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Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights concludes forty-fourth session

25 May 2010

Committee on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights

25 May 2010
FINAL ROUNDUP

Issues Concluding Observations and Recommendations on Reports of Colombia,
Algeria, Mauritius, Kazakhstan and Afghanistan

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has concluded its forty-fourth session and issued its concluding observations and recommendations on the reports of Colombia, Algeria, Mauritius, Kazakhstan and Afghanistan, which it considered during the session.

The countries considered by the Committee are among the 160 States parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which are required to submit periodic reports to the Committee on their efforts to implement the provisions of the treaty, which entered into force in 1976. The Committee concluded its work on 21 May and released its concluding observations and recommendations on the reports today.

Concerning the fourth periodic report of Colombia, the Committee welcomed the ratification by the State party of the Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Optional Protocol to the Convention of the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. The Committee expressed concerns about the impact of Colombia’s long standing internal conflict on the economic, social, and cultural rights of citizens, as well as violence against women, the treatment of indigenous populations, and high rates of unemployment in the country. It urged the State party to take immediate and effective measures to address the ongoing armed violence, promote employment opportunities, and strengthen laws to curb violence against women.

On the combined third to fourth periodic report of Algeria, the Committee was pleased to note the progress made in a number of areas including the reduction of the poverty ratio by half since 2000, the significant increase in national enrolment rates in primary education, and the creation of the National Pedagogical and Linguistic Centre for the Instruction of Tamazight. The Committee raised concerns about a number of issues including the high rates of corruption, the lack of equality for women, high rates of child labor, the acute housing shortage, the status of internally displaced people, inequality in access to healthcare for rural populations, geographic disparities in access to education, and the lack of recognition of the Tamazight language as an official language. It recommended that Algeria take immediate steps to establish the National Anti-Corruption Agency and introduce further legislative amendments to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women.

With regard to the combined second through fourth periodic report of Mauritius, the Committee noted with appreciation that the State party provided health care services and education up to the tertiary level free of charge and welcomed the ratification by the State party of a number of international instruments that strengthen and promote economic, social and cultural rights. The Committee raised concerns about the alarmingly high number of injecting drug users in the State party, persistent domestic violence against women, the persistent problem of cases of child abuse and neglect, and cases of sexual exploitation of children. It urged Mauritius to undertake a comprehensive approach to combat its serious drug use problem and to take all the necessary measures, including of a legal nature, to combat sexual exploitation of children.

After reviewing the initial report of Kazakhstan, the Committee was happy to note
accomplishments such as the adult literacy rate of 99.8 per cent, the provision of compulsory secondary education free of charge, and the provision of free treatment of common diseases for children and adolescents registered in dispensaries. The Committee also welcomed Kazakhstan’s ratification of a number of international treaties. The Committee expressed grave concerns that corruption was widespread in the State party, including in the judiciary, and it was alarmed by the systemic discrimination against migrants, refugees and asylum seekers with respect to their economic, social and cultural rights. It called on Kazakhstan to intensify its efforts to combat corruption and the trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation and labor purposes, and to take measures to ensure effective enforcement of the Domestic Violence Law and adopt necessary amendments to ensure the criminalization of domestic violence, the prosecution of offenders and the protection and rehabilitation of victims.

Following its consideration of the combined second through fourth periodic report of Afghanistan, the Committee applauded the adoption of the country’s new Constitution in 2004 and it noted with satisfaction the ratification by the State party of various international human rights instruments and the suppression of inhuman practices discriminating against women. The Committee expressed concern that Afghanistan had not adopted effective measures to combat widespread corruption and impunity. The Committee also had concerns about discrimination against women, the lack of employment opportunities for citizens, the lack of a basic social security system, the extent of violence against children including forced and child marriages, the persistence of child labour, and the recruitment of children into armed groups. It recommended that Afghanistan adopt a legal framework to combat corruption and impunity, intensify its efforts to combat child labour and protect children from all forms of sexual and economic exploitation, and take firm measures to put a stop to all recruitment of child soldiers by armed groups and forces.
The Committee also discussed relations with United Nations organs and other treaty bodies, and heard information from non-governmental organizations with respect to the reports that it reviewed during this session.

