Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights meets with civil society representatives from Spain and New Zealand

Committee on Economic, Social
  and Cultural Rights  

19 March 2018

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights this morning heard from the civil society organizations on the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Spain and New Zealand, whose reports the Committee will review this week.  The Committee will also consider the initial report of the Central African Republic, but there were no civil society organizations from this country present during the meeting today.

David Rutheford, Chief Human Rights Commissioner of New Zealand drew attention to the increasing income inequalities in this country with a high standard of living, and also to significant – and growing - disparities in the area of health, employment and education.  To address those disparities, New Zealand must embed economic, social and cultural rights into the legislative framework by amending the Bill of Rights; it must commit to the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals and take action to ensure that no one was left behind.

Civil society organizations from New Zealand said that the low-wage economy was the reason why hundreds of thousands of more than two million workers lived in poverty, and why two out of five children lived in households where one of the parents was unemployed or between employments.  New Zealand must take steps to provide a framework where economic, social and cultural rights could be more properly addressed, including by reinstating fundamental labour rights protections in the law. It should put in place a child well-being strategy to address the persistent disparity between children from various social groups.  Speakers raised concern about unconscious bias towards the Maori and structural discrimination in education, health, justice and social services: Maori constituted 15 percent of the population and yet 73 percent of children in juvenile justice system and 65 per cent of female prisoners were Maori.  

In Spain, speakers pointed to the continuous failure to adequately incorporate the Covenant into national law and provide effective remedies for its violations, which became more evident during the economic crisis.  They noted the regression in the areas of housing and healthcare brought on by austerity measures, as well as high rates of unemployment.  Hundreds of thousands of people had been evicted from their homes after being unable to continue their rental or mortgage payments.  Spain was the third most unequal country in Europe and in 2016, nearly 28 per cent of the population was at risk of social exclusion and poverty, they said.  Spain’s environmental policies, particularly in relation to health, standards of living and water were of great concern; at the forefront of this concern was air pollution from coal-fired power plants which caused premature deaths and contributed to climate change.

New Zealand Human Rights Commission and the Action for Children and Youth Aotearoa took the floor; participating via a video conference from Wellington, New Zealand were the Human Rights Foundation, He Kainga Oranga/Housing and Health Research et al, Action for Children and Youth Aotearoa/Child Poverty Action Group, Tamaki Legal (written statement), IHC New Zealand, New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, Independent Monitoring Mechanism, He Korowai et al/He Korowai Trust, and Peace Movement Aotearoa.

Speaking on the situation of economic, social and cultural rights in Spain were Plataforma Derechos Economicos, Sociales y Culturales, Centre for Economic and Social Rights, Centre for International Environmental Law, and Amnesty International.

All the documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session’s webpage.  The webcast of the Committee’s public meetings is available at UN Web TV.

The Committee will next meet in public at 3 p.m. today, 19 March to examine the initial report of the Central African Republic (E/C.12/CAF/1).

New Zealand

Statement by the national human rights institution 

DAVID RUTHEFORD, Chief Human Rights Commissioner of New Zealand said that even though New Zealanders had a high standard of living, an increasing number of people did not have adequate housing and sufficient income to provide a good living standard for themselves and their families.  There were substantial differences especially in the area of health, employment and education, and the gap was growing.  To address those disparities, New Zealand must undertake a constitutional and legislative reform and commit to the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, and embed economic, social and cultural rights into the legislative framework by amending the Bill of Rights.  Measures must be taken to address the rapidly deteriorating housing situation of the Maori including the rise in homelessness among this group, as well as disproportionately high mortality and morbidity of the Maori and Pacific peoples.  Finally, the situation of persons with disabilities warranted specific concern, particularly in terms of increasing employment rates and addressing the root causes of a short life span of persons with intellectual disabilities, which was ten years lower than in general population.  In terms of gender equality, women had lower wages and were significantly less represented in the senior positions in the workforce.

Statements by the civil society organizations 

Action for Children and Youth Aotearoa raised concern about unconscious bias towards the Maori in education, health, justice and social services that impeded their full access to a range of economic, social and cultural rights.  Maori constituted 15 percent of the population, and yet 73 percent of children in youth justice facilities and 65 per cent of female prison population were Maori.  The group suffered discrimination in the health sector as well, with data indicating that the Maori were less likely to be offered effective treatment for cancer making their chances of survival lower than other groups of New Zealanders and Maori women were less likely to be offered pain relief during childbirth.  It was imperative for the Government to develop a strategy to address unconscious bias across all of its services.

The following non-governmental organization spoke by a video conference from Wellington, New Zealand:
 
Human Rights Foundation emphasized the overdue necessity of economic, social and cultural rights being appropriately recognized within the domestic legal system, as well as the accession to the Optional Protocol, in order to provide a framework where economic, social and cultural rights could be more properly addressed.  Among issues of concern were violence against women, the question of the refugees and asylum seekers, the status of people reliant on social welfare, and the rights of older people.

He Kainga Oranga/Housing and Health Research et al remarked that the state housing was at the lowest level since 2000 and the old and retired persons were among those most severely affected.  The increase in the number of children, particularly Maori, being admitted to hospitals due to respiratory problems was a clear sign of the poor housing quality.
 
Action for Children and Youth Aotearoa/Child Poverty Action Group lamented the absence of a strategy for child wellbeing and a lack of a strategic approach to addressing the persistent disparity between children from various social groups.  Every year, 44,000 children were admitted to hospitals due to preventable diseases such as chronic respiratory diseases and pneumonia, that were a result of inadequate housing and poverty.  Children with disabilities were often excluded from school, and a particular concern was a high rate of youth suicide – 51 children and youth aged ten to 19 had committed suicide in 2017.

In a written statement read out by a civil society representative, Tamaki Legal drew the attention to the sexual, physical and mental abuse of over 100,000 children and persons with disabilities in state care between the 1960s and the 1990s.  Maori were particularly targeted by State agents and child welfare policies.  New Zealand must commit to resolving all the cases of historical abuse within a five-year period, including by establishing an independent body to provide support for rehabilitation, compensation and an apology.

IHC New Zealand noted that the employment rates of persons with disabilities were significantly lower than those of non-disabled peers, while many persons with disabilities, including children, were reported to have inadequate standard of living.  The progress made in the area of the right to health of people with intellectual disabilities was limited and slow, while in education, the lack of an inclusive education system limited the opportunity for persons with disabilities to become contributing members of the community.

The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions raised the concern about the low-wage economy in New Zealand, which was the reason why hundreds of thousands of more than two million workers lived in poverty.  Two out of five children lived in households where one of the parents was unemployed or was between employments.  The previous Government had removed fundamental labour and human rights and protections from the labour law.

Independent Monitoring Mechanism noted that the right to self-determination of the Maori had not been fully recognized and protected, while their participation in the decision-making was not guaranteed by law.  The Chicana, a Maori law, was not properly valued and implemented in the New Zealand.  New Zealand must amend the Constitution and turn it into a key instrument in remedying those issues.

He Korowai et al/He Korowai Trust highlighted the issues related to the climate crisis, the comprehensive progressive transpacific partnership agreement and the lack of recognition of Waitangi right to self-determination.  

Peace Movement Aotearoa remarked that New Zealand continued to deny the recognition of the Maoris’ right to self-determination, and drew Experts’ attention to structural discrimination in the criminal justice system, as well as in education and health.  The functional independence of the Human Rights Commission had been eroded in the previous years.

Discussion

In the discussion, Committee Experts asked for further explanation of the unconscious bias and whether it was directed towards other ethnic groups.  The civil society organizations were asked about their hopes for the new Government.

Responding, civil society representatives attributed the slippage of human rights to the changes in economic conditions in the previous 30 years that had left some deprived and some very rich.  In relation to business and human rights, New Zealand was lagging behind in general, but the new Government was sending good signs and it was hoped that the issues related to that topic would be more successfully addressed.  The civil society organizations were dealing diligently with numerous issues that existed in New Zealand, particularly those related to Maori, and stressed that high hopes must be accompanied with hard work if improvements were to happen.

Spain

Statements by the civil society organizations 

Plataforma Derechos Economicos, Sociales y Culturales stated that many Spanish organizations worked together on the report from many points of society.  Political groups in the Spanish Parliament were told about this Committee’s meeting and the position of the civil society organizations on those points.  The regression in recent years was very impactful, mainly in the areas of housing and healthcare, said the representative.

Centre for Economic and Social Rights noted that austerity measures adopted by the Spanish Government had a negative impact on social and economic rights, with particular respect to the rights to health, sexual and reproductive health and the right to work.  Spain was the third most unequal country in Europe: in 2016, nearly 28 per cent of the population was at risk of social exclusion and poverty, of particular risk were young women, people with little education, the immigrant population and children.  Far from adopting measures to mitigate the effects of austerity on the most vulnerable, the State carried out severe cuts in programmes aimed at providing social services precisely to those groups.  Another concern was the lack of the State’s effort to expand its financial resources.

Centre for International Environmental Law raised concern about air pollution from coal-fired power plants which was causing hundreds of premature deaths and contributed to climate change.  The Government exempted those facilities from derogations with respect to emissions.  The Committee should urge Spain to enforce stricter European Union emission standards; put in place a comprehensive climate change legislation; and develop long-term strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emission which were much higher today than in 1990.  Spain was not in line with the Paris Agreement and needed a legally binding framework with a timeline.

Amnesty International said that the continuous failure to adequately incorporate the Covenant into national law and provide effective remedies for its violations became more evident during the economic crisis.  Hundreds of thousands of people had been evicted from their homes after being unable to continue their rental or mortgage payments; the evictions were being carried out without sufficient guarantees for the protection of the rights of people affected.  Spain must ensure that the public health system was well supported and resourced in times of economic crisis, and that access to health care was available to migrants.  The legal framework lacked regulations – and the sanctions - to require companies to adopt human rights due diligence measures.

Discussion

In the discussion that followed, Experts commented on the high rates of unemployment in Spanish society and inquired about austerity measures and how they had impacted other areas of society and created inequalities among the people and migrant communities in Spain.  What recommendations could be made to ensure that the regional disparity did not continue and impact the efforts of communities to remain autonomous?

Another Expert, commenting on pollution, asked why Spain seemed so disinterested in environmental policies when it had undertaken measures to include renewable and nuclear energy programs to overstep the reliance on coal and other forms of fossil fuel energy, which polluted the surrounding environment greatly.  What was the position of Spain concerning its specific target in the context of the commitments made by the European Union on the Paris Agreement?

Responding, civil society organizations representatives said that consultations with civil society organizations on austerity measures had been minimal and that the Government had made unilateral decisions.  Measures adopted during the harshest period of austerity had become standard and were very exclusionary. Spain did not have a national human rights plan as it considered human rights to be a problem abroad and not in the country.  There was severe youth unemployment and precariousness in work contracts.  Municipalities could not hire new people and there were not enough resources to hire staff in a state and local levels.  

Progress was being made with respects to equality for women but there were still obstacles in place, for example available housing for women of domestic violence.  Spain was the fourth largest coal consumer in Europe, and despite the growth of renewable energy, there had been no notable decrease in carbon dioxide emissions.  Spain had provided exemptions to all 16 coal-fired plant which were thus not violating the emission standards and could continue polluting without sanctions.
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