17
And, in this regard – according to ECLAC – “equality of rights is […] the basic axis of equality,”
understood as the “full realization” of economic, social cultural and environmental rights.79
51.
This case reveals how the violation of a right classified as a social right does not necessarily
lead to the need to evaluate progressivity or non-retrogressivity, or aspects related to the
availability of resources, or legislation, general regulatory frameworks or public policies.
Considering that social rights are reduced to this type of analysis is to perpetuate false myths
that the ESCER depend merely on the passage of time to be guaranteed. This belief does not take
into account the existence of State obligations to respect and to ensure rights that are applicable
to all human rights, without distinction. The intention is not to judicialize social public policies,
but rather to achieve the effective protection of human rights in a specific case.
52.
As of this time, the Inter-American Court can address the different issues that are
submitted to it not by connectivity or indirectly, subsuming the content of the ESCER in the civil
and political rights; but with a broader social perspective of the violations alleged in future cases.
I note that this matter is especially important in the Latin American region which has high rates
of inequity, inequality, poverty and social exclusion. I am convinced that this new vision of interAmerican social rights will permit a more detailed and comprehensive analysis of the rights and
obligations involved in a case, permitting the development of legal criteria and standards that
address matters of significant impact for the realization of human rights in the region in a more
appropriate and opportune manner.
Eduardo Ferrer Mac-Gregor Poisot
Judge
Pablo Saavedra Alessandri
Secretary
See Social Panorama of Latin America 2016, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, United
Nations, 2017, p. 11. In addition, ECLAC indicates that “inequality means that not all individuals can fully exercise their
civil, political, economic, social and environmental rights and, consequently, that the principle of universality is violated.”
Meanwhile, paragraph five of the Preamble of the American Convention stipulates that: “Reiterating that, in accordance
with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ideal of free men enjoying freedom from fear and want can be achieved
only if conditions are created whereby everyone may enjoy his economic, social, and cultural rights, as well as his civil and
political rights.”
79