68th Session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, October 2020
From 28th September to 16th October 2020, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) held its 68th session. Due to the pandemic, it was held entirely online.
Whilst these exceptional circumstances gave rise to the occasional technical problem, the session for the most part proceeded smoothly. The session consisted of approximately four hours of on-line meetings each day. Due to limitations on the availability of the UN’s interpretation platform, some of the Committee’s meetings were conducted without interpretation. Since the Committee was not holding Dialogues with States, the majority of the session, other than the opening and closing sessions, was closed to observers. The Committee did hear from civil society groups during the opening session and in respect of the preparation of Lists of Issues and Lists of Issues Prior to Reporting.
Both the Secretariat and the Committee members deserve enormous praise for their efforts to adapt to these difficult conditions, with meetings taking place on multiple different platforms and across a range of different time zones.
This update contains information on:
State Reporting Procedure
Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Committee decided to postpone all of the Dialogues with States parties that had been scheduled for this session.
The 67th pre-sessional working group, which met between the 19th – 23rd October, did however adopt Lists of Issues (LOIs) on the State reports received from El Salvador, Guatemala, Luxembourg, Tajikistan and Yemen, as well as Lists of Issues Prior to Reporting (LOIPRs) for Sweden. These documents may all be found on the session page.
Communications under the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR
The Committee examined three communications under the Optional Protocol and declared each one of them inadmissible. Only one of these communications, A. M. O. y J. M. U v Spain, has been published. This complaint concerned the question of whether a potential eviction for occupation without legal title was compatible with the right to housing, and was declared inadmissible due to a lack of sufficient substantiation (art. 3 (2) (e) OP-ICESCR). The Committee’s decision is currently only available in Spanish.
Three Communications were also discontinued by the Committee, although in two of these it was as a result of the fact that the authors had found a solution to the situation that led them to submit the complaint.
The Committee also published its second follow-up progress report on its decided cases. Through the follow-up procedure the Committee evaluates the extent to which States have implemented its recommendations. It makes its determination on the basis of submissions that it receives from the State, the author, and, from time to time, third parties such as NGOs.
The report, which may be found here, followed-up on three different communications:
The Committee concluded that Spain’s implementation of its Views in the communication I.D.G. v. Spain had been “largely satisfactory”. Accordingly, it concluded the follow-up to this Communication, the first time that the Committee has ever closed a follow-up process. GI-ESCR’s summary of the case and the follow-up procedure may be accessed here.
The Committee welcomed the fact that its recommendations in the communication of Trujillo Calero v. Ecuador had led to negotiations between the State and the author over the amount of a monthly pension and compensation the author was due. As an agreement had not yet been found the Committee stated that it “encourages the parties to continue their dialogue in good faith to reach an agreement”. The Committee also determined that Ecuador had not implemented the Committee’s General Recommendations, and as such decided to continue the follow-up process. GI-ESCR’s summary of the case and the follow up procedure may be accessed here.
In relation to the communication S.C. and G P. v. Italy, the Committee determined that “its recommendations have not yet been implemented” and thus opted to continue the follow-up procedure. GI-ESCR’s summary of the case and the follow up procedure may be accessed here.
Thematic work and Proposed General Comments
The Committee discussed the first draft of a General Comment on Covenant obligations as they relate to Land, which it hopes to publish in the coming months. The Committee will likely invite stakeholder feedback on the draft in early 2021.
The Committee continued to debate the best way to proceed with the development of a General Comment on Sustainable Development and Economic Social and Cultural Rights. It also intends to prepare a Statement on access to vaccines and treatment, an issue which is particularly pertinent in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
CESCR Day of Discussion on land and the ICESCR
Procedural matters
Simplified Reporting Procedure
It was decided that the Committee’s Simplified Reporting Procedure will be offered to all States. The Committee also agreed to move to a predictable 8-year calendar. A fixed public calendar will be developed with the first LOIPRs under this new calendar commencing in 2022 and the first Dialogues in 2024. This calendar will be co-ordinated with the Human Rights Committee in order to minimise the burden on States.
Rules of Procedure for Individual Communications
The Committee’s Working Group on Individual Communications have been mandated to submit a draft of the revised provisional Rules of Procedure for its discussion in plenary at the next session.
Palais Wilson, Geneva
Armenian Ratification of the Optional Protocol
On the 13 Oct 2020 Armenia became the 25th party to have ratified the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, having previously added their signature to the treaty in 2009. This is very welcome news, as they are the first State to ratify the Optional Protocol in two years.
Membership
At this session the Committee welcomed its newest member, Mr Ludovic Hennebel, who has replaced Mr Oliver De Schutter.
This was the final session of the terms of Mr. Shiqiu Chen (China), Ms. Sandra Liebenberg (South Africa) and Mr. Zdzislaw Kedzia (Poland), all of whom will be leaving the Committee at the end of the year. On behalf of GI-ESCR, we would like to thank them for their hard work and commitment to the advancement of economic, social and cultural rights.
As the Committee has been operating with just 17 members since the death of Mr Waleed Sadi, it will welcome four new members in its next session: Mr Mohammed Amarti (Morocco); Mr Seree Nonthasoot (Thailand); Mr Shen Yongxiang (China); and Mr Nadir Adilov (Azerbaijan).
A new Chair will also be elected at the next session, with Mr Renato Zerbini Ribeiro Leão (Brazil) stepping down.
The Next Session and Online Reviews
The 69th session will commence on the 15th of February 2021. There is no decision yet as to whether the 69th session will be in-person or on-line. The Committee agreed that it will make public its decision about whether the session will be held in-person or online, no later than 2 months before the start of the session - ie. 15 December 2020.
In the likely event that it will not be possible to conduct in-person State reviews at the next session, members of the Committee have agreed to conduct online reviews of at least two State party reports, considering it “absolutely necessary” that the Committee continues to exercise its core monitoring function. It has not yet been decided which States will be selected for review in this manner, with the Committee planning to enter into dialogue with States so as to gain an understanding of both their opinion regarding online reviews and their technical capacities. Information will be uploaded to the session page as it becomes available.
The Committee has confirmed the States for which List of Issues which will be adopted at the 68th Pre-Sessional Working Group (8th– 12th March 2021). These are: Brazil, Cambodia, China (Hong Kong and Macau), Lithuania, Panama and Portugal. Further information, including the State Party reports, may be found on the session page.