The next session of the Committee will be held from 1 to 19 November 2010, at which time it will take up reports from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic and Sri Lanka.

Concluding Observations

Columbia

Following its consideration of the fifth periodic report of Colombia, the Committee was pleased to note the ratification by the State party of the Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Optional Protocol to the Convention of the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. The Committee also noted the passage of several laws to increase equal opportunities for women and their participation at high levels in public life.

The Committee noted with concern the consequences of the long-standing internal armed conflict in the State party. The Committee also raised concerns that infrastructure, development and mining mega-projects were being carried out in the State party without the free, prior and informed consent of the affected indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities. Issues of high unemployment rates, particularly in rural areas and among young persons, women, indigenous and Afro-Colombian peoples, violence against trade unionists, violence against women, income inequality, and the use of children in armed conflict, were also noted by the Committee. Other areas that raised concerns for the Committee were the high rates of poverty, malnutrition and maternal and infant mortality; the increasing rate of teenage pregnancy; high substance abuse rates; high illiteracy rates and lack of access to free education; and lack of access to clean drinking water and sanitation.

Among its recommendations, the Committee urged the State party to take immediate and effective measures to address the ongoing armed violence. The Committee recommended that the State party promote employment opportunities while improving the working conditions in the informal economy and rural areas, in particular with regard to low wages and social security benefits, strengthen efforts to protect trade unionists, and review its taxation system, so as to reduce inequalities between different groups of the population with a view to poverty eradication.
The Committee also urged the State party to strengthen its efforts aimed at eliminating violence against women including investigating sexual violence cases, prosecuting perpetrators, and compensating victims.

Algeria

In the combined third to fourth periodic report of Algeria, the Committee welcomed the progress made in a number of areas including: the ratification of the Convention on the Political Rights of Women; the reduction of the poverty ratio by half since 2000; the adoption in 2008 of the Plan of Action for the Promotion of Employment; the implementation of a farmer debt relief programme that reduced the credit burden of farmers during the global financial crisis; the significant increase in national enrolment rates in primary education (98 percent in 2007); the enrolment of children of foreign nationals residing in Algeria, depending on their choice and circumstances, in Algerian schools; and the creation of the National Pedagogical and Linguistic Centre for the Instruction of Tamazight.

The Committee was deeply concerned that corruption remained widespread, despite recent efforts to curb the phenomenon, including the passing of Law Nr. 06-01 establishing a national anticorruption programme. The Committee also noted that, despite the amendments to the Constitution, the Family Code and the Nationality Code, de jure and de facto inequalities continued to exist between men and women, in particular the persistence of stereotypes, attitudes and patriarchal traditions on family and societal roles of men and women. It was also concerned about discrimination against women, in particular regarding inheritance rights, a lower representation of women in decision-making and public positions, wages that were nearly a third of those for men, and high rates of unemployment among women. Other issues raised by the Committee included the current minimum wage that did not provide a decent standard of living for workers and their families and restrictions on the activities and actions of trade unions, through administrative, police and judicial interference. The Committee also called attention to the high rates of child labor in the country, the acute housing shortage, the status of internally displaced people, inequality in access to healthcare for rural populations, geographic disparities in access to education, and the lack of recognition of the Tamazight language as an official language.

The Committee urged Algeria to take immediate steps to establish the National Anti-Corruption Agency and grant it the appropriate powers and resources to ensure its effectiveness and independent functioning. The Committee also recommended that the State party introduce further legislative amendments to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women, and adopt temporary special measures aimed at increasing the representation of women in public office and decision-making positions. It suggested that Algeria take steps to reduce unemployment, review the current minimum wage to determine its sufficiency, protect the rights of trade unionists, revise the Penal Code to criminalize and penalize domestic violence, intensify efforts to combat child labour, and take measures to ensure universal access to medical care.

