept: Re-thinking the Minimum Core of Economic and Social Rights in the Third World
Author
Caroline Omari Lichuma
Copyright Year
2021
Book
Nigerian Yearbook of International Law 2018/2019

Print ISBN: 978-3-030-69593-4

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-69594-1

Copyright Year: 2021

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69594-1_12