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The Right to an Adequate Standard of Living

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The Legal Issues of the Emerging Rights

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Abstract

The right to an adequate standard of living is an internationally recognized human right, appearing in the form of welfare rights as early as the Constitution of the Weimar Republic. This right is enshrined in several international legal instruments, most prominently in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and Article 27 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Eide [1].

  2. 2.

    The question of what causes poverty is not the main focus of this chapter. The author is simply referencing Pierre Sané's conclusion. However, the author disagrees with Sané's view that the government's inactivity is the primary cause of poverty. Specific discussions can be seen in: Sané [2].

  3. 3.

    Liu [3].

  4. 4.

    See Zhang [4].

  5. 5.

    The Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (ed.) [5].

  6. 6.

    See Liu [6].

  7. 7.

    See the right to an adequate and adequate standard of living: Results of six case studies”, available at: http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/MEETING/008/J2475C.HTM, 2009-02-03.

  8. 8.

    See the right to an adequate and adequate standard of living: Results of six case studies”, available at: http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/MEETING/008/J2475C.HTM, 2009-02-03.

  9. 9.

    See Sané [2].

  10. 10.

    Chen [7].

  11. 11.

    See Friedmann et al. [8].

  12. 12.

    See Brand and Heyns [9].

  13. 13.

    See Government of the Republic of South Africa and Others v Grootboom. (2001). 2001(1)HIS 46(CC).

  14. 14.

    See Mashava v the President of the Republic of South Africa, 2004 12 BCLR1243(CC).

  15. 15.

    See Michael Massing, Does Democracy Avert Famine? at http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/01/arts/does-democracy-avert-famine.html, 2009-04-06.

  16. 16.

    Friedmann et al. [8].

  17. 17.

    Michael Massing, Does Democracy Avert Famine? at http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/01/arts/does-democracy-avert-famine.html, 2009-04-06.

  18. 18.

    See the right to an adequate and adequate standard of living: Results of six case studies”, available at: http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/MEETING/008/J2475C.HTM, 2009-02-03.

  19. 19.

    See Brand and Heyns [10].

  20. 20.

    See Fitzpatrick and Slye [11].

  21. 21.

    Holmes and Sunstein [12].

  22. 22.

    See Pieterse [13].

  23. 23.

    See Minister of Health v. Treatment Action Campaign, 2002(5)HIS 721(CC).

  24. 24.

    Jean Ziegler. Report by the Special Rapporteur on the right to food. Available at: https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-185061/.

  25. 25.

    Jean Ziegler. Report by the Special Rapporteur on the right to food. Available at: https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-185061/.

  26. 26.

    Quoted from Zhang [14].

  27. 27.

    See Right to Food Case Study: South Africa, at www.fao.org.righttofood, 2009-02-03.

  28. 28.

    Zeng [15].

  29. 29.

    Hu and Song [16].

  30. 30.

    African Memorabilia·South Africa, available at: http://xuzhihong2008.blog.sohu.com/84791456.html, 2009-04-03.

  31. 31.

    Professor Zheng Xianjun pointed out that the first economic rights case was heard by the Constitutional Court of South Africa in 1998, four years after its establishment. Since then, the Constitutional Court has heard several cases relating to socio-economic rights. The primary method used by the court in these cases is the test of reasonableness. The meaning of this standard is that the court recognizes that the power to make policy choices and resource allocation rests with the legislative and executive branches. The role of the courts is only to examine the reasonableness of the methods adopted by the legislative and executive organs. Therefore, if the approach of the legislative and executive branches is reasonable, the court would not consider it unconstitutional. However, if their methods are obviously irrational, the court would deem them unconstitutional. Zheng Xianjun: Jurisprudence and Methods of Social Rights Remedies in the Constitutional Court of South Africa, available at: http://www.falvfagui.com/fagui/falv/Article/xianzhengzhaunti/xueshuwenzhang/200603/Article_943075.html, 2009-04-12.

