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ESC Rights Update from Geneva: 59th session of CESCR

ESC Rights Update from Geneva: 59th session of CESCR

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ESC Rights Update from Geneva: 59th session of Committee on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights (19 September to 7 October 2016)

 

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) held its 59th session from 19 September to 7 October 2016. Immediately following the session, a Working Group of the Committee held the ‘pre-session’ from 10 – 14 October. This Update provides a summary of the meetings and key developments:

 

Sustainable Development Goals

During the opening of the session on 19 September, Ms Peggy Hicks, Director of the ‘Thematic Engagement, Special Procedures and Right to Development Division’ of OHCHR gave an address focusing on the sustainable development agenda and goals (SDGs). Ms Hicks acknowledged input by the treaty body Chairs into the High Level Political Forum and encouraged the Committee to continue to consider ways to engage with the SDGs process. She underlined the importance of ensuring that the collection and analysis of data on the implementation of the SDGs, respects human rights principles and drew attention to the OHCHR Guidance Note on the topic. She noted the many links between the SDGs and the Covenant and said:

‘Human rights mechanisms, including treaty bodies, offer the opportunity of promoting accountability of those responsible for implementing the agenda, and ensuring that they do so in full conformity with human rights law. Building strong links between the Agenda, the Covenant and the High Level Political Forum and your monitoring work will be crucial to this, and to helping ensure the voices of the most marginalized are heard.’ ___________________________ It is interesting to note also that the Committee appears to have added to its Concluding Observations a standard paragraph addressing the SDGs:

‘The Committee recommends that the State party take fully into account its obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and ensure the full enjoyment of these rights in the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda at national level, with the support of international assistance and cooperation when needed. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals shall be significantly facilitated by the State party establishing independent mechanisms to monitor progress, and by treating beneficiaries of public programs as rights-holders who can claim entitlements. Building the implementation of the SDGs on participation, accountability and non-discrimination shall ensure that no one is left behind in the process.’ (note this is the advance unedited version)

This is a welcome development and hopefully the beginning of a deeper engagement by the Committee with the SDGs process. This paragraph highlights the importance of ensuring that implementation of the SDGs occurs in a manner compliant with ICESCR and that it has as its foundation the human rights principles of participation, accountability and non-discrimination. Given the strong resistance by States to independent monitoring and any true accountability mechanism within the 2030 Agenda, CESCR can play a significant role in emphasising the importance and benefits of these elements. It might also be interesting for CESCR to develop some more specific guidance to States on how to do these things, including perhaps through States aligning or integrating their SDGs and CESCR reporting processes.

 

State Reporting Procedure

The following States were reviewed during the session:

Costa Rica, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Lebanon, Philippines, Poland, Tunisia

The Committee has published its Concluding Observations for these countries HERE.

During the ‘pre-session’ the Committee considered Lists of Issues for the following States: Australia, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Uruguay

The Committee has published Lists of Issues for these States HERE.  The State dialogue for each of these States will be held in May/June 2017.

 

Overdue and non-reporting States

The Secretariat has published a

summary

 of the reporting status of all State Parties to the Covenant. It shows which States are overdue in reporting, including some States that have never reported. Civil society organisations may wish to use the report to identify when a State is due to submit its report, whether it is overdue and to encourage the State to engage in the reporting process.

Another useful resource which provides the reporting status for each State for all treaties can be found HERE.

 

Communications under the OP-ICESCR

The Committee considered 1 Communication during this session and found it

inadmissible

.  The documentation is being finalised and the decision will be published

HERE

in approximately 3 weeks.

Guidance for third party interventions The Committee also discussed and adopted ‘guidance on third-party interventions, which would regulate the intervention of individuals and entities which might wish to file an amicus brief in an individual communication procedure’ (Guidance).  The Guidance is a welcome clarification of the Committee’s practice with respect to third party interventions.  It confirms that the Committee can ‘accept relevant information and documentation submitted by third-parties when necessary for the proper determination of the case’ and that it can also request such third party information. Intervenors must observe the requirements set out in the Guidance, including for instance:

  • Interventions can only be submitted after making a written request to intervene and receiving the Committee’s authorization;

  • The authorization will indicate the dead-line, word limit, the issues which the intervention is permitted to address and any confidentiality requirements;

  • All third party interventions will be provided to the parties for comment; and

  • Third parties will not be considered parties to the Communication and will not have access to the case file or documentation.

The Guidance is available HERE.

