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The 70th session of the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee

The 70th session of the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee

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ESC rights related resolutions from the 70th session of the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee

 

ESC rights related resolutions from the 70th General Assembly’s Third Committee  

There were several positive economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights initiatives during the 70th session of the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee’s meetings in October/ November 2015, including important developments on the rights to water and sanitation, the rights of rural women, and human rights defenders.

Two sepatate but interconnected rights: Water and sanitation

In a historic resolution, a resolution on water and sanitation was passed which for the first time recognized two separate rights: a right to safe drinking water, and a right to sanitation. This was a very positive step forwards in the development of the rights, particularly as the resolution was again passed by consensus with 52 co-sponsors. This annual resolution sponsored by Spain and Germany has been on a positive trajectory since the General Assembly’s 2010 resolution[1] which formally declared the right to safe drinking water and sanitation a stand-alone right[2], deriving from the right to an adequate standard of living in Article 11 of the ICESCR. Progress was achieved in the 2014 Human Rights Council resolution (A/HRC/27/7) which contained the full definition of the right[3] (it was still recognised as one right at that stage) which comes from General Comment No 15. of the UN Committee on Economic, Social Rights (CESCR) on the right to water.

The case for the recognition of two separate rights was made by the former Special Rapporteur on water and sanitation in her 2009 Report to the Human Rights Council on access to sanitation[4] and supported by a Statement of the CESCR in 2010.[5] Strong civil society advocacy efforts have also been an important and driving force in achieving the separate recognition of the two rights.

Whilst the GA resolution still refers to the ‘human right to safe drinking water’ which seems to ignore the importance of water for other non-drinking uses, it describes the content of the right as for ‘personal and domestic use’. This language recognises that the right extends beyond ‘drinking water,’

The resolution also includes a welcome emphasis on women, their leadership and participation in decision-making on water and sanitation management and efforts to address the unequal burden of household water collection on women and girls which impacts access to education and exposes women and girls to violence.

There is also an important call on States to eliminate inequalities in access to water. This is significant in the context of the SDGs and to avoid the problems faced by the MDGs which often ignored inequalities and discrimination in access to water and sanitation services. The paragraph specifically commits to eliminate inequalities with respect to race, gender, age, disability, ethnicity, culture and religion. However it is noteworthy that the commitment with respect to inequalities in a second category, rural-urban disparities, slum residence and income levels, is only to ‘progressively eliminate inequalities’.[6] In this respect para 5(d) is also important as it asks States to ‘identify patterns of failure to respect, protect or fulfil’ the rights and ‘address their structural causes in policymaking and budgeting’. This clause attempts to tackle the discrimination and inequality built into systems and structures that prevents those living in poverty from realising their rights.

Improving the lives of rural women

The ‘improvement of the situation of women and girls in rural areas’ was the subject of a comprehensive resolution[7] adopted by the General Assembly without a vote in November 2015. The resolution was a follow-up to a similar resolution 2 years ago (A/RES/68/139 (18 December 2013)) which had asked the Secretary General to prepare a report on implementation of that resolution. The 2015 resolution takes note of the Secretary General’s report and makes recommendations to States.

The report of the Secretary-General (A/70/204) sets out efforts by States to address the obstacles and challenges that impede progress towards the economic empowerment of rural women, especially the poorest and most marginalized, and to enable them to improve their lives and livelihoods. It discusses advances and continuing challenges in: sustainable and gender-responsive agricultural and rural development; recognizing and redistributing rural women’s unpaid care work; employment, decent work and social protection; access to land and productive resources; and food security and nutrition.

There were several important recommendations offered to States, including:

  • supporting rural women’s full and equal participation in decision-making at all levels, including through affirmative action;

  • integrating a gender perspective into the design, implementation and evaluation …. development policies, plans, programmes, … budgets …. the governance of natural resources, leveraging the participation and influence of women in managing the sustainable use of natural resources[8];

  • increasing knowledge, awareness and support for the elimination of harmful practices[9] and ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights;

  • valuing and supporting the critical role of rural women … in the conservation and sustainable use of traditional crops and biodiversity for present and future generations…[10];

  • ensuring women’s and girls’ unpaid work is recognised and promoting shared and equitable responsibility for unpaid work and care responsibilities within the household;[11] and

  • implementing laws to ensure that rural women have equal rights to own and lease land and other property, including inheritance rights and access to capital and financial services.[12]

Other topics covered include: older women, women with disabilities, violence against women, the right to water, food security, developing women’s economic skills, equal access to decent work, access to labour saving technologies, climate change,[13] education and training and access to social protection for female-headed rural households.

On the whole, the recommendations in the resolution are very similar to those posed in the 2013 resolution, although some changes to reflect the expiry of the MDGs and move to the SDGs and some amendments to language around sexual and reproductive health and rights[14], and to refer to climate change.[15]

The resolution also asks the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and other UN bodies to give consideration to these issues and the Secretary-General to present a further report on its implementation at the General Assembly in 2017.

