Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights opens 56th session

Committee on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights 

5 October 2015

Hears from non-governmental organizations from Burundi, Greece and Italy

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights opened its fifty-sixth session this morning and adopted its agenda.  It heard from Mr. Ibrahim Salama, Director of the Human Rights Treaties Division of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who updated the Committee on three recent developments, namely the Post-2015 Development Goals, the preparations of the fiftieth anniversary of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the twenty-seventh Annual Meeting of Chairpersons of Treaty Bodies, which had been held in Costa Rica earlier this year. 

Mr. Salama updated the Committee on three recent developments: the Post-2015 Development Goals, the preparations for the fiftieth anniversary of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the twenty-seventh Annual Meeting of Chairpersons of Treaty Bodies held in Costa Rica earlier this year. 

The Committee also heard from non-governmental organizations from Burundi, Greece and Italy: the Global Initiative on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, ActionAid Burundi, Association pour l’Integration et le Developpement Durable au Burundi, Greek Helsinki Monitor, Minority Rights Group Greece, Humanist Union of Greece, Coordinated Organizations and Communities for Roma Human Rights in Greece,  Hellenic League for Human Rights, International Federation for Human Rights, Global Initiative for Economic Social and Cultural Rights, Italian Disability Forum and the Italian Network of Organizations of Persons with Disabilities.  The non-governmental organisations addressed human rights violations in their respective countries, including women’s rights and the rights of the Batwa in Burundi, the rights of persons with disabilities in Italy, and discrimination against Roma in Greece, among other issues.

The Committee will next meet at 3 p.m. today when it will consider the initial report of Burundi (E/C.12/BDI/1).

Statements

WALEED SADI, Chairperson of the Committee for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, opened  the fifty-sixth session of the Committee, after which the agenda was adopted.

IBRAHIM SALAMA, Director of the Human Rights Treaties Division of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, updated the Committee on three recent developments, namely the Post-2015 Development Goals, the preparations for the fiftieth anniversary of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the twenty-seventh Annual Meeting of Chairpersons of Treaty Bodies held in Costa Rica earlier this year.  Regarding the Post-2015 Development Goals, Mr. Salama said that the new 2030 Agenda of Development - Transforming our World would be considered at the United Nations  Summit in New York this week.  It was explicitly grounded in the United Nations  Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  The text offered, among the goals and the targets, a freedom from want and freedom from fear, and included a list of individuals and groups.  It provided for accountability basis at national and regional levels.  The outcome document called for disaggregated data. 

The twenty-seventh Annual Meeting of Chairpersons of Treaty Bodies had been held in Costa Rica in June this year.  One important outcome was the endorsement of the Guidelines against Intimidations and Reprisals, which should help persons who cooperated with the Committee to cope with groups that posed intimidations and reprisals to them. Another outcome was the call of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica for academic institutions in the world to reflect on options on the human rights treaty bodies strengthening process.  Regarding the fiftieth anniversary of the two Covenants in 2016, Mr. Salama said that the Committee was preparing a launch of an event on 10 December 2015.  Various other events were planned, including a commemoration in context of the General Assembly. There would be a video outlining the work of the Committee. 

Global Initiative on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and ActionAid Burundi, said that in Burundi, Articles, 2,3 and 11 of Covenant, regarding the rights of women, were violated.  The issues included lack of access to remedies, and judges were not trying to protect women’s rights.  There was also a need to adopt a law on inheritance, as that issue was largely governed by customary law. Another problem was discrimination against women in land registration.  The law allowed them to register in their name, but that happened rarely in practice due to the customary law. The Government should be asked to enact a national Succession Act to protect the equal inheritance rights of women, and nullify those aspects of the Burundian customary law which discriminated against women.  The State ought to put in place safeguards to secure land tenure rights of women throughout the registration of land procedure, as well as to address the issue of women’s unequal rights to land and property.  Criminal sanctions and other measures could be thought of for family members and other individuals who discriminated against women, including when the customary law was used to deprive women of land property or when it was used as a justification for violence against women.

Greek Helsinki Monitor, Minority Rights Group Greece, Humanist Union of Greece, Coordinated Organizations and Communities for Roma Human Rights in Greece, said that the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was reviewing Greece at a time when the country was facing two emergencies.  First, Greece was facing an unprecedented refugee crisis with new record arrival numbers - over 250,000 in 2015.  Second, since 2010 the country had been facing a serious debt crisis that made necessary the introduction of austerity measures. Those two emergencies needed not to overshadow, however, that most of the concerns expressed by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights  in 2004 remained pertinent today, given that most recommendations of the Committee and other international bodies had been ignored by Greece.  Social, economic and cultural rights were rarely enjoyed by those who were not adult males or ethnic Greek, did not adhere to the official Orthodox Christian religion or did not have a majority sexual orientation or gender identity, for example.  The following issues were particularly stressed: women’s rights; the trafficking in human beings; domestic violence; the continuous discrimination against Roma; and the lack of education for children with disabilities. 

