Enforcing Socio-economic Rights Through Immediate Efficacy: A Case Study of Rio De Janeiro’s Right to Housing

Abstract

The enforcement of human rights by the judiciary is a widespread option, translated into
different constitutional clauses. From the progressive realization to the immediate application,
many alternatives combine the urge in turning those moral commitments into reality without losing
the authority legal clauses should retain. The Brazilian experience, despite the formal allusion to
intermediate application, was turned into the assertion of immediate efficacy through
interpretation. This Article concludes that adding efficacy as a constitutional feature of the human
rights system to be scrutinized by the Judiciary does not enhance enforcement—in fact, it
contributes to increased inequality. The hypothesis is demonstrated through a case study in the
right to housing in Rio de Janeiro, and the judicial solution that was created in order to give flesh to
a right without any statutory delimitation. Despite the urgency inherent in many human rights, a
constitutional interpretation transfers to the Judiciary the definition of socio-economic rights
content, which call for democratic distributive decisions that belong to the political realm.