Article

Economic, social and cultural rights in armed conflict : international human rights law and international humanitarian law

Elizabeth Mottershaw

• The international journal of human rights, Vol. 12, no. 3, June 2008, p. 449-470

English

Photocopies

The author considers the ways in which economic, social and cultural rights are protected during conflict. She contends these rights “have largely been absent from debate” in the wartime context. The author explains how the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) applies to parties during wartime. This is grounded in the ‘General Comments’ made by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), the body of experts that monitors the implementation of the ICESCR. The evidence supports the applicability of the Covenant during wartime both within the territory of the parties and, possibly, extraterritorially. The author highlights how various obligations arising under international human rights law and IHL may help to ensure the norms in the ICESCR are enforced in wartime. With respect to water, for example, international human rights law provides for ‘minimum’ and ‘core’ obligations relating to state action and the right to water. While IHL contains few explicit provisions relating specifically to water, provisions relating to targeting and acceptable means and methods of engaging in warfare provide implicit protections. IHL provisions banning the use of poison and prohibiting the destruction of property may also be cited as providing indirect protection for water rights. [Summary by students at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law (IHRP)]