16 for the first time in its almost 40 years of existence, declares the violation of Article 26 of the Pact of San José. 48. At this historic moment of the Inter-American Court’s case law, it is essential that the parties and the Inter-American Commission make the ESCER that can be protected by the interAmerican system more visible, by specific arguments concerning the violation of the interAmerican social rights contained in Article 26 of the Pact of San José. Nowadays, the social rights are no longer “good intention” rights established in international instrument, but are enforceable before the competent instances.75 This charts a new course for the inter-American system.76 49. Thus, the intention of this separate opinion is, on the one hand, to stress the important advance that this judgment makes in case law within the inter-American system by according direct justiciability to the ESCER and, on the other, to clarify the scope, differences and synergy between Article 16 of the American Convention which protects freedom of association (lato sensu) and Article 26 of this instrument as a provision that protects freedom of association for labor purposes (stricto sensu), based on the provisions established in Article 45(c) of the OAS Charter. 50. Thus, the progress made in the case of Lagos del Campo in the area of the right to work (job security and freedom of association) and in the area of the protection and guarantee of the ESCER directly and by a comprehensive and collective analysis of the rights (economic, social, cultural and environmental, civil and political), has allowed the Court to take a historic step forward to a new era of inter-American case law. In this regard, the inter-American region is proceeding in the direction agreed by different countries of the United Nation in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda77 (see supra, para. 4, in fine, of this opinion).78 It should not be ignored, as the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has indicated, that currently, in our region, social inequality is an obstacle to sustainable development. In this regard, it is important to point out that this tendency has been put in practice within the United Nations with the entry into force (in 2013) of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (OP-ICESCR), adopted in 2008. With the entry into force of the OP-ICESCR, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has been able to hear individual communications based on which it has declared violations of the provisions of the ICESCR. In this regard, see: CESCR, Case of I.D.G v. Spain, E/C.12/55/D/2/2014, June 17, 2015 and Case of López Rodriguez v. Spain, E/C.12/57/D/1/2013, March 4, 2016. 75 It is especially significant that the direct justiciability of the ESCER occurs on the centenary of the 1917 Constitution of Querétaro, the first constitution to establish social rights, and particularly labor rights. Social constitutionalism originates from the original text of the current Constitution of the United Mexican States, promulgated on Monday, February 5, 1917, in the city of Querétaro, entered into force on May 1, that same year. In addition to establishing the right to education (Art. 3) and the right to land (Art. 27), it established specific labor rights (Art. 123). Indeed, Chapter Six, entitled “Work and Social Security” establishes, in the 30 paragraphs of Article 123, labor rights for manual workers, day laborers, employees, domestic employees, and artisans: maximum duration of the working day; prohibition to hire children under 12 years of age; prohibition for women and children under 16 years of age to perform unhealthy or hazardous work or any work after 10 p.m.; the right to a rest period; rights for women who are pregnant or breast-feeding; the right to a remunerative minimum wage and the prohibition to embargo, compensate or deduct from this; the right of the worker to participate in the company’s profits; the right to the payment of overtime; the obligation of agricultural, industrial or mining employers to provide workers with rent-restricted comfortable and hygienic accommodation and to establish other necessary services in the community (schools, clinics, etc.); the obligation of the State to encourage individual savings (by saving banks and insurance schemes, etc.); the right to compensation for work accidents and professional ailments; the right of the workers to associate, to strike, and the right of workers to reinstatement or compensation for unjustified dismissal. 76 On September 25, 2015, world leaders adopted a series of global goals to end poverty, protect the planet and improve the prospects of everyone as part of a new Sustainable Development Agenda. Each goal has specific targets that must be achieved in the next 15 years. Among the most important goals are: No poverty (Goal No. 1), Zero hunger (Goal No. 2), Good health and well-being (Goal No.3), Quality education (Goal No. 4), Clean water and sanitation (Goal No. 6), Decent work and economic growth (Goal No. 8), Reduced inequalities (Goal No. 10), and Climate action, Life below water and Life on land (Goals No. 13, 14 and 15). These Goals clearly related to the economic, social, cultural and environmental rights. 77 78 See footnote 216 of the judgment.