Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights concludes fifty-third session

ROUNDUP

28 November 2014

Adopts Concluding Observations and Recommendations on Reports of Viet Nam, Portugal, Finland, Montenegro, Guatemala, Slovenia, Nepal and Romania

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights this afternoon concluded its fifty-third session after adopting its concluding observations and recommendations on the reports of Viet Nam, Portugal, Finland, Montenegro, Guatemala, Slovenia, Nepal and Romania, which were reviewed during the session.

The concluding observations and recommendations will be available on the Committee’s webpage by the end of the day on Monday, 1 December.

In concluding remarks, the Chairperson of the Committee, Zdzislaw Kedzia, said that in addition to the dialogues with the eight States parties, the Committee had considered its first communications under the Optional Protocol and had established rules clarifying the admissibility of complaints. They had pursued their work on the General Comments on Article 12, the right to sexual and reproductive health, and on Article 7, the right to just and favourable conditions of work. The Committee also discussed its working methods and issues related to the treaty body strengthening process. Mr. Kedzia said sooner or later, in order to address its workload properly, the Committee would need to consider some new initiatives regarding its methods of work, including a more effective way to implement the Task Force’s idea on reviewing country reports. He thanked Committee members whose mandate would conclude at the end of the year, and said he had been privileged to chair the Committee.

On Friday morning, the Committee held a meeting with United Nations Member States. Mr. Kedzia said that he would raise issues relating to the reporting procedure, the Optional Protocol, general comments and methods of work, and hoped that States parties would leave feeling it had been a fruitful meeting and that they would be better aware of challenges facing the Committee. The Committee presently had 162 States parties. On the issue of backlogs, the Committee’s present backlog was 27 reports, while two years ago it had been 42 reports. So they were reducing the backlog, thanks to changes in the methods of work and the extra meeting time that the Committee was given. The Committee would consider 20 reports next year and hoped that with the extended meeting time, and with its receiving on average 15 new reports a year, it would catch up with the backlog and this would strengthen the entire treaty body system. This session, the Committee had considered eight reports, some were late, others on time. When reports were received with considerable delay, and then had to wait for consideration, this undermined the effectiveness of the system and stopped the Committee from being able to continue dialogue with States parties on a continuous basis.

Austerity measures affecting many countries could be carried out without affecting the implementation of the provisions of the Covenant, as long as they were for a limited period; were applied without discrimination; and were taken in a way that would provide protection to the most marginalized in society. Mr. Kedzia also raised the issue of admissibility of communications under the Optional Protocol, adjusting the Committee’s methods of work, and concern about the financial difficulties faced by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). As OHCHR’s secretariat provided support for the Committee, he was afraid that its work would be affected adversely by the financial problems. For now, the work received from the OHCHR secretariat was very professional and the synergy between them and the secretariat was vital. He thanked the secretariat for all their work. Speaking in the dialogue were Cameroon, Egypt and Togo, as well as a number of Committee Experts.

The country reports, common core documents, written replies, lists of issues, parallel reports and other session documents before the Committee are accessible on the Committee’s webpage in various official United Nations languages. At the end of the session, the concluding observations of the Committee on each State party will also be accessible on this website. Live webcasts of the country reviews are available on www.treatybodywebcast.org.

The Committee’s fifty-fourth session will be held from 23 February to 6 March 2015, during which it is scheduled to consider the reports of Gambia, Paraguay and Tajikistan on how they implement the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

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For use of the information media; not an official record