Share The World’s Resources are proud to stand alongside Just Fair and 76 organisations across the UK in signing a joint letter marking 50 years since the UK ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
These rights, to housing, food, healthcare, education, decent work, and social security, are the foundations people should be able to rely on to live well. Yet too many are still denied them. This campaign is about turning long-standing commitments into reality.
Read the full letter to David Lammy MP:
20 May 2026
Dear Secretary of State,
Today marks fifty years since the United Kingdom ratified the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), committing to uphold rights including
housing, food, health, education, social security and decent work.
Ratification was never intended to be the end point. The next step is incorporation –
ensuring these rights are protected in domestic law and made real in people’s everyday
lives. Fifty years on, it is time for the UK Government to act.
Economic, social and cultural rights are the foundations we all need to live well: a safe
home, enough to eat, healthcare when we need it, education, and support in hard
times. These are not abstract ideals. They are what make dignity and security possible
and enable people to take part in economic, social and civic life, supporting a fairer and
more just society.
At a time of rising inequality and growing insecurity, when communities are too often
divided and scapegoated, a rights based approach offers a different way forward.
Incorporating economic, social and cultural rights into law will support efforts to bring
people together around common needs and shared solutions, strengthen trust in the
systems we all rely on, and counter narratives that pit people against one another.
Failure to act only leaves more space for division to grow.
Despite the UK’s binding international commitments, these rights remain insufficiently
protected in domestic law. In practice, this means millions of people are unable to rely
on the basics – living in unaffordable or unsafe housing, struggling to access food, or
going without the support they need.
In 2025, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
published its most detailed assessment yet of the UK’s record on these rights. It sets
out a stark picture and includes over 90 recommendations, once again urging the UK to
incorporate economic, social and cultural rights into domestic law.
Fifty years after ratification, delay is no longer acceptable. The continued
failure to incorporate these rights has real and damaging consequences for millions of
people across the UK.
We call on the UK Government to commit to a clear and time bound process to
incorporate economic, social and cultural rights into UK law and policy – so that the
foundations of a good life are something everyone can rely on.
Yours sincerely,
Just Fair
Amnesty International UK
Art27 Scotland
Asylum Matters
ATD Fourth World
Autistic Parents UK
Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU)
Big Issue
Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland (CFoIS)
Castlemilk Housing and Human Rights Lived Experience Board
Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR)
Child Poverty Action Group
Children’s Rights Alliance for England
Citizens Advice Newcastle
Citizens Advice Scotland
Compassion in Politics
Cymru Global (formerly the Welsh Centre for International Affairs)
Dandelion Solidarity
Debt Justice
Difference North East
Economic Justice Monitor
Equality Network
Equality Trust
Equity
FiLiA
Food Ethics Council
Friends, Families and Travellers
Generation Rent
Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People
Growing Rights Instead of Poverty Partnership (GRIPP)
Health Action Research Group
Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE)
Human Rights Consortium Cymru
Human Rights Consortium Scotland
Human Rights Watch
Humanists UK
Independent Food Aid Network
Institute of Employment Rights
Justlife Foundation
Leeds Asylum Seekers Support Network
Liberty
Mlegal
New Economics Foundation
Northern Ireland Rural Women’s Network (NIRWN)
Participation and the Practice of Rights
Positive Money
Quaker Social Action
René Cassin
Resistance Kitchen
Resolve Poverty
Scottish Communities Climate Action Network (SCCAN)
Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance
Share The World’s Resources
Shared Health Foundation
SMK Law
Social Benefits Consortium CIC
Stories of Hope and Home
Tai Pawb
Taxpayers Aginst Poverty
The Magpie Project
The Poverty Alliance
The Shift
The Social Brokers
The United Reformed Church, Manchester & Salford
Thrive
Trinity Rooms (run by Stroud Earth Community)
Unfold
UNISON – the public service union
VCSE Nutriri
Voices Adfocad
Women’s Platform
Women’s Regional Consortium, Northern Ireland
Women’s Support Network, Northern Ireland
Work Rights Centre
Z2K
4in10 London’s Child Poverty Network
Original source: Just Fair
Image credit: Just Fair, bsky.app