Thematic areas of work

 

ESC Rights in the context of Business Activities

The Committee will hold a ‘Day of Discussion’ on ‘the Draft General Comment on State Obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Context of Business Activities’ on 21 February 2017, during its next session.

The Day of Discussion will be open to all stakeholders and written submissions in advance of the Day of Discussion are invited.  More information about the Day of Discussion is available HERE, including:

  • the draft of the proposed General Comment (only in English at this stage, but French and Spanish versions to be available before the Day of Discussion);

  • details on how to make written submissions; and

  • details on how to register to attend the Day of Discussion.

A programme of the Day of Discussion will be made available on the same webpage in the coming months.

 

Human Rights Defenders of Economic, Social & Cultural Rights

On 7 October 2016 the Committee adopted a STATEMENT on ‘human rights defenders of economic, social and cultural rights’ (E/C.12/2016/2).

The statement was made by the Committee following a briefing and discussion paper prepared jointly by GIESCR, the International Service for Human Rights and the International Platform Against Impunity. A coalition of over 300 civil society organisations coordinated by these NGOs also wrote to the Committee in May 2016 urging it to take action.

This is the first comprehensive public Statement by a UN human rights treaty body specifically addressing human rights defenders.  It provides a clear articulation of the Committee’s views on this topic and strong guidance to States on the protection of defenders of ESC rights. Importantly, the Statement commences by recognising the essential contribution of civil society to the effective promotion, protection and realization of ESC rights, especially in monitoring and evaluating States’ compliance with the Covenant and dissemination of information about the ICESCR and the Committee’s work.

The Committee notes its ‘alarm’ at ‘past and present incidences .... regarding the situation of human rights defenders working in the field of economic, social and cultural rights’ and underlines the importance of human rights defenders ‘being able to work freely without any threat or fear’.  It ‘reminds States parties of their responsibility to ensure that human rights defenders are effectively protected against any and all forms of abuse, violence and reprisal which they might experience while carrying out their work to promote the realization of these rights’ and urges compliance with the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. It also outlines specific measures that States should adopt to safeguard defenders of ESC rights.

A key advance in the Statement is the confirmation that it considers ‘any threat or violence against human rights defenders to constitute violations of States’ obligations towards the realization of Covenant rights’.

 

Committee membership

This was the final Committee session for 3 members of the Committee who will be stepping down from 31 December 2016: Mr Ariranga Pillay (Mauritius); Mr Nicolaas Schrijver (Netherlands); and Mr Sergei Martynov (Belarus). The chairmanship of Mr Waleed Sadi will also come to an end on the first day of the next session. The Committee will elect a new Chair at the beginning of its first session in 2017.

At the first session in 2017, three new Committee members will commence their terms on the Committee:

  • Ms Laura-Maria Craciunean Romania

  • Ms Sandra Leibenberg South Africa

  • Mr Michael Windfuhr Germany

 

Practical matters

  • The process for accreditation for CESCR sessions is likely to change. We recommend you consult the CESCR website for further information when preparing for accreditation.

  • During the June 2017 session there will be a change of practice in respect of the time for NGOs to brief the Committee. The convention has been for this briefing to occur on the Monday morning of the week during which the relevant State dialogue is scheduled. However, instead, the NGO briefings will be distributed differently over the first three weeks of the session. Check the website for details of the program and the time and date for the NGO briefings.

  • It is expected that both the February and June sessions in 2017 will be at Palais Wilson.

 

Next session

The next session will be held from

20 – 24 February 2017

.  Unusually, no States will be reviewed at the next session.

The Committee intends to use the session time for General Comment development, addressing Communications and addressing the issue of non-reporting States and long overdue State reports.

Immediately after the February session, a Working Group of the Committee will hold a ‘pre-session’ (27 February – 3 March) during which it will consider the Lists of Issues for:

Colombia, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation

The deadline for civil society reports/submissions in respect of the List of Issues for these countries is 13 January 2017 (preferable), but 30 January at the latest.

The State review for each of these States will be held in September/October 2017.  The Committee also plans to review the first two reports to be submitted under the simplified reporting procedure (Spain and New Zealand) at the September/October 2017 session.

The sixty-first session of the Committee will be held from 29 May to 23 June2017 during which the Committee will consider the reports of:

Australia, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Uruguay

The deadline for civil society reports/submissions in respect of the review of these countries is 18 April 2017 (preferable), but 5 May at the latest.

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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.