The Future in the Mirror: Incorporating Strategies for the Defense and Promotion of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights into the Mainstream Human Rights Agenda

Abstract

Drawing on a case in Peru, this article examines four strategies used by human rights NGOs in their work. In so doing, it connects external challenges to the promotion of economic, social, and cultural (ESC) rights with internal challenges to the way the human rights movement chooses to see itself. First, the value of using data and indicators in documentation has not been widely realized. Second, important advances have been achieved with respect to enforcing ESC rights, but there are limitations to court-centric approaches, which are relevant to all human rights. Third, shifting advocacy beyond the adversarial dyad with the state to address moresystematically the roles of non-state actors implies rethinking some underlying assumptions. Fourth, strategies for promoting participation and building alliances call for reexamining traditional ideas about politicization.