World Economic, Social and Cultural Network (ESCR-Net)

The impetus to form an international network grew out of a desire to make the connection between human rights and social justice and to create new pathways for greater global action.

The Creation of ESCR-Net  
People in all societies have struggled to realize economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR), and advocates are increasingly making an explicit link between human rights and economic and social justice.  Governments, international financial institutions, regional human rights systems and the UN system, as a whole, have begun to recognize the importance of ESCR.  The challenge is to translate this renewed interest into meaningful advances for people struggling against poverty and inequality.

The impetus to form an international network grew out of a desire to make the connection between human rights and social justice and to create new pathways for greater global action. ESCR-Net was designed as a decentralized structure that complements and strengthens, rather than replicates, the efforts of organizations working at the national or grassroots level by allowing them to build bridges across regions, disciplines and approaches.
In 2000, leading ESCR activists from key human rights organizations in the Americas, Africa and Asia came together to develop an international network for the promotion of economic, social and cultural rights. There was a shared recognition of both the need and the opportunity to:
  • link the work of diverse social justice advocates within a common framework of universally-recognized values and rights
  • strengthen ongoing mobilizing efforts by communities in defending their rights and
  • help them become part of a larger movement based on common norms and goals  
  • demand accountability for economic injustice from state and non-state decision-makers.  
A decentralized outreach process through regional focal points identified a broad range of ESCR groups, social movements and activists throughout the world and engaged them in the development of the Network.  

The process culminated in a founding General Assembly and the Inaugural ESCR-Net Conference, Creating New Paths towards Social Justice, held in Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2003.  Over 250 human rights activists from 50 different countries came together to launch the Network and to elect the first ESCR-Net Board.

Non-Profit, Non-Governmental Organization Status

As an international human rights network, ESCR-Net has not incorporated as an NGO or sought independent non-profit status in any particular country.  For the operations of its Secretariat, currently based in New York City, ESCR-Net became a project of The Tides Center (www.tidescenter.org), a nonprofit public charity exempt from federal income tax under Sections 501 (c) 3 and 509 (a) 1of the Internal Revenue Code, in September 2004.

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