70th Session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, September- October 2021
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) held its 70th session from 27 Sep to 15 Oct 2021.
While representatives of State Parties were meeting in person in Geneva at the UN, other stakeholders, such as civil society, could only join the sessions virtually.
The following update contains information on:
State Reporting Procedure
The hybrid format of the sessions were challenging given the online connection through WebEx which often caused for delays and cut-off speaking. Nevertheless, the sessions took place in an orderly manner.
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
CESCR held dialogues with Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kuwait and Nicaragua. All States answered the Committee’s questions in two 3-hour sessions at the Palais des Nations or Palais Wilson in Geneva. Other stakeholders, including civil society, were called to join virtually. .
The session was opened by the chair, highlighting the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting increased backlog of the Committee due to the online meeting format.
State representatives were asked to address a number of questions related to their country situations, including climate change, independence of national human rights bodies, and business and human rights, as well as issues under specific articles of the Covenant.
Since then, the Committee has published its concluding observations to each State which can be found on the session page for Azerbaijan, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kuwait and Nicaragua.
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.
During the 70th session, the Committee has followed up with the reports of Cameroon, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Mauritius, and South Africa. Corresponding letters are available here.
Unfortunately, for most of the states insufficient progress was made towards implementing the Committee’s recommendations. The Committee received two NGO submissions for its follow-up on Kazakhstan and four civil society submissions and one NHRI submission for its follow-up on South Africa. 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 69th Pre-Sessional Working Group (a sub-group of the Committee) met from the 18th-22nd October 8th and adopted Lists of Issues in relation to reports received from Armenia, Chad, Mauritania, Qatar, Romania and State of Palestine.
The List of Issues are now available here.
Communications under the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR
The Committee considered three 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 three communications examined by the Committee:
Two were found to be inadmissible
One was found to reveal violations of the Covenant
The Committee also decided to discontinue its examination of three communications.
The Committee’s decisions can be found on the session page. Those that have already been published are currently available in Spanish or French only.
A summary of each decision will be made available on GI-ESCR’s CESCR Jurisprudence webpage in the coming weeks.
Forthcoming General Comments
The Committee has been holding the workshops for its General Comment on Sustainable Development and Economic Social and Cultural Rights in Africa and the Americas. GI-ESCR participated in the Americas consultation. Upcoming workshops are taking place in Geneva, Switzerland, on 9 November 2021 and in Bangkok, Thailand, 16 November 2021. The Committee has announced future possibilities of engagement, including providing written inputs on a zero draft once a draft is ready and made available on the Committee’s webpage.
The latest draft of the General Comment on Land is currently being reviewing by the Committee. It remains unsure whether a next revised draft will be shared with the public for further input.
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.
The deadline for submissions to the draft rules of Procedure was on 15 August. 2021 (see GI-ESCRs and other ESCR-Net members’ contribution here). The Working Group on individual communications will study the contributions and will revise the draft which will then be presented to the Committee for further consideration and subsequent adoption
The Next Session and Online Reviews
The CESCR will open its 70th Session on 27 September 2021.
The CESCR will open its 71st Session on 14 February 2022. The Committee is proceeding under the assumption that the next session will be held in person and that it will be reviewing Bahrain, Belarus, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, El Salvador, Guatemala, Serbia and Uzbekistan. Uncertainties about El Salvador’s participation remain.
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 beginning of January, six weeks prior to the session. The deadline for submissions is 14 January 2022.
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.
The Committee will also hold its 70th Pre-Sessional Working Group from 7 – 11 March 2022.
The Committee has confirmed that it will adopt Lists of Issues for Albania, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland and Kyrgyzstan. It will also adopt a List of Issues Prior to Reporting on Australia.
Further information, including the State Party reports, may be found on the session page.