Minimum Core Obligations : Human Rights in the Here and Now
The doctrine of the ‘minimum core’ (MCD) has in recent decades achieved prominence within international human rights law (IHRL) and practice. This enhanced profile is largely attributable to the activities of the United Nation’s Committee on Econom...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/908171515588413853/Minimum-core-obligations-human-rights-in-the-here-and-now http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29144 |
| Summary: | The doctrine of the ‘minimum core’ (MCD)
has in recent decades achieved prominence within
international human rights law (IHRL) and practice. This
enhanced profile is largely attributable to the activities
of the United Nation’s Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights (henceforth, ‘the Committee’). As this
origin indicates, the MCD has been articulated in relation
to the sub-set of human rights, usually denominated as
‘economic, social and cultural rights’, that are set out in
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (henceforth, ‘the Covenant’). In addition, some
regional and domestic legal regimes, notably in Africa and
South America, have recognized some version of the MCD in
relation to constitutional or legal rights. However, this
report will almost exclusively concentrate on the nature and
value of the MCD as it has developed within international
law and practice. This Report proceeds in the following
manner: (i) introduction; (ii) In section 2, an account is
offered of the formative point of IHRL in general; (iii) In
section 3, the concept of minimum core obligations of human
rights is explored, i.e. what it is that marks out such
obligations among other human rights standards; (iv) Section
4 contends that the main gist of the MCD is given by
interpretation; (v) In section 5, it is argued that
interpretation (a), standing alone, offers the best account
of the MCD; (vi) Section 6 addresses the difficult question
of how to determine the content of such obligations; (vii)
Section 7 responds to two major challenges confronting the
MCD; and (viii) Finally, Section 8 briefly examines how
indicators and benchmarks are statistical tools that can
help monitor and enhance compliance with minimum core obligations. |
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