Chairs:

• Sandra Liebenberg
• Mirja Trilsch
• Christine Vézina

SPEAKERS

Eve	Lister
Jérémie	St-pierre
Jiaxin	Du
José Rolando	Cardenas Gonzales
Faiza	Kadir

Economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR), as defined in international human rights law, are being undermined by the multiple crises affecting the contemporary world, both in the Global North and South. Consider, for example, the climate crisis, migration, financial instability, housing and homelessness, the information crisis, food insecurity, wars, the dismantling of the welfare state, the erosion of health and education systems, the rise of populism, and the risks associated with generative AI. At the same time, international law on ESCR provides normative tools and legal levers to structure responses to these crises. These include the prohibition of regressive measures and the obligation to protect the essential core of ESCR as imposed by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as the individual communication procedure before the UN Committee on ESCR, which has been particularly mobilized in response to housing crises in various countries. But what about constitutional law within states? Do these crises and the risks they generate—particularly for peace, security, and democracy—have a transformative effect on constitutional law? Or at the very least, do they provoke tensions, breakthroughs, or innovative developments that could enhance the role of ESCR in judicial litigation? This workshop seeks to cross perspectives to examine whether and how the crises we face act as variables influencing the effectiveness of ESCR in constitutional law.