Inclusion of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the New Constitution A Must

The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) calls on the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) to seriously consider the inclusion of Economic, Social, and Cultural rights (ESCR) in a new Bill of Rights of the new Constitution. As a result of a workshop held on 10 May 2008 given to leaders of clubs and associations at the University of Zambia and representatives from the Zambia Open University and Cavendish University, it was clear that having these rights in the Bill of Rights will lead to development and generally better standards of living for all Zambians. The “State of Human Rights in Zambia 2007” report by the Zambian Human Rights Commission shows that there are grave abuses of human rights. The challenge of ensuring that there are no abuses of human rights in Zambia requires protection of both civil and political rights, and Economic, Social and Cultural rights. We recognise that respect of ESCR complements and leads to respect of civil and political rights and without the fulfillment of these ESCR, civil and political rights can never be fully protected because these rights are interdependent.