International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 2

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

 

Article 9. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right
of everyone to social security, including social insurance.

Article 10. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize that:

1. The widest possible protection and assistance should be accorded to the
family, which is the natural and fundamental group unit of society,
particularly for its establishment and while it is responsible for the care
and Education of dependent children. Marriage must be entered into with the
free consent of the intending spouses.

2. Special protection should be accorded to mothers during a reasonable
period before and after childbirth. During such period working mothers
should be accorded paid leave or leave with adequate social security
benefits.

3. Special measures of protection and assistance should be taken on behalf
of all children and young persons without any discrimination for reasons of
parentage or other conditions. Children and young persons should be
protected from economic and social exploitation. Their employment in work
harmful to their morals or health or dangerous to life or likely to hamper
their normal development should be punishable by law. States should also
set age limits below which the paid employment of child labour should be
prohibited and punishable by law.

Article 11. 1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the
right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his
family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the
continuous improvement of living conditions. The States Parties will take
appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to
this effect the essential importance of international co-operation based on
free consent.

2. The States Parties to the present Covenant, recognizing the fundamental
right of everyone to be free from hunger, shall take, individually and
through international co-operation, the measures, including specific
programmes, which are needed:
(a) to improve methods of production, conservation and distribution of
food by making full use of technical and scientific knowledge, by
disseminating knowledge of the principles of nutrition and by
developing or reforming agrarian systems in such a way as to achieve
the most efficient development and utilization of natural resources;
(b) taking into account the problems of both food-importing and
food-exporting countries, to ensure an equitable distribution of
world food supplies in relation to need.

Article 12. 1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the
right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of
physical and mental health.

2. The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to
achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary
for:
(a) the provision for the reduction of the stillbirth-rate and of infant
mortality and for the healthy development of the child;
(b) the improvement of all aspects of environmental and industrial
hygiene;
(c) the prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic,
occupational and other diseases;
(d) the creation of conditions which would assure to all medical service
and medical attention in the event of sickness.

Article 13. 1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the
right of everyone to Education . They agree that education shall be directed
to the full development of the human personality and the sense of its
dignity, and shall strengthen the respect for human rights and fundamental
freedoms. They further agree that education shall enable all persons to
participate effectively in a free society, promote understanding, tolerance
and friendship among all nations and all racial, ethnic or religious
groups, and further the activities of the United Nations for the
maintenance of peace.

2. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize that, with a view
to achieving the full realization of this right:
(a) primary education shall be compulsory and available free to all;
(b) secondary education in its different forms, including technical and
vocational secondary education, shall be made generally available and
accessible to all by every appropriate means, and in particular by
the progressive introduction of free education;
(c) higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the
basis of capacity by every appropriate means, and in particular by
the progressive introduction of free education;
(d) fundamental education shall be encouraged or intensified as far as
possible for those persons who have not received or completed the
whole period of their primary education;
(e) the development of a system of schools at all levels shall be
actively pursued, an adequate fellowship system shall be established,
and the material conditions of teaching staff shall be continuously
improved.

3. The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to have respect for
the liberty of parents and, when applicable, legal guardians, to choose for
their children schools, other than those established by the public
authorities, which conform to such minimum educational standards as may be
laid down or approved by the State and to ensure the religious and moral
education of their children in conformity with their own convictions.

4. No part of this article shall be construed so as to interfere with the
liberty of individuals and bodies to establish and direct educational
institutions, subject always to the observance of the principles set forth
in paragraph I of this article and to the requirement that the education
given in such institutions shall conform to such minimum standards as may
be laid down by the State.

Article 14. Each State Party to the present Covenant which, at the time of
becoming a Party, has not been able to secure in its metropolitan territory
or other territories under its jurisdiction compulsory primary education,
free of charge, undertakes, within two years, to work out and adopt a
detailed plan of action for the progressive implementation, within a
reasonable number of years, to be fixed in the plan, of the principle of
compulsory education free of charge for all.

Article 15. 1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the
right of everyone:
(a) to take part in cultural life;
(b) to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications;
(c) to benefit from the protection of the moral and material interests
resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of
which he is the author.

2. The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to
achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary
for the conservation, the development and the diffusion of science and
culture.

3. The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to respect the
freedom indispensable for scientific research and creative activity.

4. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the benefits to be
derived from the encouragement and development of international contacts
and cooperation in the scientific and cultural fields.

 

Conclusion

Notes

See Also

References and Further Reading

About the Author/s and Reviewer/s

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Education, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.


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