Justiciability of economic, social, and cultural rights: Should there be an international complaints mechanism to adjudicate the rights to food, water, housing, and health?

The proposal to establish a new individual-complaints mechanism tinder the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights raises important issues about justiciability. The authors explore the negotiating history of the Covenant as well as an array of practical challenges to, and constraints upon, the proposed mechanism, asking how it would function, on what legal basis, and to what practical benefit.