Written statement* submitted by Amnesty International, a non-governmental organization in special consultative status

Subtitle: 

COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS                                          

Fifty-ninth session

Item 10 of the provisional agenda

                                                                                   

 

ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

 

 

 

The Secretary-General has received the following written statement which is circulated in accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31.

 

                                                                                                                     
[3 February 2003]

 

 

*This written statement is issued, unedited, in the language(s) received from the submitting non-governmental organization(s).

 

 

GE.03-11870

 


An optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

 

The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights in June 1993, confirmed the universality, indivisibility, interrelatedness and interdependence of all human rights[1] and called on the Commission, in cooperation with the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, “to continue the examination of optional protocols to the ICESCR”.[2]  Yet, nearly a decade later there is still no initiative underway to draft an individual complaints procedure under this Covenant.  The benefits of an optional protocol have been enumerated by both the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and by NGOs: 

 

- An optional protocol to the ICESCR would provide individuals and groups with international recourse with respect to violations of economic, social and cultural rights;

- It  would mark an important step towards strengthening the principle of progressive realization of social, economic and cultural rights to which states parties to the ICESCR have committed themselves;

- The consideration of specific cases of violations of economic, social and cultural rights would contribute to the development of jurisprudence;

- It would strengthen the relationship between the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and states parties by creating an impetus at the national level for states parties to ensure effective national implementation of the rights guaranteed in the ICESCR; and,

- It would further support the interdependence and indivisibility of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights;

 

The 57th session of the Commission (2001) appointed an Independent Expert to examine the question of a draft optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and to submit a report to the 58th session (2002).  In his report, the Independent Expert noted that the system of economic, social and cultural rights had lagged behind in development compared to the system which is in place for civil and political rights.  He also raised a number of issues which he considered warranted further study, including which specific set of rights in the ICESCR should be covered by the proposed new procedure, whether the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights would be the appropriate body to consider individual complaints, the criteria for such complaints and the nature and scope of any remedies. 

 

The resolution on economic, social and cultural rights[3] adopted by the 58th session of the Commission included several references to the need to elaborate an optional protocol to the ICESCR: 

 

- It extended the mandate of the Independent Expert and requested him to address in his report to the 59th session “the question of the nature and scope of state parties’ obligations” under the ICESCR, the conceptual issues of “justiciability of economic, social and cultural rights”, and “the benefits and practicability of a complaint mechanism under the Covenant”;

- It further decided to establish, at its 59th session, an open-ended working group of the Commission to consider options relating to the elaboration of an optional protocol to the ICESCR.

 

Amnesty International calls on the Commission on Human Rights to adopt a resolution to:

 

- Establish without delay an open-ended inter-sessional working group of the Commission to elaborate a draft optional protocol to the ICESCR, as established by Resolution 2002/24, in close cooperation with the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Independent Expert, and relevant Special Rapporteurs, and on the basis of the guidelines contained in the annex to the report of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights[4];

 

- Request the working group to meet between sessions for a minimum of two weeks before the 60th session of the Commission;

 

- Request the Secretary-General to provide the working group with the necessary assistance.



[1]  Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, Article 5.

[2]  Ibid, Article 75.

[3]  Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2002/24.

[4]  E/CN.4/1997/105

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