COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS CONCLUDES SIXTY-FIRST SESSION

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights closed its sixty-first session this morning, after adopting its concluding observations and recommendations on the reports of Australia, Uruguay, the Netherlands, Liechtenstein, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The Committee also adopted the General Comment no. 24 on State Obligations under the International Covenant in the context of business activities.

The Committee’s concluding observations and recommendations on the reports considered during the session will be available on the webpage of the session on Tuesday, 27 June by 6 p.m.

In her closing remarks, Maria Virginia Bras Gomes, Committee Chairperson, said that it had once again been a very busy session with State party reviews, consideration of communications, and a number of informal meetings with key stakeholders, including civil society. The Committee had conducted dialogues with representatives of six State parties with respect to their reports, namely Australia, Uruguay, the Netherlands, Liechtenstein, Sri Lanka and Pakistan; and had examined two communications under the Optional Protocol, declaring one inadmissible and one violation, which had been a good opportunity to develop the jurisprudence on admissibility requirements under the Optional Protocol, as well as on the interpretation of certain articles of the Covenant.

Further summing up the session, the Chair was very pleased to announce the adoption of the General Comment no.24 on State Obligations under the Covenant in the context of business activities, and had pursued discussions on future general comments including on the right to science and on land and economic, social and cultural rights. The Committee had discussed its working methods including regarding how best to proceed with a follow up procedures, and had adopted procedures both for follow up to concluding observations and for follow-up to views.

Turning to the engagement with other treaty bodies and the Special Procedures, Ms. Bras Gomes said that the Geneva Academy had hosted the Committee’s informal meeting with the Committee on the Rights of the Child to discuss the outcome of the High-Level Working Group on Health and Human Rights of Women, Children and Adolescents. It had also met with the Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Vitit Muntarbhorn, and with the Chair Rapporteur of the Working Group on the Rights of Peasants Nardi Suxo Iturry, Permanent Representative of Bolivia to the United Nations Office at Geneva. Numerous meetings had been held with non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions, in person and through good use of technology which allowed the Committee to hold discussions with persons unable to travel to Geneva, concluded Ms. Bras Gomes.

The sixty-second session of the Committee will be held in Geneva from 18 September to 6 October 2017, during which the reports from Colombia, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova and Russia will be considered.



For use of the information media; not an official record

ESC17/016E