ESCR-Net Newsletter - May / June 2015

• The Women and ESCR Working Group launches the French version of the guide “Claiming Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.”

• ESCR-Net participated in international strategy meetings in Detroit, Michigan, related to the ongoing denial of human rights to water, sanitation and housing to thousands of residents.
• ESCR-Net sent a second letter to the Government of Cambodia, commending the release of seven women human rights defenders but urging further action to address the forced evictions and related economic and social rights violations that have affected their families and communities.
• The Treaty Initiative facilitated its first Asia-Pacific regional consultationand strategy meeting in Thailand, co-hosted by ESCR-Net’s Corporate Accountability Working Group, FIDH and APWLD.

• The NGO Coalition for the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on ESCR (OP-ICESCR) celebrated the second anniversary of the entry into force of the OP-ICESCR with events at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Banjul and the United Nations in NYC, calling for ongoing ratifications.
• The Monitoring of ESCR Working Group facilitated an online discussion on monitoring tax policy as a useful tool for assessing a state's compliance with the principle of progressive realization of human rights "to the maximum of its available resources."

Happening these days...

• Members of the Women and ESCR Working Group finished their Africa regional workshop and strategy exchange, co-hosted by Kenya Human Rights Commission. 
• Social Rights Action Centre (Canada) will represent the Strategic Litigation Working Group at the Human Rights Committee, participating in the formal briefing on Canada, on 7 July, at 11:30, and in a day of discussion on an emerging General Comment on Article 6 (Right to Life) on 14 July.
• The ESCR-Net Corporate Accountability Working Group will participate in the first meeting of the UN Intergovernmental Working Group, which will begin the process of developing a treaty on human rights and business on 6-10 July, in Geneva.
• The Strategic Litigation Working Group will facilitate a workshop with Endorois community leaders on registration and other issues related to implementation of the African Commission recommendations on 4-5 July, in Kenya.
• ESCR-Net will participate in the 2015 Public Interest Law Gathering in South Africa, co-hosted by CALS, LRC, Section27, and SERI, on 22-24 July.