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64th session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

64th session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

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ESC Rights Update from Geneva: 64th session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

 

From 24 September - 12 October 2018, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) held its 64th session in Geneva.

During the session, on 5 October, the Committee held its regular Meeting with States Parties which involved a discussion of the work of the Committee and States sharing their views on its work. The discussion addressed the simplified reporting procedure, the 2020 review of treaty body mechanisms, and the election of Committee members.

On the simplified reporting procedure, so far New Zealand and Spain have completed their reviews under this procedure and 10 more States (Bulgaria, Belarus, Belgium, Norway, Ukraine, Austria, Chile, Finland, Italy, Mongolia) are at various stages of the process of reporting under the simplified reporting procedure. The Committee Chair confirmed that in future this procedure will be offered to other States that have a longer reporting history.

 

 

Webcast

If you’re interested in watching any of the public meetings of the session, you can watch the UN webcast HERE.

State Reporting Procedure

The Committee considered the State Party reports for the following States:

Argentina, Cabo Verde, Germany, Mali, South Africa, Turkmenistan

For Cabo Verde, South Africa and Mali, the Committee was reviewing their Initial Reports and therefore 9 hours of meeting time was allocated for the Dialogues with those States.

The Committee has published its Concluding Observations for all States reviewed HERE.

Pre-session

The Committee’s pre-sessional Working Group met from 15 – 19 October 2018, and it adopted:

Lists of Issues in respect of Denmark and Switzerland; and Lists of Issues Prior to Reporting for Belarus, Belgium, Norway, Ukraine.

The Lists of Issues and Lists of Issues Prior to Reporting are available HERE.

Communications under the OP-ICESCR

The Committee had, as of the start of the session, formally recorded 57 communications. Fourteen of those communications have been declared inadmissible, 37 are still pending, and four have been decided on the merits.

During their meeting with States Parties, Committee members noted that despite the increase in the number of Communications, the resources of the Petitions Unit had not increased commensurately. Therefore, if the number of communications received by the Committee continues to grow, it will develop a backlog, like some other treaty bodies, unless additional resources are directed to the Petitions Unit to enable it to process all communications in a timely manner.

One communications was finalised by the Committee at this session and it was found inadmissible: Baltasar Salvador Martínez Fernándezv Spain (E/C.12/64/D/19/2016) available HERE (only in Spanish at this stage).

Baltasar Salvador Martínez Fernándezv Spain (E/C.12/64/D/19/2016)

This case concerned attempts by a corporate mortgagee to evict the mortgagor/occupier for default on the mortgage and to evict other subsequent occupiers who claimed they had no other place to live. The occupiers were convicted of the crime of ‘usurpation’ (encroaching on another’s property rights).

The author alleged that Spain’s eviction laws and usurpation laws are inconsistent with the ICESCR and specifically with the right to adequate housing in article 11. Specifically, he claimed that the criminalisation of illegal occupation of uninhabited housing, for the purposes of using as a dwelling, where there is no other affordable housing available, is contrary to the right to adequate housing.

The Committee said the author had not demonstrated deficiencies in the legal decisions and that it was beyond the Committee’s competence to review the Court’s interpretation of the State’s laws. Further, the author had not provided information or evidence to demonstrate that his conviction for usurpation affected his right to adequate housing.

Therefore, the Committee found that the author had not sufficiently substantiated his claims under article 11 of the Covenant and therefore the communication was inadmissible pursuant to article 3(2) of the Optional Protocol.

Ratification of the Optional Protocol

Venezuela became the 24th State Party to ratify ratification the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR. This means that communications under the OP-ICESCR can now be brought against Venezuela in respect of allegations of violations of the Covenant by Venezuela.

Unfortunately Venezuela has not accepted the Inquiry procedure under Article 11 of the Optional Protocol and therefore the Committee does not have jurisdiction to undertake an Inquiry in respect of Venezuela.

Thematic areas of work

Day of Discussion - the right to science

 
 

A Day of General Discussion on Article 15 of the Covenant, was held on 9 October. The discussion addressed the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications and on other provisions of article 15 and the relationship between science and economic, social and cultural rights. The discussion was part of the process towards the development of a new general comment on this topic which will provide guidance to States on the measure to be adopted to ensure full compliance with article 15.

The Day of General Discussion was open to participation by all stakeholders by attending the discussion and intervening from the floor or making a written submission. There was participation from a range of stakeholders, including States and civil society. However, the discussion did not attract the same level of participation as we saw at the last Day of Discussion for General Comment 24 on ESC rights and business activities.

The Co-Rapporteur for the proposed general comment, Mr Mikel Mancisidor, introduced the discussion, explaining the process so far and the need for a general comment. He noted that this right had not been frequently addressed in State Party reporting. Four panels of speakers then addressed the Committee on the normative contents of the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications, the relationship between this right and other rights, possible limitations on this right and the scope of States’ obligations and other actors’ obligations and responsibilities.

The precise focus of the general comment remains open. Therefore the discussion on 9 October was broad ranging and the Committee will use the inputs to determine what should be the specific focus of the general comment.

