Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966
entry into force 3 January 1976, in accordance with article 27

Preamble

The States Parties to the present Covenant,

Considering that, in accordance with the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Introduction

The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of international human rights instruments relevant to advocacy efforts around economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs) and the internet. While this topic is still relatively new, advocacy at international bodies can be valuable to help develop norms about the promotion and protection of ESCRs in online contexts, and to develop internet policy that advances ESCRs. In addition, international advocacy can be utilised to improve national human rights situations and complement in-country work.

Introduction

The early vision of the internet as a medium that could be used to develop new economic models and realise freedoms, including overthrowing dictatorships, was perhaps most influentially expounded in John Perry Barlow's Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace.¹ However, the bursting of the dot-com bubble in the late 1990s and the increasing corporate colonisation of what had been labelled an anarchic space led to pessimism by the early 2000s.

This is an edited version of part three of a study that considers the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) through aspects of intellectual property in India, namely, mobile patents, free and open source software, and India's Traditional Knowledge Digital Library. Through these, it demonstrates the potential of the internet in realising ESCRs. Abraham was a researcher on the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) project “Connecting your rights: Economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs) and the internet”.

Nota: existe dispnible una version resumida en español. /  versão resumida em Português.

Introduction

This is a critical time for development, rights and the emerging information society.