The nature and enforcement of social and economic rights are persistently in debate. Using the European Social Charter as a case in point, and also drawing on the European Convention of Human Rights, this paper argues that there is no inherent difference between social and political rights and civil and political rights with regard to regard to judicial application at national level. It also argues that the Charter’s clause on the nature of its legal obligations in no way alters this.

Keywords: Human Rights, Social and Economic Rights, International Law, Enforcement