Given all we know about the links between realising the human rights of rural women and poverty alleviation, including achievement of many of the Sustainable Development Goal, it is encouraging to see the General Assembly’s giving attention to this important topic. The GA’s consideration of the human rights of rural women coincides with a number of other processes focused on this, which hopefully will continue to build momentum and political will around prioritising rural women’s rights. The CEDAW Committee’s forth-coming General Recommendation on Rural Women which will elaborate on the content of the rights in Article 14 of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women. Further, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights is considering adopting a General Comment on Article 7(d) of the Maputo Protocol, focussing on women’s rights to land and property within the context of marriage and divorce.

Human rights defenders and ESC rights

Whilst the human rights defender resolution has traditionally focused on freedom of expression and association, amongst other rights, more recently there has been growing recognition and interest in the increasing link to ESC rights. We have known for some time that human rights defenders working on economic and social rights issues are at particular risk of harassment and violence from powerful State and non-State actors against whose policies and projects they protest. However, more recently there has been a proliferation of civil society reports confirming the growing number of defenders working on land and environment issues being killed, attacked, disappeared or harassed for their work. This trend is now being reflected in the resolution on human rights defenders in the General Assembly[16] which is sponsored by Norway. Whilst the resolution attracted some controversy when a vote was called for the first time in its 16 year history[17], its inclusion of elements focusing on the link with ESC rights was a welcome advance.

The resolution recognised the vital work of ESC rights defenders and raised concerns about threats and attacks against them and their work. Further, it highlighted the need to ‘respect, protect, facilitate and promote the work of those promoting and defending economic, social and cultural rights, as a vital factor contributing towards the realization of those rights, including as they relate to environmental and land issues as well as development’.[18] The other paragraph that bears on the situation of human rights defenders working on ESC rights, deals with consultations and dialogue.[19] Lack of (or inadequate) consultation or ability to participate in decision-making is a common complaint of those protesting violations of the right to adequate housing, water and sanitation, the right to health, the right to food and human rights issues relating to land and natural resources. Many of the Special Procedures mandate holders working on these issues and the CESCR (as well as other treaty bodies) have stressed the importance of the right to participation in the context of land and environment conflicts and economic development, including as an element in preventing conflict with local communities and avoiding human rights violations.[20]

The resolution ‘Reaffirms the utility and benefit of consultations and dialogue with human rights defenders related to public policies and programmes’. Whilst this an important concept to capture in the resolution, broader language which highlights the right to participation, not only of ‘human rights defenders’ but of ‘affected communities’, would strengthen it.

This is significant new language and we hope this focus will continue through the work of the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders and the 2016 resolution in the Human Rights Council.

 

Contact:

Lucy McKernan

Geneva Representative

Global Initiative for Economic, Social & Cultural Rights

www.globalinitiative-escr.org

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

+41 (0)79 103 7719

[1] A/64/292, July 2010

[2] Closely followed by the September 2010 Human Rights Council resolution which affirmed that the right to water and sanitation was a legally binding right in international law, and adopted without a vote (unlike the July 2010 General Assembly resolution). For further information see: ‘Recognition of the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation by UN Member States at the International Level’ by Amnesty International & WASH United, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/ior40/1380/2015/en/

[3] Preambular Paragraph 21: Reaffirming that the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation entitles everyone, without discrimination, to have access to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic use and to have physical and affordable access to sanitation, in all spheres of life, that is safe, hygienic, secure, socially and culturally acceptable and that provides privacy and ensures dignity.

[4] A/HRC/12/24, 2009.

[5] UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ›Statement on the Right to Sanitation‹ on 19 November 2010, UN Doc E/C.12/2010/1)

[6] OP 5(a)

[7] A/C.3/70/L.24/Rev.1, adopted without a vote on 23 November 2015, see http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/C.3/70/L.24/Rev.1&referer=/english/&Lang=E

[8] 2(e) & (f)

[9] paragraph 2(g)

[10] paragraph 2(l),

[11] paragraph 2(s), (u)

[12] paragraph 2(z)

[13] paragraph 2(v)

[14] eg: paragraphs 2(g),(i),

[15] paragraph 2(v)

[16] A/C.3/70/L.46/Rev.1, 18 November 2015

[17] See http://www.ishr.ch/news/general-assembly-adopts-important-resolution-human-rights-defenders-face-opposition-china-and

[18] A/C.3/70/L.46/Rev.1 OP 9

[19] A/C.3/70/L.46/Rev.1 OP 12

[20] Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Water and Sanitation: A/69/213, presented to the General Assembly in October 2014, see http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N14/490/08/PDF/N1449008.pdf?OpenElement

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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.