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The COVID-19 Pandemic And Its Impact On Economic, Social And Cultural Rights

Litigating for social justice with ‘one armed tied behind your back’: Why economic and social rights must be incorporated into UK law

By Imogen Richmond Bishop and Dr Sara Bailey

Millions of people in the UK have reported going hungry since March due to having lost some or all of their income in the context of the pandemic and associated economic downturn. They can no longer afford to buy adequate quantities of food. People with disabilities, single-parent households and ethnic minorities have all been disproportionately affected. In this context, civil society groups have used the law to challenge UK government policy whilst being constrained by a limited legal scope to address the impacts of a crisis like the one caused by the ongoing pandemic.

Sustain, The Alliance for Better Food and Farming, was one such organisation. This summer, we took the decision to undertake legal action in order to try and prevent children going hungry. We chose the mechanism of 'judicial review' – a type of court proceeding in which a judge reviews the lawfulness of a decision or action made by a public body. Because the UK has yet to incorporate its international obligations pertaining to economic and social rights into domestic law, it left us with few legal avenues with which to challenge government policy.

For some context, in recognition of the significant contribution that free school meals make to children’s nutrition and wellbeing, the government decided to extend support for free school meals when the schools closed because of the global pandemic. The support provided was different across the four UK nations, but many schools in England used the official school food-voucher scheme, provided through the private company Edenred but facilitated and paid for by the Department for Education. The scheme provided eligible families with a voucher for each eligible child intended to cover the cost of their lunch.

Initially, the Department for Education insisted that these vouchers would not be provided during the holiday periods because free school meals are not normally provided during the holidays, despite the significant additional financial strain families were under. However, in the end, the government made late u-turns on its decisions for both the Easter and the May holidays – in the latter  case, so late in the day that the holiday was nearly over when the extension of support was announced, causing confusion for both schools and families.

In the lead up to the summer holidays, the UK Government again proceeded to insist that free school meal support would not be provided over the holiday period. The uncertainty around the free school meal support, combined with the significant financial strain faced by families, inspired us at Sustain to work with the Good Law Project  –  a not-for-profit membership organisation, that uses the law to protect the interests of the public – to challenge the UK Government's decision not to extend school meals during the summer holidays.

We sent numerous ‘pre-action’ letters to the government and secured media coverage of our intent to take the government to court. This legal action did not make it to court as the UK government u-turned following a widespread civil society campaign that included an array of  organisations, children, and a passionate intervention by a high profile footballer. Either way the judiciary’s scope of action would have been severely limited; it would not have been able to make any pronouncements on economic and social rights, but at best find that the government’s decision-making process had been flawed.

A second recent gain using the threat of judicial review was the extension of free school meal support to some children whose families have ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ (NRPF). This immigration condition causes destitution by imposing extreme restrictions on the provision of state support - including free school meals - to certain categories of non-citizen. Again, the government (partially) u-turned in response to the threat of legal action, expanding free school meal support for some families with NRPF.

Whilst these legal actions and associated campaigns have achieved tangible changes for millions of food insecure children, they do not resolve the root cause of hunger in the UK that are caused by an inadequate social safety net, hostile environment immigration policies, and insecure low paid work . If the right to food or the right to social security had been incorporated into domestic law, lawyers would not have to fight with one arm tied behind their backs, relying either on civil and political rights or judicial review to force the government to uphold economic and social rights. Thus, the current pandemic revealed all too sharply that if economic and social rights are truly to be protected in the UK, it is critically important that they be incorporated into domestic law as a matter of priority.  

Sara Bailey is an independent researcher and human rights advisor on the University of Bath's 'social mobilization for social policy in the MENA region' project. She holds a PhD in human rights from the University of Essex's Human Rights Centre in the social practice of human rights. Sara has also previously undertaken work in the areas of human rights and human security for the United Nations Development Programme, UN Women, and several Palestinian human rights NGOs. @DrSaraBailey

Imogen Richmond-Bishop  is the right to food project coordinator at Sustain the Alliance for Better Food and Farming and the research and advocacy manager for the UK based human rights charity Just Fair. She is also a 2020-2021 Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity and can be found at @imogen_rb

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Climate and Environmental Justice

We have advanced rights-based and gender-transformative transition frameworks through research that centres the lived experiences of women and marginalised communities on the frontlines of extractive energy policies, promoting climate and energy frameworks attentive to the social and care-related impacts of transition pathways. We have developed a clear vision for a gender-just transition, firmly rooted in gender and human rights norms, establishing both the legal basis and the direction for the transformative changes our planet and societies urgently need. In particular, the ‘Guiding Principles for Gender Equality and Human Rights in the Energy Transition’, a collective effort built through online consultations, an in-person workshop and multiple rounds of revision with activists, practitioners and experts from around the world, outline a transformative vision for reshaping global energy systems through a human rights and gender equality lens.

