Group 2

Block 2A10

Prepared by:

Jay Mar A. Catabay

Lean Carlo E .Sibal
Roselyn A. Callueng
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Second Generation of Rights)
Second-generation of human rights are related to equality and began to be recognized
by governments after World War II. They are fundamentally economic, social, and
cultural in nature. They guarantee different members of the citizenry equal conditions
and treatment. Secondary rights would include a right to be employed in just and
favorable condition, rights to food, housing and health care, as well as social security
and unemployment benefits. Like first-generation rights, they were also covered by the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and further embodied in Articles 22 to 28 of the
Universal Declaration, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and
Cultural Rights.

Economic Rights
Economic rights protected by the ICESCR include the rights to work, to receive a fair
wage, safe working conditions, and to form and join trade unions.

Social Rights
Social rights protected by the ICESCR include the rights to social security, protection of
the family, an adequate standard of living (including freedom from hunger, access to
clean water, adequate housing, and protection of property), and mental and physical
health.

Cultural Rights
Cultural rights protected by the ICESCR include the rights to education, to take part in
cultural life, to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress, and copyright and trademark
protections.

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)

ICESCR is an international human rights treaty adopted in 1966. It ensures the
enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights, including the rights to education, fair
and just conditions of work, an adequate standard of living, the highest attainable
standard of health, and social security.
Article 1 of the ICESCR states that “all people have the right of self-determination. By
virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their
economic, social and cultural development.” The right of self-determination has two
components: external and internal. “External self-determination” can be thought of as
international self-determination, because it refers to peoples’ right to determine their
political status and their “place in the international community” based upon the principle
of equal rights and freedom from colonialism, “alien subjugation, domination, and
exploitation.” “Internal self-determination” can be thought of as self-determination within
the domestic sphere, because it refers to the right to freely pursue economic, social and
cultural development free from outside interference. Consequently, the right to
development is integral to the right of internal self-determination.

Protected Rights
1. The Right to Work
 Article 6 of the ICESCR protects the right to work, which is the opportunity to gain
a living by work that one freely chooses or accepts.
 States are encouraged to develop technical and vocational guidance and training
programs, along with policies that facilitate access to employment.
 The right to work does not require the State to employ individuals, but rather
protects individuals’ right to choose their work, and guarantees that they will not
be unfairly deprived of employment.

2. The Right to a Fair Wage and Safe Working Conditions

 The ICESCR protects the right to just and favorable work conditions, including
the right of all workers to receive “fair wages and equal remuneration for work of
equal value.”
 The ICESCR’s emphasis on equality prohibits States from discriminating against
women, and requires States to “ensure equal opportunities and treatment
between men and women in relation to their right to work.”
 The ICESCR guarantees the right to safe and healthy working conditions, equal
opportunity for promotion, and provides for “rest, leisure and reasonable limitation
of working hours and periodic holidays with pay, as well as remuneration for
public holidays.”
 The work itself must be “decent,” meaning that it respects workers’ physical and
mental integrity, and respects their human rights in terms of work safety and
remuneration.

3. The Right to Social Security

 ICESCR protects “the right of everyone to social security, including social
insurance.”
 According to the CESCR, the right to social security includes the right to access
and maintain benefits without discrimination to help secure protection from lack of
work-related income, unaffordable access to healthcare, and insufficient family
support (in the case of children and adult dependents).

4. The Rights of the Family

 International human rights law requires States to accord “the widest possible
protection and assistance” to the family, especially when the family is
“responsible for the care and education of dependent children.” For example,
mothers should receive special protection for a reasonable time before and after
childbirth, including maternity leave with pay or with adequate social security
benefits.
 States should take “special measures of protection and assistance” to prevent
the economic and social exploitation of children.

5. The Right to an Adequate Standard of Living

 The right to an adequate standard of living entails the rights to adequate food,
clothing, housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions.

6. The Right to Education

 The ICESCR requires States to make primary education compulsory, free, and
available to all.

