Human rights (including economic and social rights) standards are becoming more clearly defined both internationally and nationally. Courts in a wide range of countries and legal systems— such as Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Finland, India, Latvia, Nigeria and South Africa—have been giving meaning to obligations associated with economic, social and cultural rights, including in connection with workers’ rights and the rights to food, social security, adequate housing, health and education.

For example, in 2002 the Constitutional Court of South Africa declared that the Government had breached its human rights obligations by failing to take reasonable measures (at affordable cost) to make wider provision of anti-retroviral medication to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. This decision and the grass-roots campaign surrounding it has saved many lives. Decisions of the Supreme Court of India, including a 2002 decision concerning the right to food in the context of a preventable famine in Rajasthan, have likewise had a significant beneficial impact in a number of States in that country. The successful outcomes in these cases are to a great extent attributable to the fact that litigation strategies were integrated within wider social mobilization processes.

OHCHR. Frequently Asked Questions on A Human Rights-Based Approach To Development Cooperation. 2006