Full Description
Half a century ago, on 16 December 1966, the UN General Assembly adopted the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). While the adoption of the two UN human rights covenants was celebrated all over the world, their 50th anniversary has received very little attention from the international community. The present book marks this anniversary by taking stock of the first half-century of the existence of what are probably the world's two most important human rights treaties. It does so by reflecting on what the covenants have achieved (or failed to achieve) in the years that have passed, by determining and comparing their current influence in the various regions of the world, and by assessing their potential roles in the future.
The book contains papers that were presented during a symposium held in Zurich in 2016, which brought together experts and stakeholders from a range of disciplines and world regions. Some fundamental issues that are addressed by the contributors are as old as the two covenants themselves. They concern, for example, the division of human rights into first- and second-generation rights, and the question of whether there should be one central monitoring body - possibly a world court - or more than just one. However, the contributors go beyond such questions that have been explored before; they develop new answers to old questions and point to new challenges.
Contents
1: Helen Keller and Daniel Moeckli: Introduction
Part I: The Past: What Have the Covenants (Not) Achieved?
2: Maya Hertig Randall: The History of the Covenants: Looking Back Half a Century and Beyond
3: Gerald Neuman: Giving Meaning and Effect to Human Rights: The Contributions of Human Rights Committee Members
4: Daniel Moeckli: Interpretation of the ICESCR: Between Morality and State Consent
5: Patrick Mutzenberg: The Role of NGOs in the Implementation of the Covenants
Part II: The Present: What Is the Influence of the Covenants?
6: Manisuli Ssenyonjo: Influence of the ICESCR in Africa
7: Basak Çali: Influence of the ICCPR in the Middle East
8: Mónica Pinto and Martin Sigal: Influence of the ICESCR in the Americas
9: Yogesh Tyagi: Influence of the ICCPR in Asia
10: Amrei Müller: Influence of the ICESCR in Europe
11: Samantha Besson: The Influence of the Two Covenants on States Parties Across Regions: Lessons for the Role of Comparative Law and of Regions in International Human Rights Law
Part III: The Future: What Should Become of the Covenants?
12: Stephen Humphreys: The Covenants in the Light of Anthropogenic Climate Change
13: Christine Kaufmann: The Covenants and Financial Crises
14: Felice Gaer: The Institutional Future of the Covenants: A World Court for Human Rights?
