Human rights norm building: A study of the Organization of American States Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and Economic Rights

Norms are the foundation of International Human Rights. They form the set of standards for international and domestic behaviour. Norms develop from a prescriptive stage (in the form of international treaties, etc.) to a behavioural stage (in which they are commonly accepted and adhered to). International organizations serve an important role in this norm building process.; The model developed in this study identifies five stages of the norm building process. These are: (1) prescriptive norm formation; (2) awareness building; (3) monitoring; (4) adherence promotion; and (5) behavioural norm establishment. This model provides a framework for the analysis of the activities of the Organization of American States in the promotion and protection of human rights. The OAS has tended to focus on civil and political rights to the neglect of economic rights and consequently activities regarding the former have advanced much more rapidly through these stages than has the latter. This study examines the potential for progress in economic rights norm building which exists in the current OAS system. The methodology for analysing the applicability of a norm building approach to economic rights is to use the model as a framework to compare OAS activities at each stage of the norm building process as it pertains to the two sets of rights. Indicators are applied to activities at each stage of the process to examine the extent to which the activity has been developed, in regard to each set of rights. This study also analyses factors that have affected and influenced this development.; The study shows that economic rights are not as advanced as political and civil rights in the OAS system. Instead, the OAS's progress in economic rights norm building has been slow and haphazard. However, the problems and difficulties associated with the advancement of economic rights do not preclude their future advancement.