Article 15 of the Covenant Read Whole

In one line

One article, four limbs, and it is the whole of the binding law on the right to science.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966 provides that States Parties recognize the right of everyone (a) to take part in cultural life; (b) to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications; (c) to benefit from the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author; that the steps to be taken to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for the conservation, the development and the diffusion of science and culture; that States Parties undertake to respect the freedom indispensable for scientific research and creative activity; and that they recognize the benefits to be derived from the encouragement and development of international contacts and co-operation in the scientific and cultural fields.

Why the article has to be read whole

Module I took each limb separately because each has its own content, and [The Right to Science in the Covenant], [Participation in Scientific Progress], [The Duty to Conserve, Develop and Diffuse Science], [Freedom Indispensable for Scientific Research] and [International Co-operation in Science] do that work. Assembling them shows three things that no single limb shows.

The four limbs are a system, not a list. Paragraph 1(b) gives the individual a right to enjoy the benefits. Paragraph 2 obliges the State to produce and spread the science that generates them. Paragraph 3 protects the freedom without which there is nothing to spread. And paragraph 4 supplies the co-operation without which a State that cannot do its own science has nothing to give its people. Remove any one and the others fail: a right to benefits with no science, science with no diffusion, diffusion with no freedom, or freedom in a State with no capacity.

The article balances the author against the public. Paragraph 1(c) protects the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author, and paragraph 1(b) gives everyone the enjoyment of the benefits. Those pull against each other, and the tension is the whole of the access-to-medicines argument in [Access to Medicines and Patents] and of the traditional knowledge argument in [Benefit Sharing, Biopiracy and Traditional Knowledge].

And it is drafted as a right, not as a programme. The words are recognize the right of everyone, so the beneficiary is a person and not a State's science policy. That is the difference between article 15 and the whole of the 1975 Declaration.