Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights opens fifty-fourth session

23 February 2015

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights this morning opened its fifty-fourth session at the Palais Wilson in Geneva, hearing from Simon Walker, Chief of the Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Section, Human Rights Treaties Division of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Committee also elected a new Bureau, including Waleed Sadi (Jordan) as the new Chairperson, adopted its agenda for the session, and heard from stakeholders on the situation in Paraguay, whose report will be considered this afternoon.

In his opening statement, Mr. Walker welcomed the ratification by South Africa of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in January, thus bringing the number of ratifications to 163. This year would see the full implementation of General Assembly resolution 62/268, and Mr. Walker encouraged the Committee to continue considering ways to harmonize its working methods. The United Nations General Assembly would adopt in September the Sustainable Development Goals and it was encouraging that the draft version of the goals included references to not only economic, social and cultural rights but also political and civil rights, which was a significant step towards a balanced and transformative agenda that addressed freedom from fear as well as freedom from want. Mr. Walker called attention to the recent report by the Secretary-General to the Human Rights Council on social protection floors, which outlined their main characteristics and how they contributed to ensuring the enjoyment of minimum essential levels of economic, social and cultural rights, and reducing poverty and inequality.

At the beginning of the meeting, the following members of the Committee made their solemn oath: Shiqiu Chen (China), Rodrigo Uprimny Yepes (Colombia) and Olivier de Schutter (Belgium).

The Committee elected Waleed Sadi (Jordan) as the new Chairperson, and as Vice-Chairpersons, it elected Aslan Abashidze (Russia), Mikel Mancisidor (Spain) and Renato Zerbini Ribeiro Leao (Brazil). Ariranga Govindasamy Pillay (Mauritius) was elected as the Rapporteur.

The Committee this morning also met with stakeholders on the implementation of the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Paraguay, hearing from Aktion GEN-Klage, which spoke about unequal land distribution in the country, the negative impact of the use of genetically modified organisms in agriculture, and the massive expansion of soybeans which was often associated with land conflicts, human rights abuses, expulsions and extensive use of agricultural poisons. The rapid soy-expansion aggravated the land conflict, which was the most burning social problem in the country.

The Committee will resume its work this afternoon at 3 p.m., to begin its consideration of the fourth periodic report of Paraguay (E/C.12/PRY/4).

Opening Statement

SIMON WALKER, Chief, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Section, Human Rights Treaties Division, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in his opening statement welcomed three new members of the Committee, and the ratification by South Africa of the International Covenant in January, thus bringing the number of ratifications to 163. The Optional Protocol had 18 States parties and several other States had stated their interest in the ratification. The budget crisis facing the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights had affected all parts of the organization and the Office would focus its attention in 2015 on assisting each Committee to reach the targets set in General Assembly resolution 62/268, in terms of numbers of lists of issues, concluding observations and communications, while the potential to support other areas of work, such as general comments, would be particularly strained. This year would see the full implementation of General Assembly resolution 62/268, which required tracking of the progress, and Mr. Walker encouraged the Committee to continue considering ways to harmonize its working methods, including for example with respect to the process of developing general comments. Tracking progress of implementation of the resolution also included a review of the application of the Addis Ababa Guidelines on the independence and impartiality of members of the human rights treaty bodies. Resolution 62/268 made only limited provision for exceptional languages in addition to the Committee’s three standing languages, and moderation was needed in requests for exceptional languages so that limited resources could meet the needs of all Committees.

In terms of thematic issues related to the Covenant, Mr. Walker said that the General Assembly would adopt in September this year the Sustainable Development Goals, and said that it was encouraging to see that the draft version of the Goals included references to not only economic, social and cultural rights but also political and civil rights, which was a significant step towards a balanced and transformative agenda that addressed freedom from fear as well as freedom from want. Treaty bodies Chairpersons, in their joint statement on the post-2015 development agenda, had recommended a technical review of the proposed development goals to ensure they were aligned with international treaties. This month would see several events to promote the social protection floors initiative. The recent report by the Secretary-General to the Human Rights Council outlined the main characteristics of social protection floors and how they contributed to ensuring the enjoyment of minimum essential levels of economic, social and cultural rights, and reducing poverty and inequality. In closing, Mr. Walker expressed appreciation for the work of the outgoing Bureau of the Committee, Mr. Kedzia, Mr. Daspupta, Mr. Kerdoun, Mr. Leao and Ms. Bras Gomes, whose terms of office had come to an end after two years.

Election of the Bureau

The Committee elected Waleed Sadi of Jordan as the new Chairperson by secret ballot.

WALEED SADI, Committee Chairperson, said that he was looking forward to continuing the work of his predecessors and welcomed the three new members of the Committee. The Chairperson then opened the floor for nominations of other members of the Bureau.

The Committee elected as Vice-Chairpersons Aslan Abashidze (Russia), Mikel Mancisidor (Spain) and Renato Zerbini Ribeiro Leao (Brazil), while Ariranga Govindasamy Pillay (Mauritius) was elected as the Rapporteur.

Meeting with Stakeholders on Paraguay

Aktion GEN-Klage said that Paraguay was very affected by the use of genetically modified organisms (GMO) in agriculture, and it also had one of the most unequal distributions of land throughout Latin America: 77 per cent of the arable land was concentrated in the hands of only one per cent of the population. Organized landless people had been fighting for agrarian reform, and they rejected the monocultures, such as soybeans. Soybeans was the number one export crop, whose massive expansion was often associated with land conflicts, human rights abuses, expulsions and extensive use of agricultural poisons. The rapid soy-expansion aggravated the land conflict, which was the most burning social problem in the country. Aktion GEN-Klage urged the Government of Paraguay to introduce an agrarian reform, override land titles, introduce organic farming on a small scale, end the use of pesticides, and also to implement promises it had already made to prohibit the cultivation of genetically modified soya on public land and to introduce taxation of soy exports.

A Committee Expert recognized the serious impact of soy monoculture on poverty in Paraguay, and asked for concrete examples of the negative impact of soy GMO on smallholder farmers.

Aktion GEN-Klage said that they had heard from people from Paraguay of a situation in a town where families were unable to obtain land to grow their own food, because all the land had already been purchased by large corporations and Brazilians. Soy mono-cultivation had a negative impact on the fruit and vegetable production, and had also damaged the health of livestock.

The Committee Chairperson asked whether it was the opinion of the non-governmental organization that most of the problems with economic, social and cultural rights in Paraguay stemmed from the problem of most people living in the rural areas and having no access to the land.

Aktion GEN-Klage said that lack of access to land was the main problem and that land title review and land re-distribution would be solutions.

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