62nd session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (18 September – 6 October 2017)
From 18 September to 6 October 2017, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) held its 62nd session.
The Committee held its regular informal meeting with States which involved a discussion of the work of the Committee and States sharing their views on its work. The Chair began with a summary of the on-going work of the Committee and other Committee members provided updates in relation to communications under the OP-ICESCR and on General Comments.
Approximately forty States attended the meeting. As with previous Informal meetings with States, Russia was the most vocal, particularly as having been reviewed during the session, it was able to offer fresh feedback on its experience of the Dialogue with the Committee. Russia noted its concerns about: the lack of interpretation and translation into the 6 UN working languages; that the composition of the country taskforce lacked regional expertise and language expertise; the Committee goes beyond its mandate and this will have budgetary implications; that the Committee appeared to value information submitted by civil society over information submitted by States; and that the work on General Comments was concerning as it involved the imposition of new obligations on States.
The other States that intervened were Finland, Canada, Spain and Bangladesh. Canada was interested in how the Committee worked with other treaty bodies where there were overlapping issues. Spain was interested in the work on a General Comment on the right to science. Bangladesh asked about the List of Issues and the pilot process of the List of Issues Prior to Reporting. Finland welcomed the new procedures on follow-up and asked about the simplified reporting procedure.
The Committee members responded with in depth information on these topics. It pointed out that the issue of language was imposed on it by the General Assembly resolution 68/268 which cut the budget for interpretation and translation and the Committee would welcome States pursuing a return to the situation of translation and interpretation in the 6 UN working languages. Of particular interest, was the Committee’s defence of the topics that it works on, which it insisted were within the mandate of the Committee under the Covenant. Russia had specifically objected to the Committee raising climate change in its dialogue with the State Party and the Committee strongly emphasised that climate change had serious impacts on a wide range of ESC rights and was of vital importance to the ability of States to fulfil ESC rights. The Committee also underlined that the Sustainable Development Agenda is also inherently linked to ESC rights and they hoped that States are taking human rights into account in those processes.
The Committee also held private meetings with the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, Ms Catalina Devandas, and with the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises.
State Reporting Procedure
The Committee considered the State Party reports for the following States:
Colombia, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova and the Russian Federation
The Committee has published its Concluding Observations for these States HERE.
Mexico was postponed and the dialogue with Mexico will be held during the March 2018 session of the Committee. The exact date has not yet been published.
Communications under the OP-ICESCR
The Committee considered 1 Communication during this session and found it inadmissible. The documentation is being finalised and the decision will be published HERE in the coming weeks.
Overall, the Committee has registered 22 Communications to date, 12 of which were found inadmissible, 2 were discontinued/withdrawn, 3 were found admissible and considered on the merits and 5 cases remain pending before the Committee. Of the 3 considered on the merits, in 2 cases the Committee found a violation and in 1 case no violation was found.
Watch out for our short Blog on the Communications under the OP-ICESCR to date, which we will publish soon.
Proposed General Comments
The Committee continued its consideration of proposed General Comments on: article 15 (b) the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications; and on land and ESC rights.
Pre-session
The Pre-session was held from 9 – 13 October 2017, and the Pre-sessional Working Group adopted Lists of Issues in respect of the reports of Argentina, Germany, South Africa and Turkmenistan.
The Lists of Issues are available HERE.
Elections
The next elections for membership of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights will be held in April 2018 in New York (in the ECOSOC). The terms of 9 current members (ie. half the members) will expire on 31 December 2018 and the elections in April will determine who will hold those 9 seats.
For CESCR, the seats are allocated between the different geographical groups, as follows:
Nominations are due by 22 December 2017. As at 31 October, for 3 of the 9 seats available, the incumbent member has been re-nominated. Only States can nominate candidates, but civil society can make suggestions to States.
Further information is available HERE.
Next Sessions
The sixty-third session of the Committee will be held from 12 – 29 March 2018 during which the Committee will consider the reports of:
Bangladesh, the Central African Republic, Mexico, New Zealand, Niger and Spain
The deadline for civil society reports/submissions in respect of the review of these countries is 12 February 2018.
It should be noted that for Bangladesh, CAR and Niger, the review process is slightly different. The Initial State Reports for these countries were long overdue and so the Committee offered them the opportunity to move straight to the Dialogue with the State. This means that there is no List of Issues and no pre-session for these countries.
The Programme of Work for the 63rd session (including dates for the Dialogues) is not yet available but will be posted in the coming weeks.
Immediately following the 63rd session, the Committee’s Pre-sessional Working Group will meet during the week of 2 – 6 April 2018 and will consider the List of Issues for:
Cameroon, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Mauritius, Slovakia
Civil society Parallel reports in respect of the List of Issues for these countries should be submitted to the CESCR Secretariat by 23 January 2018 at the very latest.