ESCR-Net Legal Opinion – HRC, Toussaint v. Canada

This legal opinion is presented in response to a request by the Author to provide an expert view on issues raised in Communication No. 2348/2014 that may be of assistance to the Human Rights Committee (Committee). 

The members of ESCR-Net’s Strategic Litigation Working Group which led in the drafting of this opinion were: 

• The Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS): CELS is a non-governmental organization that has been working since 1979 to promote and protect human rights, and to strengthen the democratic system in Argentina. 
• The Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR): CESR was founded in 1993 and it seeks to “uphold the universal human rights of every human being to education, health, food, water, housing, work, and other economic, social and cultural rights essential to human dignity.” It has supported work of civil society organizations before UN bodies with a focus on economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR), among a range of other projects. 
• The Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR): GI-ESCR was founded in 2010 with the mission to “advance the realization of economic, social and cultural rights throughout the world, tackling the endemic problem of global poverty through a human rights lens”. It has given support to litigation and directly litigated specific ESCR cases, including before the Committee. 
• The Social Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI): SERI was established in 2010 and, among other aims, it has sought “to develop socio-economic rights jurisprudence through strategic advocacy and litigation.” It has led extensive litigation on the right to housing in South Africa, including on the matter of evictions. 
• SECTION27 is a South Africa-based public interest law centre that seeks to influence, develop and use the law to protect, promote and advance human rights. 

Please download the legal opinion here.