A 11 – Initiative for Economic and Social Rights became a member organization of the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net) – the most active and widely reaching member-led global network for the advancement and protection of economic, social and cultural rights.
ESCR-Net — The International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is a collaborative initiative of groups and individuals from around the world working to secure economic and social justice through human rights. Participation in the Network allows members to collectively act in situations they find appropriate, as well as to, through the exchange of information and experiences, improve their work and the state of economic, social and cultural rights in their local surroundings and globally.
The ESCR-Net gathers over 280 organizations – including grassroots movements, NGOs, academic and research centers, advocates and experts – from across 75 countries.
The core principles of the Network include:
- Advancing all human rights, as universal, indivisible and interdependent, with a focus on ESCR issues;
- Ensuring regional and gender balance in leadership, intersectional gender analysis, and the centrality of grassroots groups and social movements;
- Grounding network activities in the lived experience of people resisting ESCR violations, and advancing concrete, collective actions able to affect systemic change;
- Striving for shared analysis and consensus in decision-making as a member-led network, but respecting the autonomy of individual participants’ positions.
There are several working groups through which member organizations coordinate their work. The A 11 Initiative joined two of these the Working Group on Strategic Litigation and the Working Group on Monitoring. We are very happy to have the opportunity to cooperate with the amazing organizations and individuals from across the world who form our group, that have been dedicatedly striving to advance and protect human rights for years and in some cases decades. We are foremost excited by the opportunity to learn from them, but also to exchange experiences and information, and collectively define strategies, actions and goals that will guide our efforts in securing the protection and advancement of economic and social rights.
You can find additional information on ESCR-Net structure and the efforts member organizations undertake through it here and here.