This chapter examines the permissible limitations on the right to science under Art. 4 ICESCR, emphasising the delicate balance between protecting scientific freedom and safeguarding broader societal interests. It first situates the right within the ICESCR’s general limitations framework, distinguishing it from rights-specific limitation clauses in instruments like the ICCPR. The chapter analyses key criteria governing legitimate limitations – legality, compatibility with the nature of the rights, necessity, proportionality and promotion of general welfare in a democratic society – and clarifies their application specifically to the right to science. It further distinguishes limitations from related concepts, such as progressive realisation and retrogressive measures. Moving beyond the human rights limitations framework, the chapter critically assesses the role of scientific self-regulation, arguing that ethical norms governing research should not merely be voluntary or professional standards but rather grounded in international human rights obligations.

This Chapter critically reviews the existing international law on economic ad social rights, namely the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and it outlines existing standards on sovereign debt and human rights. Considering the surviving peculiarities of the ICESCR (due, inter alia, to the historical contingencies that influenced its elaboration in the 1950s-60s) and the nature of the economic and fiscal policy measures that have been generally recommended over the years by its monitoring body, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), this Chapter challenges the purported economic neutrality of the Covenant (and, more generally, of the international ESR regime) as currently interpreted. Furthermore, it highlights the increased influence of neoliberalism on this legal framework’s post-crisis developments, especially the more recent (re)interpretation by the CESCR of the prohibition of retrogressive measures.