Legal backing for social rights urged

Social and economic rights should have the same legal backing as human rights, according to a member of the Irish Catholic Bishops' Commission for Justice and Peace at the weekend.

At the "Social Rights Are Human Rights" conference in Dublin Castle, Mr Jerome Connolly said that rights which were "civil and political are generally justiciable, whereas socio-economic rights generally are not". He defined justiciability as meaning that a right was judicially protected.

The distinction between human and socio-economic rights contributed to the unnecessary perpetuation of social and economic inequalities and exclusion and denied a crucially important means of redress to those suffering from avoidable exclusion, marginalisation and poverty. As long as the situation continued, the essential principle of non-discrimination in rights would continue to be breached.

On the National Economic and Social Council document, Opportunities, Challenges and Capa cities for Choice, Mr Connolly said it was a matter of considerable regret that the NESC appeared to support the continuation of second-class status for such rights.

The document was also puzzling in that while it noted the UN Committee on Economic and Social and Cultural Rights recommendation that socio-economic rights be incorporated into the Constitution, it did not comment on that recommendation.