ESCR-Net AugustUpdate on Activities

(Version française suivra dans un autre email.)(La versión en español ha sido enviada por separado.)

International Network for Economic, Social & Cultural Rights

Red Internacional para los Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales

Réseau international pour les droits économiques, sociaux et culturels

ESCR-Net Activities

August2005

We would like to provide an update on recent activities and ongoing work of ESCR-Net, as a means to keep you informed and to encourage you to get involved. Following the brief overview below, more information on each activity is provided. As always, your participation and support are very welcome.

  • ESCR-Net Welcomes Shanthi Dairiam onto the Board – We are excited to welcome Shanthi Dairiam, the former Executive Director of International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific (IWRAW-AP), onto the Board of ESCR-Net to replace Mary Jane Real, who is on sabbatical this year.
  • Membership Process Started Successfully and Expanding – We are excited to announce that over thirty groups and more than twenty individuals have already formalized their membership in ESCR-Net. Membership information and an application are now available on our website at: We hope that you will choose to formalize your membership in the Network and to take an active role in shaping its future directions.
  • Trade, Finance, and Human Rights Discussions – On 14 July, ESCR-Net hosted a conference call on trade, finance and human rights, in which 16 people from a range of human rights and trade organizations participated. This call built on ongoing discussions on the ESCR-Net Trade, Investment and Human Rights Discussion Group, highlighting needed areas of work and possibilities for collaboration.

Activities

Shanthi Dairiam replaces Mary Jane Real on the ESCR-Net Board: We are excited to welcome Shanthi Dairiam, who until recently was the Executive Director of the International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific (IWRAW-AP), onto the Board of ESCR-Net. Shanthi replaces Mary Jane Real, who was elected to the first ESCR-Net Board in June 2003 at the Inaugural Conference in Thailand, and she will serve out the remainder of Mary Jane’s term. Shanthi replaces Mary Jane according to the procedure which was set out and adopted in the Governance Document in December 2004 (the Governance Document is posted on our website at

Earlier this year, Mary Jane resigned from her position as Regional Coordinator of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD). She had been with the organization for five years and had decided to take a much-deserved sabbatical from work for a year to rest and reflect upon her work and experience thus far. Mary Jane has contributed an enormous amount to the ESCR-Net Board during its first term, and we thank her for her generous service to building the network. We are sad to see her leave the Board, but wish her the very best on her sabbatical and look forward to continuing to work together in the future.

We are fortunate to have Shanthi Dairiam replace Mary Jane on the ESCR-Net Board. Shanthi has extensive experience in managing women's rights programmes, from her time as Executive Director of IWRAW-AP and from other positions. She has been involved in building capacity for women's rights advocacy for over 20 years, both with Malaysian organisations and also at the regional and international levels. She has served as an expert assisting key UN agencies such as APGEN, the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights and UNIFEM. She holds a Masters in Literature from the University of Madras, India and a Masters in Gender and Development from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. Shanthi is currently serving a four-year term (2005-2009) as an expert member of the CEDAW Committee. We would like to welcome warmly Shanthi onto the Board and thank her for her willingness to serve and to contribute her time, expertise and energy to the network at this stage of its development.

Shanthi Dairiam joins the rest of the ESCR-Net Board: Manal El-Tibe, Egyptian Center for Housing Rights, Egypt; Renji George Joseph, Alliance for Holistic and Sustainable Development of Communities, India;Felix Morka, Social and Economic Rights Action Center, Nigeria; Nathalie Mivelaz, Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, Switzerland; Daniel Taillant, Centro de Derechos Humanos y Ambiente, Argentina; and Galen Tyler, Kensington Welfare Rights Union, United States.

Membership Process Started Successfully and Expanding:

At the end of June, we circulated membership invitations via email to those of you who participated in the inaugural ESCR-Net conference or in the initial outreach and activities of the network, welcoming you to “formalize” your membership in the network through an expedited process. Over thirty groups and more than twenty individuals responded within the first few weeks, becoming formal members of the Network. We are now happy to open membership to other organizations and individuals who are actively engaged in the promotion of economic, social and cultural rights.

In December 2004, the Governance Proposal was adopted by participants in the Network, which among other things established membership criteria, benefits and responsibilities. We trust that membership in ESCR-Net will be beneficial for organizations and individuals in several ways:

  • Members have the right to propose projects to thematic, international Working Groups, and to participate in Working Group activities and decisions.
  • Members have the right to participate in General Assembly meetings and to receive priority for any available funding, in order to participate.
  • Members have the right to access information and requests for support related to their efforts in the field of ESCR. Organizational members may post links to their websites on the ESCR-Net website, and as the capacity of the ESCR-Net website is developed, those organizations without websites will be invited to post information about their projects and related materials.
  • Organizational members also have the right to vote on all General Assembly matters including the election of board members and the determination of any political position of ESCR-Net on an issue or campaign.
  • Organizational members also have the opportunity to run for a Board position and to serve on the Board.

The primary responsibility of ESCR-net members is to support the principles and goals of the Network, which are listed above. There is also an expectation that members will share relevant information related to economic, social and cultural rights with one another, as well as remaining engaged in the Network and its activities.

Additional information on the types of membership and the process for becoming a member are available on our website at This information and the associated application will also be circulated through this ESCR-Net General Listserv.

We look forward to your membership in ESCR-Net and to working with you to continue to strengthen its work!

Trade, Finance and Human Rights Discussions:

A conference call on trade, finance and human rights was hosted by ESCR-Net on 14 July 2005, in which 16 people from a range of human rights and trade organizations participated (see list below). The conference call was initiated by Carin Smaller, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) through the ESCR-Net Trade, Investment and Human Rights Discussion Group Listserv. Organizations updated one another on current work linking trade, finance and human rights;discussed further needs for information/analysis/communication resources; and strategized about possible next steps to take advantage of opportunities like the upcoming WTO Ministerial Meeting in Hong Kong, 13-18 December 2005.

The discussion was a response to a critical moment in ongoing developments in the trade arena. Many trade and finance advocacy groups, as well as country delegations to trade negotiations, have an interest in using human rights language and concepts. This creates important spaces for human rights groups to engage with trade issues and also to help clarify human rights language and the human rights framework. Drawing from their experience in recent years, groups participating in the call said there is often a misuse in the trade arena (which reflects perhaps an underlying misunderstanding) of human rights language and framework. For example, the ‘right to protect’ agriculture or other sectors is often problematically articulated, instead of the state’s obligation to protect the human rights of its people, including the ‘right to food.’ Similarly, despite the openness of many groups to human rights, there is also confusion about how to integrate human rights into trade. In turn, groups on the call identified the need to develop resources and strengthen information-sharing, to document the impacts of trade on the ground, and to highlight successful applications of the human rights framework and related mechanisms.

This conference call built on ongoing and developing exchanges through the ESCR-Net Trade, Investment and Human Rights Discussion Group. If you would like to join these discussions, you are welcome to join this discussion group listserv by sending an email to . We would be eager to learn about any work that your organization is undertaking in this area and to discuss possibilities for solidarity or collaboration. A more complete report on this call, including potential next steps, was circulated on this listserv.

Sixteen persons participated in the conference call, from the following organizations: IATP, ESCR-Net, Instituto Latinoamericano de Servicios Legales Alternativos(ILSA), Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS), Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez (PRODH), Human Rights Forum - India, Rights and Democracy, Association of Women In Development (AWID), Canadian Environmental Law Association, Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, 3D, Lutheran World Federation, and InterAction. Representatives of the following organizations expressed interest but were unable to attend the call: Human Rights Council of Australia, Oxfam International Youth Parliament, Canadian Council for International Cooperation, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, FoodFirst Information and Action Network (FIAN), Center of Concern, Amnesty International, Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), People’s Movement for Human Rights Education (PDHRE), and Human Rights in China.

Mission Statement

Economic, social and cultural rights concern essential values for a life of dignity and freedom – work, health, education, food, housing, and social security amongst others. People throughout the world share the struggle to make these human rights a reality for themselves, their families, communities, and nations.

The International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net) is a collaborative initiative of groups and individuals from around the world working to secure economic and social justice through human rights. ESCR-Net seeks to strengthen the field of all human rights, with a special focus on economic, social and cultural rights, and further develop the tools for achieving their promotion, protection and fulfillment. By facilitating joint actions, enhancing communications and building solidarity across regions, the network seeks to build a global movement to make human rights and social justice a reality for all.

*ESCR-Net is a project of The Tides Center, a nonprofit public charity exempt from federal income tax under Sections 501 (c) 3 and 509 (a) 1 of the Internal Revenue Code.