69th Session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, February - March 2021
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) held its 69th session from 15 Feb to 5 March 2021.
Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, this session was the second CESCR session to be held online. Unlike the first online session, the Committee held its first online dialogues with two State delegations, finalising its reviews of Latvia and Finland.
The following update contains information on:
New Committee Members
Four new members were welcomed during this Committee session:
Mr Mohammed Amarti (Morocco);
Mr Seree Nonthasoot (Thailand);
Mr Shen Yongxiang (China); and
Mr Nadir Adilov (Azerbaijan).
New CESCR member Mr Mohammed Amarti makes his solemn declaration at the public opening of the Committee.
Committee member Mr Michael Windfuhr presents questions to the delegation of Finland.
State Reporting Procedure
The CESCR’s online dialogues with Latvia and Finland marked the first time that it has conducted online State dialogues.
Committee members also adopted several new Lists of Issues in respect of reports that it had received from other State parties, and considered five follow-up reports.
State Dialogue
Latvia and Finland each answered the Committee’s questions during three two-hour online meetings. State representatives were asked to address a number of questions related to the coronavirus pandemic, including questions related to emergency measures, the closure of schools, and domestic and international access to vaccines.
Whilst a number of minor technical issues interrupted the dialogues with both the delegations of Latvia and Finland, the meetings proceeded relatively smoothly and the Committee was able to engage in a fruitful dialogue with both States.
The CESCR has since published its Concluding Observations on the review of Finland and Latvia, both of which may be accessed on the session page.
Follow-up to Concluding Observations
In 2017 the Committee put in place a ‘follow-up procedure’ to review the implementation of its Concluding Observations to States. The process involves the Committee identifying three Concluding Observations that it considers particularly important and asking the State to report back on its implementation of those Concluding Observations. The Committee reviewed 5 state follow-up reports during the present session (Argentina, Moldova, Germany, Niger and Turkmenistan).
Unfortunately, for most of the states insufficient progress was made towards implementing the Committee’s recommendations. The Committee also received only two NGO submissions for its follow-up review of Argentina and Moldova, and none for Germany, Niger and Turkmenistan. As NGO information is essential for the follow-up assessment, the Committee has asked that NGOs check the schedule for the submission of follow-up reports.
List of Issues
The 68th Pre-Sessional Working Group (a sub-group of the Committee) met from the 8th - 12th March and adopted Lists of Issues in relation to reports received from Brazil, Cambodia, China, China (Hong Kong), China (Macau), Lithuania, Panama and Portugal.
The Lists of Issues will soon be made available on the session webpage.
Communications under the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR
The Committee considered five communications submitted under the Optional Protocol.
In keeping with well established trends within the Committee’s jurisprudence, each of the cases concerned an alleged violation of the right to housing.
A protest against evictions takes place in the Spanish city of Zaragoza.
Photo Credit: Juanedc / CC BY 2.0
Out of the five communications examined by the Committee:
Two were found to be inadmissible
Two were found to reveal violations of the Covenant
The Committee also decided to discontinue its examination of 16 communications.
The Committee’s decisions will be published on the session page in due course. Those that have already been published are currently available in Spanish only.
A summary of each decision will be made available on GI-ESCR’s CESCR Jurisprudence webpage in the coming weeks.
Statement on universal affordable vaccination for COVID-19, international cooperation and intellectual property
The Committee published a Statement on universal affordable vaccination for COVID-19, international cooperation and intellectual property.
The Statement builds on the Committee’s previous Statements on COVID-19 in April and December 2020 and focuses on the global inequalities which have emerged in relation to access to vaccines.
Members of the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights have proved unable to reach agreement over the proposed waiver to the TRIPS Agreement.
Photo Credit: World Trade Organization/CC BY-ND 2.0
The Statement stresses that access to COVID-19 vaccines is an essential component of both the right to health and the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress (ICESCR Art 12 & 15) and, in that context, discusses vaccine nationalism and the adverse impact of the global intellectual property rights rules contained within the TRIPS Agreement. The Committee “strongly recommends” that States support the proposal within the WTO of a temporary waiver to provisions in the TRIPS Agreement, so as to allow for an efficient and effective global recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.
GI-ESCR’s short summary of the statement may be accessed here.
The CESCR’s full statement may be accessed here.
Forthcoming General Comments
The Committee has completed a draft of its forthcoming General Comment on Land and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The draft will be made available on the Committee’s website in the coming weeks. Following the publication of the draft, it is expected that civil society will have several months within which to submit their comments on the draft to the Committee.
The Committee has also made progress in relation to its development of a General Comment on Sustainable Development and Economic Social and Cultural Rights. It has been agreed that the Committee will hold four online regional workshops on the proposed General Comment in August/September 2021, with a view to developing a first draft in 2022. Further information on the workshops is expected to be released soon.
Updated Draft Rules of Procedure
The Committee has recently been engaged in updating its Draft Rules of Procedure under the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR.
It is expected that the updated Draft Rules will be made public on the Committee’s website in the coming weeks. Following publication, the Committee will invite comments from interested stakeholders.
Annual Meeting with NGOs
On Friday 5th March the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights hosted its annual meeting with civil society, engaging in a productive online discussion with NGO representatives from across the world.
With 14 Committee members in attendance, the meeting provided NGOs with the opportunity to raise a variety of important questions and to suggest ways in which the Committee’s functioning could be improved.
Palais Wilson, Geneva
NGO representatives engaged with Committee members on a rich range of different issues, including the Committee’s working methods, its transition to online work and its forthcoming General Comments. A variety of thematic issues were also discussed, including the Committee’s work as it relates to global food systems, business and human rights, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both Committee members and NGO representatives stressed that they had found the meeting to be a very useful event, and expressed a desire to see the arrangement continue next year.
The Next Session and Online Reviews
The CESCR will open its 70th Session on 27 September 2021.
The Committee is proceeding on the assumption that it will be possible to conduct the next session in person and as such plans to review Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kuwait, and Nicaragua.
Civil society organisations and National Human Rights institutions that wish to submit information for the review of these countries should strive to do so by mid-August, six weeks prior to the session.
Due to the ongoing effects of the coronavirus pandemic, it is accepted that there is a significant possibility that in-person meetings will not be possible. The current schedule should thus be treated with caution, as it is liable to change.
A decision as to whether to proceed with an in-person session will be made in early July. Any changes to the programme will be reflected on the session page.
The Committee will also hold its 69th Pre-Sessional Working Group from 18 - 22 October 2021.
The Committee has confirmed that it will adopt Lists of Issues for Armenia, Chad, Mauritania, Qatar, Romania, and the State of Palestine.
Further information, including the State Party reports, may be found on the session page.