This article contends that efforts to expand the justiciability of economic, social, and cultural (ESC) rights before supranational tribunals may not always be the best way to increase respect for these rights on the ground. In the Inter-American System, the authors maintain that human rights lawyers will best advance social justice and ESC rights when they use supranational litigation as a subsidiary tool to support advocacy efforts led by domestic social movements, a role that may often entail litigating ESC claims strategically within the framework of civil and political violations.
Inter-American; ESC rights; Justiciability; Social movements; Strategic litigation