CENTRAL ASIAN GOVERNMENTS TO REVIEW IMPLEMENTATION OF MEASURES ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

27 March 2007


The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan open a three-day workshop tomorrow to review how the countries of Central Asia follow up recommendations for the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The meeting will bring together officials from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, as well as representatives of civil society and other experts, in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek from 28 to 30 March. The four countries have ratified the Covenant and required to report periodically to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on how they give effect to the treaty’s provisions. After reviewing country reports, the Committee issues “concluding observations” and recommendations for future progress.

The Covenant provides specifically for the rights to education, to work, to an adequate standard of living, to the highest attainable standard of health, to an adequate standard of housing, to benefit from scientific progress, and to take part in cultural life. It also provides that each individual shall be free from discrimination in the enjoyment of these rights. The Covenant, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights constitute the International Bill of Human Rights.

The workshop, the first of its kind in the region, also aims to assist the Kyrgyz Republic and Kazakhstan, which have not yet reported to the Committee, in preparing in-depth initial reports.

Askar Beshimov, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic, will open the workshop, along with Neal Walker, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in the Kyrgyz Republic. Among the international experts taking part in the meeting are Professor Virginia Bonoan-Dandan, Chairperson of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Professor Andrzej Rzeplinski, Member of the Committee;, and Professor Krassimir Kanev, Director of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee.