Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Opens Seventy-First Session

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights today opened its seventy-first session, hearing opening remarks from Wan-Hea Lee, Chief of the Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Section, Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Representative of the Secretary-General. The Committee adopted its agenda and programme of work for the session, during which it is scheduled to review the reports of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Belarus, Czech Republic, Serbia, Uzbekistan and Bahrain.

Ms. Lee said the Committee was meeting at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic continued to expose structural and deepening inequalities as the world faced multiple crises. The Committee had provided considerable guidance in the last two years to assist States in addressing challenges triggered by the pandemic, and the measures taken to counter it. The United Nations Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights had responded to a succession of global shocks and trends since 2001 by calling for a new social contract anchored in human rights. Not least of those trends were the dramatically increasing inequality within and between nations, the debt crisis, climate change and now the pandemic. The Committee had emphasised that the obligations stemming from the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights should underpin the global recovery, including the 2019 statement on the world’s pledge in the Sustainable Development Goals, to “leave no one behind”. Ms. Lee said she was pleased to see concrete actions give effect to that pledge and looked forward to seeing further efforts by the Committee. Work was also under way in the Committee related to the draft general comment on land and the Covenant, as well as the ongoing consultation process related to the future general comment on sustainable development and the Covenant.

Ms. Lee provided an update regarding the treaty body strengthening process, noting that several comprehensive proposals had been put forward since the last update at the thirty-third annual meeting of the Chairs of treaty bodies. The High Commissioner had met with the Chairs of treaty bodies to discuss issues which included: the development of a predictable review calendar; the ongoing harmonisation; and digital transition to increase efficiency. The High Commissioner had conveyed her view to the Chairs that the treaty body system needed to be consolidated and unified. She encouraged them to develop a bold and creative proposal, which demonstrated the engagement of all Committees to further strengthen the treaty body system and attract support from Member States. Ms. Lee recognised that the Committee was among the treaty bodies more open to the proposals tabled so far and encouraged consultations on the issue to continue in an open and inclusive manner.

Mohamed Ezzeldin Abdel-Moneim, Chair of the Committee, provided an overview of conclusions drawn from meetings where he had represented the Committee. He said that the general comment on health needed to be urgently considered and potentially modified in light of COVID-19 and its implications for health systems. The new methods of work required modifications, as not all were suitable for fulfilling the requirements of the Covenant. Increased interaction between the Committee and research units would be beneficial and links with the Economic and Social Council needed to be reinforced. Mr. Abdel-Moneim concluded by thanking the Committee Experts and secretariat for their resilience and vigilance.

All the documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found at the session’s webpage. Public meetings of the session can be seen on the un webcast tv website.

The Committee will next meet in public this afternoon at 3 p.m. to starts its review of the sixth periodic report of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (E/C.12/COD/6).

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