Full Description
Recognized as early as 1948, the right to benefit from progress in science and its applications (known more succinctly as "the right to science") has long confounded international legal scholars and practitioners. While it is key to properly framing the relationship between science, technology, and society, the right to science continues to be poorly understood and very rarely invoked by those who could benefit from it.
The Human Right to Science: History, Development, and Normative Content offers a thorough and systematic analysis of this pivotal human right. After discussing the aims, methodology, and key definitions, the book examines the historical origins of the right to science, from the American Declaration of Human Rights to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. It then turns to mapping the development of the right within the United Nations system (including UNESCO) and its spread to regional regimes. Finally, the book breaks down the normative content of the right to science into twenty-two distinct rights, grouped in four clusters: the right to scientific progress, to responsible scientific progress, to participate in scientific progress, and to benefit from scientific progress. For each, the book describes in detail the legal basis, content, corresponding obligations, and indicators. The book closes by recommending the adoption of a Science Treaty to fully realize the potential that the human rights framework can offer to the regulation of science and technology.
Authored by two leading experts in international law and science policy, The Human Right to Science meticulously explores the right's origins, development, and normative content. In doing so, it uncovers previously unarticulated entitlements and obligations, offering new insights on human rights interconnections.
Contents
Part I: Aims, Methodology and Definitions
Chapter 1: Methodology and Definitions
Part II: The History of the Right to Science
Chapter 2: From the American Declaration to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Chapter 3: From the Universal Declaration to the Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
Part III: Mapping the Right to Science in Law
Chapter 4: The UN and the Right to Science
Chapter 5: UNESCO and the Right to Science
Chapter 6: Regional Human Rights Regimes and the Right to Science
Chapter 7: The Right to Science in National Constitutions
Part IV: The Normative Content of the Right to Science
Chapter 8: Finding the Normative Content of the Right to Science: An Introduction
Chapter 9: The Right to Scientific Progress and to Scientific Freedom
Chapter 10: The Right to Responsible Scientific Progress (Scientific Responsibility)
Chapter 11: The Right to Participate in Scientific Progress
Chapter 12: The Right to Benefit from Scientific Progress
Part V: Conclusions
Chapter 13: The Future of the Right to Science