7. The Right to Take Part in Cultural Life

 Individuals have a right to freely determine their cultural identity.
 States are prohibited from interfering with the “exercise of cultural practices and
with access to cultural goods,” and must ensure “preconditions for participation,
facilitation and promotion of cultural life” and access to cultural goods.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a document that acts like
a global road map for freedom and equality – protecting the rights of every individual,
everywhere. It was the first-time countries agreed on the freedoms and rights that
deserve universal protection in order for every individual to live their lives freely, equ-
ally and in dignity.

The Declaration outlines 30 rights and freedoms. The 30 rights and freedoms set
out in the UDHR include the right to asylum, the right to freedom from torture, the
right to free speech and the right to education. It includes civil and political rights, like
the right to life, liberty, free speech and privacy. It also includes economic, social and
cultural rights, like the right to social security, health and education.

Right to social security

 Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled
to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in
accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic,
social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development
of his personality.

Right to work
 Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and
favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. Everyone,
without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. Everyone
has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Right to rest and holiday

 Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of
working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Social Justice and the 1987 Philippine Constitution

 Article 13, Section 1 of 1987 Philippine Constitution states that the Congress
shall give highest priority to the enactment of measures that protect and enhance
the right of all the people to human dignity, reduce social, economic, and political
inequalities, and remove cultural inequities by equitably diffusing wealth and
political power for the common good. Section 2 also states the promotion of
social justice shall include the commitment to create economic opportunities
based on freedom of initiative and self-reliance.

Calalang vs. Williams et al., 70 Phil., 726, No. 47800 December 2, 1940
Social Justice.—Social justice is “neither communism, nor despotism, nor atomism,
nor anarchy,” but the humanization of laws and the equalization of social and
economic forces by the State so that justice in its rational and objectively secular
conception may at least be approximated. Social justice means the promotion of the
welfare of all the people, the adoption by the Government of measures calculated to
insure economic stability of all the competent elements of society, through the
maintenance of a proper economic and social equilibrium in the interrelations of the
members of the community, constitutionally, through the adoption of measures legal-
ly justifiable, or extra-constitutionally, through the exercise of powers underlying the
existence of all governments on the time-honored principle of salus populi est
supremo, lex. Social justice, therefore, must be founded on the recognition of the
necessity of interdependence among divers and diverse units of a society and of the
protection th+at should be equally and evenly extended to all groups as a combined
force in our social and economic life, consistent with the fundamental and paramount
objective of the state of promoting the health, comfort, and quiet of all persons, and
of bringing about “the greatest good to the greatest number.” Calalang vs. Williams
et al., 70 Phil., 726, No. 47800 December 2, 1940.

Salus populi suprema lex esto ("The health of the people should be the supreme
law", "Let the good (or safety) of the people be the supreme (or highest) law")
This maxim means that the welfare of the people is the supreme law, enunciates
the idea of law. This can be achieved only when justice is administered lawfully,
judicially, without fear or favor and without being hampered and thwarted and this
cannot be effective unless respect for it is fostered and maintained (Pritam Pal v.
High Court of Madhya Pradesh AIR 1992 SC 904).

Second Generation of Rights under the 1987 Philippine Constitution

Section 10. No law impairing the obligation of contracts shall be passed.
Section 11. Free access to the courts and quasi-judicial bodies and adequate legal
assistance shall not be denied to any person by reason of poverty.
Section 12. (1) Any person under investigation for the commission of an offense
shall have the right to be informed of his right to remain silent and to have competent
and independent counsel preferably of his own choice. If the person cannot afford
the services of counsel, he must be provided with one. These rights cannot be
waived except in writing and in the presence of counsel.

(2) No torture, force, violence, threat, intimidation, or any other means which vitiate
the free will shall be used against him. Secret detention places, solitary,
incommunicado, or other similar forms of detention are prohibited.

(3) Any confession or admission obtained in violation of this or Section 17 hereof

shall be inadmissible in evidence against him.

