Economic and Social Rights in Central and Eastern Europe – Insights from the Perspective of the UN Human Rights System

This article delves into the protection of economic and social rights in Central and Eastern Europe from the United Nations (UN) human rights protection system perspective. We analyse the extent to which the broad inclusion of economic and social rights in domestic constitutions translates into Central and Eastern European states’ ways of approaching the international protection of economic and social rights. In particular, we examine whether the recognition of the justiciability of economic and social rights in these countries’ domestic constitutions are borne out by their acceptance of human rights treaties that protect economic and social rights, especially those that enable individuals to bring communications at the international level. Based on the concluding observations of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, we also study Central and Eastern European countries’ approach to the domestic implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. We argue that there is a discrepancy between the extensive constitutional protection of economic and social rights by Central and Eastern European countries on the one hand, and their reluctant acceptance of the international law counterparts of these constitutional rights on the other.