Section 12: Resources on the OP

12.3 Human Rights Council Resolutions

• Resolution 8/2 Approving the OP-ICESCR by Consensus

12.4 The Open Ended Working Group: Key Documents

Included in this section are some of the key documents that have emerged from the 2004 and 2005 sessions of the OEWG on the OP.

12.4.1 2004 Session

Note by the secretariat from the first session of the working group E/CN.4/2004/WG.23/CRP.1

Report from the First Session of the Open-Ended Working Group to consider options for an Optional Protocol to ICESCR (2004) E/CN.4/2004/44

12.4.2 2005 Session

Programme of work 2005

Comparative summary of existing communications and inquiry procedures and practices under international human rights instruments and under the UN system Report of the Secretary-General E/CN.4/2005/WG.23/2

Report from the Second Session of the Open-Ended Working Group to consider options for an Optional Protocol to ICESCR (2005) E/CN.4/2005/52

Statement by Ms. Louise Arbour - High Commissioner for Human Rights to the Second session of the OEWG

12.4.3 2006 Session

Programme of work 2006

Report from the Third Session of the Open-Ended Working Group to consider options for an Optional Protocol to ICESCR (2006) E/CN.4/2006/447

2006  Joint Submission by Non-Governmental Organisations, on behalf of the NGO Coalition

E/CN.4/2006/WG.23/2: Elements for an optional protocol to the ICESCR – Analytical paper by the Chairperson-Rapporteur

Statement by Ms. Louise Arbour - High Commissioner for Human Rights to the Third  session of the OEWG

12.4.4 2007 Session

The First Draft Optional Protocol (A/HRC/6/WG.4/2)

Statement by Ms. Louise Arbour - High Commissioner for Human Rights to the Fourth  session of the OEWG

Report from the Fourth Session of the Open-Ended Working Group for an optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights A/HRC/6/8 30 August 2007

12.5 Civil Society

This section contains statements and materials prepared by some national, regional and international NGOs as well as academic institutions that support the OP-ICESCR. If you want to include your organisation's statements and advocacy materials around the OP-ICESCR, please send them to us.

12.5.1 NGO Coalition for an OP-ICESCR

• 2004 Joint Submission by Non-Governmental Organisations, Human Rights Institutions and Civil Society Groups
• 2004 Statement by the NGO Coalition during the first session of OEWG
• 2005 Statements made by the NGO Coalition during the 2005 OEWG
  • Opening Statement (10 Jan 2005)
  • Statement on Options (19 Jan 2005)
• 2005 Statement to the Human Rights Commission
• 2008 Written Statement to the Human Rights Council
• 2008 Press Release Announcing the Human Rights Council Approval of the OP-ICESCR
• 2008 Statement Addressed to the UN General Assembly
• 2008 Press Release Announcing the Adoption of the OP-ICESCR by the UN General Assembly

12.5.2 Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE)

• Opening Statement
• Statement on Options on the Complementarity of Complaint Mechanisms
• Statement on Options Regarding an Optional Protocol
• Statement on the Right to Social Security
• 50 Leading Cases on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
• Adjudicating Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

12.5.3 FoodFirst Information and Action Network (FIAN)

• Intervention of FIAN on Options for the Optional Protocol
• FIAN Optional Protocol page
• Justiciability of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Right to Food Journal

12.5.4 International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)

• Fact Sheets
• Opening Statement
• Statement on Parts I & II of the Covenant
• Statement of Part III of the Covenant
• Closing Statement
• Report of the European Roundtable on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Hosted by the Government of Portugal and the International Commission of Jurists (2004)
• Report of the International Conference on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Hosted by the Republic of Croatia and the International Commission of Jurists (2003)
• Report of the Expert's Roundtable Concerning Issues Central to the Proposed Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, hosted by the International Commission of Jurists (2002)
• Report of the Roundtable on the Draft Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, hosted by the International Commission of Jurists (2001)

12.5.5 International Women's Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific (IWRAW Asia Pacific)

• 2003 Statement by IWRAW Asia Pacific to the Commission on Human Rights
• 2004 Statement by IWRAW Asia Pacific to the Commission on Human Rights
• 2004 Presentation by Tulika Srivastava, "ESCR: Emerging Challenges in Relation to the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights"
• 2005 Statements by IWRAW Asia Pacific to the Open-Ended Working Group
  • 12 January
  • 14 January
  • 18 January

12.5.6 Amnesty International

• Statement

12.5.7 Center for Economic and Social Rights

• 2001 Intervention to the Human Rights Commission

12.5.8 CETIM

• Moving forward to approving an Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

12.5.9 Institute for Human Rights, K.U.Leuven

• Leuven Statement on an Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

12.5.10 International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

• Press Release

If your organization has not been included here, we invite you to share with us your work for the adoption of an OP-ICESCR.

12.6 Recommended References/Articles:

This article raises good points in favour of an OP-ICESCR:

Bruce Porter, The Right to be Heard: The Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. What's at Stake? Available at http://www.hri.ca/tribune/onlineissue/V11-3-2005/Optional_Protocol.html

Kitty Arambulo, Drafting an Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Can an Ideal Become a Reality?, 2 University of California Davis Journal of International Law and Policy 111 (1996)

This article raises points against an OP-ICESCR (written from the point of view of the U.S. Department of State)

Michael J. Dennis and David P. Stewart, Justiciability of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Should There be an International Complaints Mechanism to Adjudicate the Right to Food, Water, Housing and Health?, 98 American Journal of International Law 462 (2004)

This article is an excellent background on the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights:

Philip Alston, Out of the Abyss: The Challenges Confronting the New U.N. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 9 Human Rights Quarterly 332 (1987)

La necesidad de adoptar un Protocolo Facultativo al Pacto Internacional de derechos económicos, sociales y culturales Autor: Magdalena Sepúlveda

12.7 Governments' positions on the OP-ICESCR

In this section you will find the positions of several Governments on the Optional Protocol. Please share with us any additional information that you might have by sending an email to escr-just@yahoogroups.com.

European Union

You'll find the country position's of Canada, Chile, Croatia, Cuba, Mauritius, Norway, Sweden and USA attached at the bottom of this page.