Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights opens sixty-first session

Committee on Economic, Social
  and Cultural Rights

29 May 2017

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights opened its sixty-first session this morning, hearing opening remarks by Carla Edelenbos, Chief of the Petitions and Inquiries Section of the Human Rights Treaties Branch of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and adopting its agenda.

Ms. Edelenbos welcomed the statement on refugees and migrants which the Committee had adopted at its sixtieth session.  The statement referred to the duties of States towards refugees and migrants under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  It had been met with much attention and appreciation by numerous stakeholders, including human rights experts and those engaged in the consultation process leading to the Global Compacts on Migration and on Refugees.  The human rights of migrants had to, now more than ever, be prioritized and streamlined, and most importantly be applied in practice.  That was made clear by the adoption of the New York Declaration on Refugees and Migrants by the General Assembly in September 2016.  The statement adopted by the Committee set the stage for future efforts in reiterating the duties of States, and it was timely and crucial to the consultative process leading to the adoption of the two Global Compacts.  Louise Arbour, who had been appointed United Nations Special Representative for International Migration, would spearhead that process.  Ms. Edelenbos expressed hope that the interest expressed by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as of other committees, to participate in the consultation process would be welcomed and engagement with experts intensified. 

Speaking of the Committee’s communications, Ms. Edelenbos said she was pleased that the number of registered communications had continued increasing in the past year, during which eight new communications had been registered by the Committee.  Currently, there were 10 pending cases, while 11 had been decided.  Those communications had allowed the Committee to create jurisprudence on issues of substance related to the right to housing, social security and also on admissibility criteria, such as the exhaustion of domestic remedies, the Committee’s competence ratione temporis, and the calculation of the one-year deadline to submit a communication after exhaustion of domestic remedies.   The Committee had also taken a decision to strengthen the individual communication procedure.   Regarding general comments, Ms. Edelenbos noted the proactive work of the Committee, namely the General Comment 24 related to the obligations of States in the context of business activities and economic, social and cultural rights. 

Ms. Edelenbos also highlighted the work of the High-Level Working Group on the Health and Human Rights of Women, Children and Adolescents, which provided an unprecedented opportunity to generate a high-level political dialogue for the advancement of the human rights agenda at the country and global levels.  The first report of the Working Group had been launched on 22 May 2017 at the opening of the seventieth session of the World Health Assembly.  The Committee would have an opportunity to be briefed in greater detail about the relevance of that initiative for its work. 

 
The webcasting of the Committee’s work would continue into 2018 as donor States had expressed their satisfaction with the webcasting of sessions and their use by diverse stakeholders.  It had been used for awareness raising and capacity building at the national level, Ms. Edelenbos concluded.   

Maria Virginia Bras Gomes, Committee Chairperson, welcomed all those gathered and their interest in the work of the Committee.  She thanked Ms. Edelenbos for her comments, noting that the Committee would continue working towards the adoption of the two Global Compacts on refugees and migrants, as well as its work on General Comments. 

Committee Experts emphasized the human rights of refugees and noted that Western countries had failed to recognize the statement by the Committee on refugees and migrants. 

Ms. Edelenbos responded that there seemed to have been no direct reaction of State parties to the statement, but the statement had been widely circulated to them.

Ms. Bras Gomes said that Australia was one of the countries with which the Committee had to engage more with respect to the issue of refugees and migrants.  She added that perhaps countries could not react to the statement so soon. 

The Committee then proceeded to adopt its agenda for the sixty-first session.  During the session, the Committee will discuss the reports of Australia, Uruguay, the Netherlands, Liechtenstein, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.    

The Committee will next meet in public today at 3 p.m., to hold meetings with civil society partners about the reports of Australia, Uruguay and the Netherlands, which will be reviewed this week.

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For use of the information media; not an official record

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