The Place of Sustainable Development in the Practice of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the European Committee of Social Rights

Abstract

Sustainable development is therefore characterized by a close but intricate relationship with the ESR, involving potential intragenerational and “intra-poor people” social conflicts, which can raise international legal disputes between States or between individuals and States. These brief considerations call for an analysis of the practices of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) and the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) on the place that the notion of sustainable development has in the interpretation of the two most important international binding multilateral instruments concerning the so-called second generation rights. The paper therefore focuses precisely on the practice of the two mentioned treaty bodies rather than on the interpretations proposed in academic literature to date.