Adjudicating Socio-Economic Rights

These reports and policy briefs document the lecture and presentations at a conference that brought together our Social Contract and Courts programmes to examine the role that courts can play in shaping socio-economic rights.

The report describes the South African experience, as related by Chief Justice Pius Langa, in which socio-economic rights are succesfully enshrined in the constitution and upheld by constitutional courts. Other areas covered by the policy briefs include the effect of international human rights treaties on socio-economic rights legislation, constitutional socio-economic rights in Central Europe, and court involvement in upholding the right to health and the right to housing.