Hellenic League for Human Rights, International Federation for Human Rights and the Global Initiative for Economic Social and Cultural Rights spoke about the enjoyment of cultural economic and social rights by women in Greece, stressing that the austerity measures had to take place within the human rights framework.  Despite the limited resources at its disposal, Greece had to respect its international human rights obligations. The minimal requirements, including the right to work and the right to health, were often unmet.  Budgetary cuts had been decided on the basis of a rapid understanding between Greece and its creditors, without consideration for the repercussions.  Having in mind the context in which Greece operated, extra-territorial obligations of other State Parties to the Covenant, including Member States of the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, needed to be considered.  They were not permitted to violate the international law when acting within international organisations - any decision on their part had to further and not to weaken economic, social and cultural rights.  The Hellenic League of for Human Rights believed that the austerity measures were in violation of the economic social and cultural rights.

An Expert asked, with regard to Greece, whether the non-governmental organisations knew of any consideration of human rights impact or their assessment during the negotiations between the Greek Government, the International Monetary Fund and the European Union. 

Another Expert said that the two non-governmental organisations which had spoken on Greece had provided the Committee with an idea of the impact of the crisis on economic, social and cultural rights in the country. One of them had said that the austerity measures were implemented by the Government without the consultation of civil society or other stakeholders.  How exactly had those measures failed?

Given the result of the elections the previous day, with Syriza back in power, and a new bail-out program being negotiated for the coming period, on what should the Committee focus its concluding observations?  Where would its recommendations be most effective, an Expert inquired.

Another Expert asked to what extent the economic and financial policies of the Government were  to blame for the situation that had led to the imposition of the austerity measures required by the international creditors.

Hellenic League for Human Rights, International Federation for Human Rights said that there had likely been no assessments of the implications of the austerity measures not, but it was difficult to know.  The negotiations between Greece and its creditors had been closed.  Regarding the question on recommendations and where to focus, the idea of the engagement and consultation with the civil society would be very important.

Greek Helsinki Monitor, Minority Rights Group Greece, Humanist Union of Greece, Coordinated Organizations and Communities for Roma Human Rights in Greece   stated that there was no question that the wrong policies were to blame.  There was no impact assessment on human rights, whether economic or social.  A credible impact assessment could be done by the United Nations  bodies and the National Committee on Human Rights, which included representatives of the Governments, all political parties, universities and the civil society.   The Special Rapporteur on debt would be visiting Greece in November. It was important for the Government to show him how economic and social rights had been affected and what could be done.  There were many elements in the new bailout programme which were still on the table and could still be negotiated.

Italian Disability Forum and the Italian Network of Organisations of Persons with Disabilities said that over the years there had been a progressive regression of the rights of persons with disabilities.  Those had been hard hit by the austerity measures. The deinstitutionalization process had started with a 2013 resolution on the economic crisis, which provided for a compulsory institutionalization for disabled persons without family. That constituted segregation of persons with disabilities and denied their right to participate in the community.  According to the Committee on Social Exclusion, close to 50 percent of households with a disabled member were unable to cope.  Immediate and concerted action was needed to alleviate the impact of the austerity actions. The establishment of a National Human Rights Institution would be a further guarantee of the rights of persons with disabilities. 

It was explained that there were no specific measures addressing women with disabilities, who were less likely to complete high school than other women, and who faced discrimination in the work place, as well as violence and abuse. The ill-treatment of children continued to be ignored in Italy, and there was no national system to identify child victims of ill-treatment.

Association pour l’Integration et le Developpement Durable au Burundi said that indigenous peoples’ rights were being violated in Burundi, including the right to land, food housing, health  and education.  Burundi’s population consisted of various groups - Hutu, Batwa and Tutsi, but when it came to social, economic and cultural rights, the Batwa were discriminated against and marginalized.  Although Burundi had ratified many international frameworks, it had not ratified the International Labour Organization Convention 169 on indigenous peoples.  On self-determination, the Batwa had not been included in the decision-making process. While the Burundi Constitution stated that all ethnicities had to be represented in Government and in decision-making positions, in practice that was not respected  when it came to the Batwa.  Regarding health rights, 80 percent of the Batwa had no health cards.  In Burundi, schooling was free for everyone, but 90 percent of the Batwa were illiterate.  The Government had no law to recognize Batwa as potters.  Once the Batwa took claim to land, they were often beaten by the Hutus and the Tutsis.  The legislation in Burundi should be changed in order to give back land to the Batwa, to protect their pottery and traditional dance, as well as to protect the areas where clay was obtained, so that they could exploit their traditional inheritance.  There should be a law to ensure that there was free schooling up to the university level.

An Expert expressed his concern over what seemed to be the pervasive institution of slavery for the Batwa in Burundi, which included the occupation of their land. 

Association pour l’Integration et le Developpement Durable au Burundi said that, indeed, the exploitation of the Batwa amounted to situations of slavery.  There were 70,000 Batwa who were in such a situation, amounting to some 12 percent.  Even though there had been some positive changes on the matter since 1970, the legislation had not been fully implemented. The civil society had been trying to raise awareness amongst the Batwa so that they could have better access to justice and not be afraid to report various abuses.  However, violence still existed and was ongoing. 

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