Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Concludes Seventy-Sixth Session after Adopting Concluding Observations on Reports of Albania, Cyprus, Honduras, Iceland, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi and Poland

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights this afternoon concluded its seventy-sixth session after adopting concluding observations on the reports of Albania, Cyprus, Honduras, Iceland, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi and Poland.

Laura-Maria Craciunean-Tatu, Committee Chair, said the concluding observations on the reports of the seven countries reviewed during the session would be made available on the webpage of the session on Monday, 30 September, in the afternoon. 

The Chair said that during the session, in addition to engaging with the seven States parties, the Committee had considered follow-up reports, conducted work on communications under the Optional Protocol, and discussed draft and future general comments.

The Committee also adopted assessments on the follow-up reports to concluding observations for Azerbaijan and Bolivia.  It urged other States to submit follow-up reports which were overdue or due. The assessments would be transmitted to the States concerned and made available publicly in the weeks to come.

Under the Optional Protocol, the Committee had adopted decisions relating to 27 individual communications.  It found violations of the Covenant in two cases against Finland, concerning the rights of indigenous peoples and expanding jurisprudence in the area of cultural rights.  The Committee also adopted a lead decision in a case against Spain, finding violations of the Covenant regarding the right to housing.  The Committee also discontinued the consideration of 24 cases concerning the right to housing. 

The Committee had approved a draft of its general comment on economic, social and cultural rights and the environmental dimension of sustainable development, which would be revised as discussed during the session and would then be circulated publicly with a call for contributions, hopefully next month. 

Ms. Craciunean-Tatu said this session would not be followed by a pre-sessional working group, which was cancelled due to the liquidity situation.  Work originally envisaged for the pre-sessional working group has been postponed to sessions in 2025. 

At the seventy-seventh session, the Committee would review the periodic State party reports of Croatia, Kenya, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda and the United Kingdom.  The Committee would adopt lists of issues for the reports of Cabo Verde, North Macedonia and Turkmenistan.  It would also consider the follow-up reports of Serbia and Uzbekistan.

Ms. Craciunean-Tatu encouraged States parties to submit reports under the regular reporting procedure, including long overdue reports, until the Committee was able to generalise its simplified reporting procedure and operationalise the eight-year predictable review cycle.  This was not yet possible due to the lack of available resources.  The Committee was pleased to see the Pact for the Future made reference to the importance of adequate, predictable, increased and sustainable financing of the human rights mechanisms. 

The Committee had not yet held dialogues with 25 States parties that had not submitted their initial reports.  The periodic reports of 53 States were also overdue, at least 16 of which for more than 10 years.  The capacity-building programme established pursuant to the United Nations General Assembly resolution 68/268 was available to offer support to States requiring technical assistance in this regard.

In closing, Ms. Craciunean-Tatu thanked the Committee and all who had contributed to the busy and successful session.  She paid tribute to the five Committee members whose term would end in December 2024 and thanked them for their work. 

In its seventy-seventh session, to be held from 10 to 28 February 2025, the Committee will review the reports of Croatia, Kenya, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda and the United Kingdom. 

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CESCR24.017E