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1) Do nation-states have an obligation to maintain a
minimum standard of socio-economic rights during an
economic crisis?
-And2) Could such obligations be shared between poorer,
developing states and developed industrialized stateswhich could bear a duty to give "international assistance
and cooperation?"
The remainder of the article explores a state's obligations regarding
economic and social rights. It also examines the nature, value, and scope
of these obligations. The article also answers whether these obligations
remain unchanged during an economic crisis. The task is divided as
follows: Section II discusses implementation of economic and social
obligations during an economic and social crisis. Section III analyzes the
nature, scope, and standards of state obligations concerning economic
and social rights. Section IV discusses extraterritorial state obligations to
observe economic and social rights on the basis of a duty to co-operate; it
does so by analyzing the legal nature of a state's extraterritorial
obligations and their duty to co-operate. On the basis of this analysis,
Section V assesses the added value of territorial and extraterritorial state
obligations regarding economic and social rights and how these could be
better implemented. The article argues that territorial states have
obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill economic and social rightseven during severe economic crises-and that developed states have
extraterritorial obligations to ensure reasonable minimum socioeconomic standards are being developed in other, less developed,
nations.
II. SOCIO-ECONOMIC RIGHTS IN EUROPEAN FINANCIAL CRISIS
Economic crisis and a state repaying public debt directly affect the
individual's enjoyment of human rights, particularly economic and social
rights, because they minimize the state's ability to follow through on its
socio-economic obligations to its citizenry. In recent decades, states
borrowed funds directly from other countries, international
organizations, and private financial institutions. Such loans often enabled
excessive government spending, poor public resource management, and
corruption. Excessive spending and poor management by the banking
industry in Eastern and Southern Europe brought those countries to the
brink of fiscal collapse. When the European Union and other
international organizations set conditions on granting further loans to
Eastern and Southern European countries, they often forget those states'
obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill the economic and social rights
of ordinary people. This leads to individuals in Eastern and Southern
Europe to struggle daily for their survival and their families. Research
indicates that these heavily indebted states are less likely to ensure the