Our work recognises that the climate emergency is both an existential threat and an opportunity to reimagine societies built on social, gender, economic and environmental justice. We ground our advocacy in feminist and intersectional principles, prioritising the agency and perspectives of communities in the Global South who have contributed the least to the climate emergency yet face its most devastating consequences. Central to our approach is the understanding that energy is not merely a commodity but a fundamental human right; essential for dignity, health, education, work and the realisation of countless other rights. We challenge approaches to the energy transition that risk replicating the harmful patterns of fossil fuel extraction and, instead, advocate for transformative policies that ensure human rights and gender equality as central to building climate-resilient societies rooted in dignity, justice and planetary well-being.

What's next?

We will continue to challenge approaches that treat energy transition as merely a technical shift, instead positioning it as an opportunity to reimagine economies and societies rooted in dignity for all, with particular attention to communities in the Global South who have contributed least to the climate emergency yet are most exposed to its worst effects.

We will connect community-level evidence and the lived experiences of those on the frontlines of extractive policies to national reform and global norm-setting, breaking down silos between human rights, gender, and climate movements, and advancing a shared vision that recognises just transitions as not only fundamental to achieving climate-resilient and sustainable societies, but as transformative pathways that advance social and gender equality, redistribute power and resources equitably, and ensure that energy systems serve the public good rather than profit.

We will mainstream rights-based and genderjust transition priorities in key multilateral spaces (particularly, within the Just Transition Work Programme and the to-be-developed Just Transition Mechanism, within the UNFCCC) to guarantee that just transitions are advanced at all levels.

We will also translate our work, through strategic advocacy, into at least two concrete policy wins, whether promoted, adopted, implemented, or scaled, in priority countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, or Kenya), ensuring these policies align with human rights standards, centre gender equality, and reflect the needs and views of affected communities.

We will build momentum for the progressive recognition of the right to sustainable energy to shift dominant narratives away from purely extractive solutions that sideline gendered impacts, community participation, and Global South perspectives.

Economic Justice and Climate Finance

Our work has transformed the global discussion on fiscal policy in a more just, emancipatory and sustainable direction. Our approach has combined both high-level, expert contributions within decisionmaking circles, with bold, impactful work on narrative change with the general public.

We have been instrumental in the inclusion of human rights as a guiding principle of the future United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, a multilateral instrument with the potential of raising approx. USD 492 billion per year in public revenues currently foregone to global tax abuse. In the process leading to the ‘Compromiso de Sevilla’ decided at FfD4, we proposed and succeeded in creating a specific human rights workstream within the Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism, which was critical to ensure that explicit commitments on the matter were included in the negotiating outcome. In a context of cutbacks in multilateral institutions, we have amplified the capacities of technical experts, providing rigorous technical support and leveraging our influence to ensure the enactments of groundbreaking standard-setting instruments, such as the 2025 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Statement on Fiscal Policy and Human Rights, and the first ex oficio hearing on the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights on Fiscal and Economic Policies to Address Poverty and Structural Inequality, leading to an upcoming thematic resolution on the matter. We have also bridged the silos between multilateral tax discussions and climate finance debates, promoting ambitious financing commitments to increase international and domestic resource mobilisation during COP 28, 29 and 30.

At the regional level, our engagement with fiscal cooperation platforms such as the Platform for Fiscal Cooperation of Latin America and the Caribbean (PTLAC), where we are member of its Civil Society Consultative Council, and the African Anti-IFFs Policy Tracker, for which we participated in the pilot mission in Ivory Coast together with Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), have been critical in cementing a growing engagement between tax administrations and ministries of finance with international legal experts, exploring actionable and transformative initiatives, such as the taxation of high-net-worth individuals, beneficial ownership registries and corporate countryby-country reports, to be implemented at the international level.

At the local level, our interventions in fiscal reform debates in Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Nigeria have contributed to shaping legislative outcomes in a more progressive, rights-compliant direction.

