A UN Committee of independent experts recently issued a harshly worded report on the extent to which public authorities have been complying with international law on socio-economic rights. The Committee monitors states compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which the UK has voluntarily ratified along with 163 other countries. Adherence to the Covenant is a matter of rule of law. However, after months of engagement with government officials and evidence gathering from civil society groups (including Just Fair), the Committee’s report could hardly have been more damning.
Among other issues, the report criticises the UK’s insufficient recognition of economic and social rights in domestic law. It also condemns the adverse impact of recent changes to fiscal and social security policies, as well as restrictions to legal aid. The Committee doubts that the National Living Wage is enough to ensure a decent standard of living, and condemns the recently adopted Trade Union Act for its negative effects on workers’ rights. The UN is particularly worried about the discriminatory effects of poverty, the rise of homelessness, the overreliance on food banks, and the lack of affordability and security of tenure of rental housing in most parts of the country.
These findings can only be explained if one puts austerity into the equation. These findings can only be explained if one puts austerity into the equation. The UN Committee expressed serious concerns about “the disproportionate adverse impact that austerity measures, introduced since 2010, are having on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights by disadvantaged and marginalized individuals and groups”.
