GI-ESCR facilitated the organisation of the third annual civil society meeting of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

GI-ESCR organised for the third time the annual civil society meeting with the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) on 4. March 2022. 12 civil society organisations participated in the meeting with the Committee and shared their concerns and comments with the independent experts.

After opening remarks by the chair of the Committee and GI-ESCR, the committee updated civil society on its work during COVID-19 as well as the current status of the individual communications procedure and the draft general comments on land and on sustainable development.

Following the updates, civil society shared their inputs. Topic raised included the inclusion of people with lived experiences in CESCR review processes, International Financial Institutions, COVID-19 response measures, the general comment on land, vaccine inequality, and CESCR’s emergency response possibilities.

This meeting came at a timely moment where the pandemic has made access to UN Human Rights Mechanisms more difficult for civil society organisations and with COVID-19 measures being dropped in Geneva, Switzerland, where many UN Human Rights Mechanisms, including the UN Treaty Bodies are based. The holding of this meeting is once more proof for the importance of civil society to the CESCR and the importance of CESCR to civil society.