  32. 32.

    See Simonides [17].

  33. 33.

    See Simonides [17].

  34. 34.

    Deng [18].

  35. 35.

    See Milne [19].

  36. 36.

    See UN resolutionsE/C.12/1994/15; International Human Rights Law Course Project Leader [20].

  37. 37.

    About the “Quasi-Being” of People, Mr. Gao Hai has made incisive statements, See Gao [21].

  38. 38.

    Yao [22].

  39. 39.

    Milne [23].

  40. 40.

    See Junren [24].

  41. 41.

    Tylor [25].

  42. 42.

    Crookhorn [26].

  43. 43.

    See Yuehong and Shuxing [27].

  44. 44.

    See Yuehong and Shuxing [27].

  45. 45.

    Liu [3].

  46. 46.

    See Grootboom v. Ostenberg Municipality and Others, 2000(3)BCLR(C).

  47. 47.

    Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. (1990). General Comment No. 3. In HRJ/GEN/I/Rev.6 (p. 16). 12 May 2003.

  48. 48.

    See Yang [28].

  49. 49.

    Huang [29].

  50. 50.

    See Grootboom v. Ostenberg Municipality and Others, 2000(3)BCLR(C).

  51. 51.

    For the discussion of this part, the author refers to Ma [30].

  52. 52.

    Mu [31].

  53. 53.

    Mu [31].

  54. 54.

    See Yu [32].

  55. 55.

    South Africa is a developing country; however, it is at the forefront of implementing remedies for the right to an adequate standard of living. A series of cases have emerged to address this issue, including Subramoni v. Minister of Health (Soobramoney v. Minister of Health), Government of the Republic of South Africa et al. v. Grootboom (Government of the Republic of South Africa and Other v. Grootboom), and Therapeutic Action Campaign v. Ministry of Health (Treatment Action Campaign v. Minister of Health).

  56. 56.

    Huang [29].

  57. 57.

    See Government of the Republic of South Africa and Others v. Grootboom, 2001(1)HIS 46(CC).

  58. 58.

    Soobramoney v. Minister of Health, 1997(12)BCLR 1696(HIS).

  59. 59.

    See Wu [33].

  60. 60.

    United Nations. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. U.N.ESCOR, 22d; Charian [34].

  61. 61.

    For the discussion of the following part, the author draws on the relevant research of Mr. Xia Lian, See Charian [34].

  62. 62.

    See Anonymous Simonides, Human Rights: Concept and Standards, Ashgate Publisning Company, 2000, pp. 128–129.

  63. 63.

    See Charian [34].

  64. 64.

    See Charian [34].

  65. 65.

    The author has devoted an article to this issue, See Zheng [35].

  66. 66.

    See Soobramoney v. Minister of Health, 1997(12)BCLR 1696(HIS).

  67. 67.

    See Treatment Action Campaign v. Minister of Health, 2002(4)BCLR356(T).

  68. 68.

    Bentham [36].

  69. 69.

    See Soobramoney v. Minister of Health, 1997(12)BCLR 1696(HIS).

  70. 70.

    See Hu [37].

  71. 71.

    See Yang [38].

  72. 72.

    See Will [39].

  73. 73.

    See Yang [40].

  74. 74.

    See “Netizens spoof Mao Yushi's remarks that low-cost rental houses do not have toilets”, available at: http://news.sina.com.cn/s/2009-03-25/050517475298.shtml, 2009-04-05.

  75. 75.

    Osuka [40].

  76. 76.

    See Eide et al. [41].

  77. 77.

    The Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. (1998). Human Rights Quarterly, (8).

  78. 78.

    See Yao [43].

  79. 79.

    Sun [44].

  80. 80.

    Yao [43].

  81. 81.

    See Yang [38, p. 45].

  82. 82.

    Mao [45], 2009-03-22.

  83. 83.

