Give due priority to ESC rights The CESCR has said that the MAR obligation means that governments must give “due priority” to ESC rights in the use of their resources. For a government’s budget this means that allocations and expenditures should be directed to ESC rights-related areas as a matter of priority. To determine whether a government is giving ESC rights such “due priority,” it is useful to consider the share of the budget going to ESC rights-related areas, particularly when this share is compared to need. It can also be useful to compare this share across similarlysituated countries. To assess whether a government is complying with its MAR obligation, it is also necessary to look at the composi­tion of the funds directed to ESC rights-related areas. Priority should be given within these areas to meeting the government’s “core obligations” (as defined by the CESCR in its General Comments). In health, for example, these include reproductive health care and immunization (GC 14). When funds are needed to meet these core obligations, spending on lower priority items within ESC rights-related areas can amount a failure to comply with MAR. It can be difficult to define precisely what constitutes “ESC rights-related” areas. Spending that is more directly related to such as health, water, food and education generally qualifies. However, funding in other areas, such as roads, for example, can also fall in this area if an important benefit of the roads will be to enable small farmers to bring their produce to market more easily (right to food). Funding for the tourism sector can be ESC rights-related if it is targeted to creating good jobs (right to work).