ABSTRACT
The UDHR1 declared human rights, both civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights, as a ‘common standard of achievement’ for all peoples and all nations, without separating them. In particular, Articles 21-29 of the UDHR declared that ‘everyone’ has the right to the following: social security; work; rest and leisure including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay; adequate standard of living including food, clothing, housing and medical care; education; freedom to participate in the cultural life of the community; and a social and international order in which the rights set forth in the UDHR can be fully realized. Clearly, the UDHR contained a comprehensive list of ESC rights. However, as noted by Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt, the US representative to the General Assembly and chairperson of the United Nations (UN) Commission on Human Rights during the drafting of the UDHR, the UDHR ‘is not, and does not purport to be a statement of law or of legal obligation’, but it is ‘a common standard of achievement for all peoples of all nations’.2 Despite this, the UDHR has had considerable impact in shaping treaties protecting human rights, including ESC rights, at both regional and UN levels.3 In addition, the UDHR has influenced the content of many national constitutions and decisions of domestic courts.4
