This update provides information about:

The Committee’s 68th and 1st virtual Session

The Committee will open its 68th session on the 28th of September. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this session promises to be quite unlike any previous session, taking place entirely online and mostly in private.

Learn more

The Committee have confirmed that they will postpone the scheduled dialogues with States parties until the 69th Session and will not have a meeting with States parties. Instead, the Committee will work in both plenary and working groups to:

Decide communications
Draft General Comments
Discuss working methods, such as the how to implement the predictable review calendar and the simplified reporting procedure
Consider draft Lists of issues/Lists of issues prior to reporting
Adopt its draft annual report.

Most session meetings will be private, with the notable exception of the public opening and closing. Both of these will be webcast. For further information on Session 68, including a schedule of the Committee’s activities (not yet available), see here.

It will be possible for civil society to re-submit information in advance of the State dialogues that will now take place at the 69th session (Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Kuwait, Latvia, Nicaragua). Input should be received by mid-January at the latest.

The Committee will welcome Mr Hennebel (Belgium) as a new member for the 68th Session. Mr Hennebel replaces Mr De Schutter, who resigned on 1st May in order to take up the position of UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights.

The Recent Elections for Committee Members

Elections for the Committee members who will begin their term on the 1st January 2021 took place on the 14th September in New York, after being delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Click below to see the results.

Learn more

African States:

Mr. Mohamad Ezzeldine Abdel-Moneim (Egypt) (re-elected)
Mr. Mohammed Amarti (Morocco) (elected)
Ms. Sandra Liebenberg (South Africa) (not-elected)

Asian States:

Mr. Seree Nonthasoot (Thailand) (elected)
Mr. Shen Yongxiang (China) (elected)

Western Europe and Other States:

Mr. Michael Windfuhr (Germany) (re-elected)
Mr. Mikel Mancisidor (Spain) (re-elected)
Ms. Hilal Elver (Turkey) (not-elected)

Latin American and the Caribbean States:

Ms. Lydia Carmelita Ravenberg (Suriname) (re-elected)

Eastern Europe States:

Ms. Laura Maria Crăciunean–Tatu (Romania) (re-elected)
Mr. Nadir Adilov (Azerbaijan) (elected)

The results further worsen what was already a poor gender balance on the Committee. Whilst women currently make up 6 of 18 members, from 2021 there will be only 5: a mere 27.7% of total members.

It is also disappointing to lose a Committee member as accomplished as Ms Liebenberg (South Africa). We would like to thank her for her tireless work throughout the four years that she has been a member of the Committee.

The Yearbook of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

The GI-ESCR’s third annual Yearbook on the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights will be published on the 28th September 2020, the opening day of the upcoming 68th session. The Yearbook collates the full range of the Committee’s activity throughout 2019 into a simple, easy to access format. Watch this space!