As for our leadership in narrative change, we have a measurable track record in delivering tailored, innovative campaigns which have decisively expanded economic justice constituencies by appealing to a broader tent. In Latin America and the Caribbean, we created the ‘Date Cuenta’ campaign, coordinating over 40 organisations across civil society to deliver plain language, innovative messaging connecting progressive fiscal reforms to the financing of health, education and social protection. ‘Date Cuenta’ generated over 55 original campaign messages that were tailored to the realities of seven priority countries (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Honduras) and disseminated in Spanish, Portuguese and English. In doing so, we convened more than 65 online co-creation workshops with partners, coordinating a unified communications strategy which combined digital outreach, press and media coverage, and collaboration with influencers. Ultimately, ‘Date Cuenta’ resulted in more than 60,000 interactions on social media, coverage in major regional and international media outlets, including El País, Deutsche Welle, Bloomberg and France 24, and the participation of at least 63 social media influencers through 58 dedicated publications. In collaboration with Fundación Gabo and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, we also organised a two-day workshop in Bogota with 20 journalists from 13 countries, building a regional network trained in a human rights-based approach to fiscal policy that has since generated published media coverage on outlets such as La Diaria, Ciper, El Diario Ar and Milenio. Through ‘Date Cuenta’ and our regional advocacy, we strengthened civil society engagement in key processes, including the Financing for Development track and FfD4, co-organised highlevel dialogues with states and civil society from Latin America and Africa.

What's next?

We will shape the UN Tax Convention and its Protocols so they embed human rights principles, and we will stay engaged through follow-up processes (including the expected Conference of the Parties) to support effective implementation. We will keep linking tax and climate finance so that new resources mobilised through fiscal cooperation are channelled to adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage, in line with UNFCCC commitments.

Public Services for Care Societies

We have translated participatory research into accountability and policy outcomes.

In Ivory Coast, our work with Mouvement Ivoirien des Droits Humains and affected communities since 2023 exposed how privatisation and lack of accountability restrict access to quality healthcare. It contributed to the closure of 1,022 illegal private health centres, an executive instrument strengthening the regulation of private hospitals across the country, and the creation of a permanent complaints management committee in healthcare through a bylaw issued by the prefect of Gagnoa. Partners engaged through this process also advanced concrete improvements at facility level: members of the Gagnoa Midwives Association who took part in the participatory action research pooled resources to renovate the neonatal unit of the Regional Hospital, and the Director of the Gagnoa General Hospital launched an action plan to expand services and improve patient reception, with the facility receiving the award for best hospital in the country in 2025.

In Kenya, our research with the Mathare Education Taskforce documented the absence of public schools and the expansion of private provision, evidencing impacts on households and caregivers and strengthening demands for free, quality public education. This work contributed to stronger community agency and collective organisation, alongside ongoing strategies ranging from communications to litigation to secure a public school in the area, some involving GI-ESCR and others led independently.

Across Africa, this work is complemented by a multi-country study examining the human rights implications of austerity in education and health, including how regressive fiscal policies, rising debt burdens and persistent underinvestment undermine the financing and delivery of public services.

In Latin America, from 29 November to 2 December 2021, over a thousand representatives from over one hundred countries, from grassroots movements, advocacy, human rights, and development organisations, feminist movements, trade unions, and other civil society organisations, met in Santiago, Chile, and virtually, to discuss the critical role of public services for our future. Following the meeting, the Santiago Declaration on Public Services was adopted to demand universal access to quality, gender-transformative and equitable public services as the foundation of a fair and just society.

We are currently advancing work on care systems, linking public services and fiscal justice through integrated research, advocacy and communications, including a regional campaign framing care as a collective responsibility requiring sustained public investment.

What's next?

In Ivory Coast, we will evaluate and strengthen the complaints management committee and position it as a replicable model for other health facilities. In Kenya, we will support the Mathare community to co-design a model public school for Mabatini and Ngei wards, grounded in human rights standards. Building on our multi-country austerity study, we will drive national advocacy on financing for education and health: advancing reforms in Ghana; launching a fiscal policy and public services financing agenda in Kenya through the CESCR process and targeted coalition work; and, in Nigeria, using the new tax acts in force since 1 January 2026 to catalyse a national accountability campaign for adequately funded, quality public services. In Latin America, we will amplify locally led care pilots across 8 countries and turn lessons into influence—advancing care policies that strengthen care organisations, protect care workers’ rights, support unpaid caregivers, include disability and family networks, and redistribute care more equitably.