Mauritius

The Committee was deeply concerned about the alarmingly high number of injecting drug users in the State party. It was further concerned at reports that the National Drug Control Masterplan of 2008-2012 was never officially endorsed and was not being used by the various stakeholders concerned. The Committee was concerned about the sharp increase in cases of HIV/AIDS, particularly concerning intravenous drug users, sex workers and prison inmates. The Committee had a number of concerns about the persistent domestic violence against women in Mauritius, the persistent problem with cases of child abuse and neglect, cases of sexual exploitation of children, including reports that some schoolgirls voluntarily worked in conjunction with prostitution rings, while others were forced into prostitution, and the slow progress in education, particularly among children in some disadvantaged areas.

The Committee recommended that the State party undertake a comprehensive approach to combat its serious drug problem, including the implementation in full of the recommendations made by the World Health Organization in 2009 designed to improve availability, accessibility and quality of harm reduction services – in particular needle and syringe exchange and opioid substitution therapy with methadone. The Committee also recommended that the State party take the necessary measures to combat drug trafficking and related corruption. At the same time, the Committee recommended that these measures fully comply with the international human rights standards, including in relation to the abolition of the death penalty. It recommended that the State party combat violence against women by making domestic violence a specific criminal offence, ensuring victims’ access to justice by encouraging the reporting of crimes and ensuring that perpetrators are prosecuted and punished, and ensuring that marital rape constituted a criminal offence. It further recommended that the State party raise public awareness, through the media and education programmes, on violence against women. The Committee urged Mauritius to make sure that it took all the necessary measures, including of a legal nature, to combat sexual exploitation of children including ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and amending its laws to be fully compliant with this Protocol.

Kazakhstan

With regard to the initial report of Kazakhstan, the Committee was pleased to note the achievements by the State party in the implementation of economic, social and cultural rights, in particular: the adult literacy rate of 99.8 per cent; the provision of compulsory secondary education free of charge; and the provision of free treatment of common diseases for children and adolescents registered in dispensaries. The Committee also welcomed the recent ratification of: the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (2009); the First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (2009), and the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (2008).
The Committee expressed grave concerns that corruption was widespread in Kazakhstan, including in the judiciary. The Committee was concerned about the lack of independence of the judicial system, which hindered the full enjoyment of human rights, including economic, social and cultural rights. The Committee was also alarmed by the systemic discrimination against migrants, refugees and asylum seekers with respect to their economic, social and cultural rights and it expressed particular concern that these groups were not eligible for social assistance and faced obstacles to securing legal means of subsistence. The Committee also expressed concerns about the increasing number of occupational injuries and the absence of comprehensive legislation regulating safety and health at work, restrictions imposed on the right to strike by workers, the lack of a comprehensive social security system, the high level of violence against women and children, the fact that trafficking in women and children remained a serious problem despite efforts undertaken by the State party, the persistence of child labour, poverty in rural areas, forced evictions, the lack of adequate housing, the lack of access to reproductive and sexual health services for teenagers, and regional environmental hazards that adversely impacted the population.
The Committee called on Kazakhstan to intensify its efforts to combat corruption, including through capacity building of law enforcement officers, prosecutors and judges and pursuing its programme for the reform of the judicial system. The Committee urged the State party to intensify its efforts to combat trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation and labour purposes and to vigorously implement its national action plan to combat trafficking. It also urged the State party to provide protection and rehabilitation services to victims and to prosecute offenders. Withregards to domestic violence, the Committee urged that the State party take measures to ensure effective enforcement of the Domestic Violence Law and adopt necessary amendments to ensure the criminalization of domestic violence, the prosecution of offenders and the protection and rehabilitation of victims. It also recommended that Kazakhstan extend the coverage provided by its social security system to self-employed workers, workers in the informal economy, non-nationals, and other disadvantaged and marginalized groups, and to continue its efforts to bring its legislation on occupational safety and health in line with international standards, including the ILO Convention on Safety and Health in Construction, which the State party had ratified.

