Economic Rights in Canada And the United States

by Howard-Hassmann, Rhoda E.; Welch, Claude E., Jr.

• ISBN13: 9780812239256
• ISBN10: 0812239253
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-03-28
• Publisher: Univ of Pennsylvania Pr

Summary

Readers in Western developed countries are most familiar with abuses of political and civil rights, but the international human rights regime also embraces a set of laws regarding economic rights. These rights include the right to work and to just and favorable working conditions; the right to join and form trade unions; the right to social security; specific rights for the family; the right to an adequate standard of living, including food, clothing, housing, and "the continuous improvement of living conditions"; and the right to "the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health." In original essays by senior scholars and junior ones, this volume explains how these rights are realized--or violated--in Canada and the United States. Contributors analyze the philosophy, law, and politics of economic rights and discuss specific issues such as poverty, health care, and the rights of people with disabilities. Central to the problems of both countries are the human rights abuses evident in all contemporary capitalist societies. When the inequalities among citizens are not cushioned by a national commitment to economic rights, or when governments fail to maintain social safety nets for all citizens, economic rights are at risk. Contributors consider the problem from the perspective of their own countries: Canada, the United States, and, for contrast, the Netherlands. They do so in order to explore whether their own countries fall short of meeting international standards of economic rights. They also address the criticism often made by non-Western scholars of human rights--that their Western colleagues preach human rights abroad without regard to the human rights flaws at home.

Author Biography

Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann is Canada Research Chair in International Human Rights and Professor in Global Studies and Political Science at Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada. She is the author of several books, including Compassionate Canadian: Civic Leaders Discuss Human Rights. Claude E. Welch, Jr. is SUNY Distinguished Service Professor and Professor of Political Science at the State University of New York, Buffalo. He is the author of many books, including Protecting Human Rights in Africa: Strategies and Roles of Nongovernmental Organizations, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Looking at Ourselves	1	(24)
Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann and Claude E. Welch, Jr.
Part I. Philosophy, Law, and Politics of Economic Rights
1 Justifying Socioeconomic Rights	25	(16)
Brian Orend
2 International Law of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights: A U.S. Perspective	41	(14)
David Weissbrodt
3 On the Margins of the Human Rights Discourse: Foreign Policy and International Welfare Rights	55	(18)
David P. Forsythe and Eric A. Heinze
Part II. Poverty
4 Homelessness in Canada and the United States	73	(14)
Barbara Wake Carroll
5 Welfare Racism and Human Rights	87	(16)
Kenneth J. Neubeck
6 The Movement to End Poverty in the United States	103	(18)
Maly Bricker-Jenkins and Willie Baptist
Part III. Contentious and Emerging Issues
7 So Close and Yet So Different: The Right to Health Care in the United States and Canada	121	(16)
Virginia A. Leary
8 International Labor Rights and North American Labor Law	137	(12)
James B. Atleson
9 Deconstructing Barriers: The Promise of Socioeconomic Rights for People with Disabilities in Canada	149	(20)
Sarah Armstrong, Mindy Noble, and Pauline Rosenbaum
10 The Economic Rights of Migrant and Immigrant Workers in Canada and the United States	169	(20)
Vic Satzewich
Part IV. A European Comparison
11 The Netherlands: A Walhalla of Economic and Social Rights?	189	(14)
Peter R. Baehr
Appendices
1 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights	203	(8)
2 Excerpts from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's State of the Union Address, January 6, 1941	211	(2)
3 Excerpts from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's State of the Union Address, January 11, 1944	213	(702)
List of Abbreviations	915
Notes	217	(44)
List of Contributors	261	(6)
Index	267	(8)
Acknowledgments	275