(4) The law shall provide for penal and civil sanctions for violations of this section as
well as compensation to and rehabilitation of victims of torture or similar practices,
and their families.

Section 13. All persons, except those charged with offenses punishable by reclusion
perpetua when evidence of guilt is strong, shall, before conviction, be bailable by
sufficient sureties, or be released on recognizance as may be provided by law. The
right to bail shall not be impaired even when the privilege of the writ of habeas
corpus is suspended. Excessive bail shall not be required.

Section 14. (1) No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense without due
process of law.
(2) In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall be presumed innocent until the
contrary is proved, and shall enjoy the right to be heard by himself and counsel, to
be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against him, to have a
speedy, impartial, and public trial, to meet the witnesses face to face, and to have
compulsory process to secure the attendance of witnesses and the production of
evidence in his behalf. However, after arraignment, trial may proceed
notwithstanding the absence of the accused provided that he has been duly notified
and his failure to appear is unjustifiable.

Section 15. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended
except in cases of invasion or rebellion when the public safety requires it.

Section 16. All persons shall have the right to a speedy disposition of their cases
before all judicial, quasi-judicial, or administrative bodies.

Section 17. No person shall be compelled to be a witness against himself.

Section 18. (1) No person shall be detained solely by reason of his political beliefs
and aspirations.

(2) No involuntary servitude in any form shall exist except as a punishment for a
crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.

Section 19. (1) Excessive fines shall not be imposed, nor cruel, degrading or
inhuman punishment inflicted. Neither shall the death penalty be imposed, unless,
for compelling reasons involving heinous crimes, the Congress hereafter provides
for it. Any death penalty already imposed shall be reduced to reclusion perpetua.

(2) The employment of physical, psychological, or degrading punishment against

any prisoner or detainee or the use of substandard or inadequate penal facilities
under subhuman conditions shall be dealt with by law.

Section 20. No person shall be imprisoned for debt or non-payment of a poll tax.

Section 21. No person shall be twice put in jeopardy of punishment for the same
offense. If an act is punished by a law and an ordinance, conviction or acquittal
under either shall constitute a bar to another prosecution for the same act.

Section 22. No ex post facto law or bill of attainder shall be enacted.

Calalang vs. Williams et al., 70 Phil., 726, No. 47800 December 2, 1940
Social Justice.—Social justice is “neither communism, nor despotism, nor atomism,
nor anarchy,” but the humanization of laws and the equalization of social and
economic forces by the State so that justice in its rational and objectively secular
conception may at least be approximated. Social justice means the promotion of the
welfare of all the people, the adoption by the Government of measures calculated to
insure economic stability of all the competent elements of society, through the
maintenance of a proper economic and social equilibrium in the interrelations of the
members of the community, constitutionally, through the adoption of measures legal-
ly justifiable, or extra-constitutionally, through the exercise of powers underlying the
existence of all governments on the time-honored principle of salus populi est
supremo, lex. Social justice, therefore, must be founded on the recognition of the
necessity of interdependence among divers and diverse units of a society and of the
protection th+at should be equally and evenly extended to all groups as a combined
force in our social and economic life, consistent with the fundamental and paramount
objective of the state of promoting the health, comfort, and quiet of all persons, and
of bringing about “the greatest good to the greatest number.” Calalang vs. Williams
et al., 70 Phil., 726, No. 47800 December 2, 1940.

References:
https://ijrcenter.org/thematic-research-guides/economic-social-and-cultural-rights-2/

https://ijrcenter.org/thematic-research-guides/economic-social-and-cultural-rights-2/
#Cultural_Rights

https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

https://www.humanrights.is/en/human-rights-education-project/human-rights-
concepts-ideas-and-fora/part-i-the-concept-of-human-rights/definitions-and-
classifications#:~:text=The%20second%20generation%20rights%20are,right%20to
%20a%20clean%20environment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_generations_of_human_rights#:~:text=