    Liu [3].

  84. 84.

    See Sun [46, p. 82].

  85. 85.

    See Sun [46, p. 84].

  86. 86.

    See Wang [42, p. 1].

  87. 87.

    Shen Xiaojie. The Truth of China's Housing Crisis Covered Up in the Rescue Market. available at: http://qzone.qq.com/blog/62200607112275-37150, 2009-04-05.

  88. 88.

    See Mao Yushi. It's Wrong to Build Affordable Housing, available at: http://www.tianya.cn/publicforum/content/house/1/125739.shtml, 2009-04-05.

  89. 89.

    See Qian [47].

  90. 90.

    Freeden [48].

  91. 91.

    See Will [49].

  92. 92.

    CIC consultants estimate that the low-cost housing initiative, which is a government project aimed at improving people's living conditions, is worth around 9 trillion yuan. This initiative is unlikely to have a significant impact on the current real estate market, particularly the commercial housing market, and may even help to stabilize house prices to some extent., available at: http://esf.gz.soufun.com/newsecond/news/2477345.htm, 2009-04-07.

  93. 93.

    See “China's Housing Security “Roadmap” Outlines a New Curve of Policy Change, available at: http://news.xinhuanet.com/house/2007-11/28/content_7157892.htm, 2009-04-05.

  94. 94.

    Zhang [50].

  95. 95.

    See Sané [2].

  96. 96.

    Sun [46, p. 6].

  97. 97.

    Sun [46, p. 111].

  98. 98.

    In 1990, China's urban poor population was 130 million. By 1995, it had increased to 191 million people. See Sun [51, p. 74].

  99. 99.

    For a discussion of this issue, see Sun [51, p. 76]. The data of the year 1998 comes from Sun [51, p. 76]; The data of the end of the year 2007 comes from http://www.cn12333.com/article_view.asp?id=4864, 2009-04-10.

  100. 100.

    Liu [52].

  101. 101.

    See “Guangzhou low-cost rental housing away from the urban area is inconvenient Abandoned by Special Hardship Households”, available at: http://wh.house.sina.com.cn, 2009-04-12.

  102. 102.

    “The Grey Social Label of Low-Cost Housing”, available at: http://iamzpz.m.oeeee.com/blog/archive/2006/12/12/174667.html, 2009-04-12.

  103. 103.

    See “The Grey Social Label of Low-Cost Housing”, available at: http://iamzpz.m.oeeee.com/blog/archive/2006/12/12/174667.html, 2009-04-12.

  104. 104.

    See Jacobs [53, p. 440].

  105. 105.

    See Jacobs [53, pp. 441–442].

  106. 106.

    In accordance with the Measures for the Administration of Low-Rent Housing for Urban Families with the Lowest Income, low-rent housing with rent-in-kind allocation will mainly come from acquiring existing old housing, while limiting the concentrated construction of low-cost housing.

  107. 107.

    See Wang [42, p. 46].

  108. 108.

    Wen [53].

  109. 109.

    Polanyi [54].

  110. 110.

    Qian [47, p. 221].

  111. 111.

    Qian [47, p. 44]. On August 10, 2007, the Urban Construction and Environmental Protection Committee of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference held a symposium on affordable housing policies. During the symposium, some members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference suggested that individuals who are able to work do not require government guarantees. These members believed that applying for government security by individuals who can work is essentially an act of seeking something for nothing, which is morally reprehensible. See Promoting the Low-Cost Housing Policy Let low-cost housing fulfill the housing dream of low-income people”, available at: http://news.xinhuanet.com/house/2007-08/10/content_6506905, 2009-04-12.

  112. 112.

    Tang [55], Hu [56].

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    Zhihang Zheng

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    Jianzong Yao

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Zheng, Z. (2024). The Right to an Adequate Standard of Living. In: Yao, J. (eds) The Legal Issues of the Emerging Rights. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-0499-6_9

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