Citizens of modern states enjoy a number of rights. Civil and political rights shape individuals' interactions with states' legal and political systems. Economic, social, and cultural rights, on the other hand, address freedoms often exercised in private life. Examples include access to sufficient food, education, health care, and employment. Although economic, social, and cultural rights offer different guarantees than do civil and political rights, the international community treats them as indivisible. Because they reinforce each other, together they help to ensure social justice. For example, without the political right of free association, the economic right to form unions would be meaningless. Equally, the social and cultural right to an education would be worthless to those imprisoned because they do not enjoy the civil right to be free from arbitrary detention.

Origins

Widespread human suffering during World War I (1914–1918) and World...