The Committee is aiming to adopt a new general comment at its sixty-sixth session in autumn 2019. Once a draft is developed, it will be made publicly available and written submissions from all stakeholders will be invited.

For further information see HERE.

Statement on ESC rights and climate change

Recognising the very significant link between climate change and economic, social and cultural rights, the Committee issued a Statement in response to the publication of the special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, on the impact of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

In the Statement the Committee briefly outlined the well-documented harms to economic, social and cultural rights, caused by climate change and confirmed that ‘a failure to prevent foreseeable human rights harm caused by climate change, or a failure to mobilize the maximum available resources in an effort to do so, could constitute a breach of this obligation.’

In discussing the human rights duties of States, the Committee reminded States that their Covenant obligations extend to populations outside their territories and to obligations of international assistance and cooperation, which relate to climate finance and the transfer of green technologies from high-income States to developing States. It also noted that States’ declared Nationally Determined Contributions (pursuant to the Paris Agreement) are inadequate to avoid the most severe impacts of climate change:

‘In order to act consistently with their human rights obligations, the NDCs should be revised to better reflect the « highest possible ambition » referred to in the Paris Agreement (article 4.3).’

Further, the Committee noted that the implementation guidelines for the Paris Agreement, which will be agreed by States at the next UNFCC Conference of the Parties to be held in Katowice in December, ‘… should require from States that they take into account their human rights duties in the design of the NDCs. This implies acting in accordance with the principles of gender sensitivity, participation, transparency and accountability; and building on local and traditional knowledge.’

Highlighting the scale and urgency of the task confirmed in the 1.5°C report, the Committee said ‘A fundamental shift in the global energy order is urgently required from hydrocarbon to renewable energy sources, in order to avoid dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system and the significant human rights violations that such interference would cause.’

In conclusion, the Committee affirmed its continuing role on this topic:

‘the Committee shall continue to keep under review the impacts of climate change on economic, social and cultural rights, and provide States guidance as to how they can discharge their duties under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the mitigation of climate change and adaptation to its unavoidable effects.’

This is a very important and timely Statement by the Committee which provides clear guidance on its approach to the issue of climate change and the importance of the 1.5°C temperature goal, from a human rights perspective. It also speaks directly to States as they meet in Katowice in December to adopt guidelines which will explain how the Paris Agreement is to be implemented, reminding them of how their human rights obligations apply in that context.

Elections

Following the April 2018 elections for CESCR membership, 2 seats remained vacant – 1 seat for Asia and 1 seat for Latin America and the Caribbean.

In July 2018 the Economic and Social Council held a further election in respect of those 2 vacant seats. Ms Karla Vanessa LEMUS de VÁSQUEZ from El Salvador was elected to fill the third seat for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Since no nominations were received in respect of the vacant Asian seat, that seat remains vacant. The ECOSOC decided to postpone the election of one member from the Asia-Pacific States but did not specify when it would hold a further election for that seat. It is assumed that if any nominations are received, a further election will be held when the ECOSOC sits in December 2018.

Therefore on 1 January 2019, 3 new members will commence their terms with the Committee:

  • Mr Asraf Ally Caunhye from Mauritius

  • Mr Peters Sunday Omologbe Emuze from Nigeria

  • Ms Karla Vanessa Lemus de Vásquez from El Salvador

The following members will be stepping down from the Committee on 31 December 2018:

  • Mr Azzouz Kerdoun from Algeria

  • Mr Chandrashekhar Dasgupta from India

  • Ms Maria Virginia Bras Gomes from Portugal

  • Mr Clément Atangana from Cameroon

Unfortunately the gender balance on the Committee remains poor. From 1 January 2019 the Committee will be comprised of 17 members, of which 5 are female and 12 are male. States should be very concerned by this gender imbalance on a United Nations human rights treaty body, particularly given the Committee’s mandate to monitor implementation of States’ obligations to ensure the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights.

Further information on the elections is available HERE.

Next Session

The sixty-fifth session of the Committee will be held from 18 February – 8 March 2019 during which the Committee will consider the reports of:

Bulgaria, Cameroon, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Mauritius, Slovakia

The deadline for civil society submissions in respect of the review of these countries is 7 January 2019 (and 25 January at the latest).

The Programme of Work for the 65th session (including dates for the Dialogues) is not yet available but will be posted HERE in the coming weeks.

The 65th session will be followed by a Pre-session from 11 to 15 March at which the pre-sessional Working Group of the Committee will prepare:

  • Lists of issues for Ecuador and Israel; and

  • Lists of Issues Prior to Reporting for Austria, Chile, Finland, Italy and Mongolia.

The deadline for civil society submissions in respect of these countries is 14 January 2019.

*NOTE: Sénégal may be added to the pre-session countries. Also, Italy may be moved to a later pre-session. Please check the Committee’s website for these changes.

Yemen and Sénégal are now the only States listed for ‘future sessions’ and it is not expected that the review of Yemen will proceed soon given the on-going conflict in that country. It is concerning that there are not other States listed for future sessions as this suggests that the Committee has not received State reports from many other States, despite the fact that many State reports are due or overdue.

From 24 September - 12 October 2018, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) held its 64th session in Geneva.

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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.