Socioeconomic rights to water, food, housing, education, health, a healthy environment, and others are enshrined in the Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and well-established in international human rights law.  Governments (and private organizations providing traditional government services) must avoid discrimination in access to these basic rights, ensure minimum core obligations, and take progressive steps towards the broader full realization of the rights.  Importantly, recent national and international legal developments have shattered the long-held presumption that these rights are not “justiciable”—that is, directly protectable by legal mechanisms of remedy.  Although the law varies significantly by forum, adjudication of socioeconomic rights is now common in many legal contexts, and additional mechanisms for the protection of these rights are found in a variety of policy and public opinion forums.

Forum Nobis’ close dedication to and experience in this rapidly-changing area of the law allows it to deliver a unique degree of expertise and insight to help individuals and communities understand their rights and develop related litigation strategies, institutional advocacy approaches, research and briefing papers, or other public materials.

— see: news and commentary related to socioeconomic rights —