Afghanistan

Concerning the combined second through fourth periodic report of Afghanistan, the Committee applauded the adoption of the New Constitution in 2004, which extensively addressed the areas covered by the international human rights standards, including economic, social and cultural rights and the principle of non-discrimination. The Committee noted with satisfaction the ratification by the State party of various international human rights instruments and the suppression of inhuman practices discriminating against women, as well as the adoption of the Law on the Elimination of Violence against Women. It also noted the efforts made by the State party to improve the health system, including the establishment of Mobile Health Teams aimed at providing health services in rural areas. The Committee welcomed the rejection of previous restrictions on female education and the efforts deployed by the State party to guarantee free and compulsory basic education, which had resulted in an increase in school enrolment.
The Committee expressed concern that Afghanistan had not adopted effective measures to combat widespread corruption and impunity. The Committee also voiced concern that the traditional dispute resolution mechanisms, which absorbed more cases of dispute than the formal judicial system, was not compatible with human rights standards. The Committee regretted the fact that the rights of women and children, as well as those of nomadic tribes and the poorest sectors of society, were particularly affected by the lack of access to formal justice mechanisms. The Committee also had concerns about discrimination against women, the lack of employment opportunities for citizens, the lack of a basic social security system, the extent of violence against children including forced and child marriages, the persistence of child labour, and the recruitment of children into armed groups. Cultural diversity was also an area of concern for the Committee. While acknowledging the State party’s efforts to allow the re-emergence of arts in Afghanistan, the Committee noted with concern that, over the past several decades, many areas and elements of the cultural heritage of the State party were illegally excavated, vandalized, looted, deliberately destroyed or simply allowed to deteriorate without protection. The Committee also regretted the lack of adequate measures to protect the linguistic diversity of Afghanistan.

The Committee recommended that Afghanistanadopt a legal framework to combat corruption and impunity, in conformity with the international standards; train law makers, national and local civil servants and law enforcement officers on the economic and social costs of corruption; take measures to prosecute cases of corruption; ensure the transparency of the conduct of public authorities, in law and in practice, and establish an independent monitoring mechanism to this end; and elaborate, in cooperation with relevant organizations and institutions, guidelines and a code of ethics, as well as conduct awareness-raising campaigns. The Committee also urged the State party to take effective measures to guarantee that the traditional dispute resolution mechanisms were fully compatible with international human rights standards, including the Covenant rights. It recommended that Afghanistan intensify its efforts to combat child labour and protect children from all forms of sexual and economic exploitation, including the worst forms of child labour. It also recommended that the State party take firm measures to put a stop to all recruitment of child soldiers by armed groups and forces. To this end, a monitoring system should be instituted, to prevent any further recruitment of minors. The Committee recommended that the State party step up its efforts to assist and reintegrate children who have been recruited in the armed groups and forces.

Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

The Committee is composed of the following Experts: Mohamed Ezzeldin Abdel-Moneim (Egypt), Clement Atangana (Cameroon), Rocio Barahona Riera (Costa Rica), Virginia Bonoan-Dandan (Philippines), Maria Virginia Bras Gomes (Portugal), Chandrashekhar Dasgupta (India), Azzouz Kerdoun (Algeria), Aslan Khuseinovich Abashidze (Russian Federation), Zdzislaw Kedzia (Poland), Jaime Marchan Romero (Ecuador), Sergei Martynov (Belarus), Ariranga Govindasamy Pillay (Mauritius), Eibe Riedel (Germany), Nikolaas Jan Schrijver (Netherlands), Walid Sa’di (Jordan), Philippe Texier (France), Alvaro Tirado Mejia (Colombia), and Zhan Daode (China).

Mr. Marchan Romero is the Chairperson; Ms. Bras Gomes, Mr. Abdel-Moneim and Mr. Sadi are Vice Chairpersons; and Mr. Kedzia is the Rapporteur.
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Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights concludes forty-fourth session

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