International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
ICESCR is monitored by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR).
The CESCR was established under the ECOSOC Resolution 1985/17 of 28 May 1985. State reports are submitted to the CESCR every five years.
Read The Manual of Human Rights Monitoring: Monitoring Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
CESCR last gave concluding observations to the UK’s implementation of the treaty in 2016. CESCR is currently in review, with the final stage of Review expected in early 2025, with shadow reports expected to be due in January 2025. The first stage of Review took place in early 2023, with shadow reports from NGOs submitted in January 2023.
Stages of monitoring states’ obligations with the ICESCR
Phase 1:
- Preparation of the state report at the national level
- Broad consultation and input from civil society
- NGO submissions and reports
- Pre-sessional preparation by the treaty bodies for the examination of the report
- Adoption of a List of Issues (LOI) or a List of Issue prior to Reporting (LOIPR)
- The pre-sessional working group of CESCR is public and open to NGO participation.
Phase 2:
- Consideration of the report in a public meeting through a constructive dialogue with the state party
- Issuing of concluding observations and recommendations
Phase 3:
- Follow-up on implementation of the concluding observations
- NGOs also play an important role in this process (pressure states into acting)
Guidance for NGO submissions on the ICESCR
- UN Information Note for civil society and national human rights institutions
- Submissions should be submitted in English, French or Spanish
- Should be concise, not exceed 10 pages for individual and 15 pages for coalition submissions
- How submission should be made: To the CESCR Secretariat electronically in word format to the following email address: cescr@ohchr.org, deadline will be provided by the secretariat on the UN website
Useful guides and links
Cycle 7 (2022-2025)
- Click here to read the UN’s List of Issues (2023) for the UK Government to respond to
- Click here to read the UK Government’s submission to the Committee in 2022
- Click here to read the Scottish Government’s 2022 Position Statement on the implementation of ICESCR in Scotland
- Click here to read the Consortium’s joint submission to the Committee, January 2023
- Click here to read the Scottish Human Rights Commission’s submission to the Committee, January 2023
- Click here to read Engender’s joint report, signed by 18 other organisations
- Click here to read the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE)’s report
- Click here to read the Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland’s report
- Click here to read the Hong King Scots CIC’s report
- Click here to read Nourish Scotland’s report
- Click here to read the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s report
Cycle 6 (2016)
- The UK’s submission to the CESCR in 2016: Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under articles 16 and 17 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- The UK’s 2016 state report: Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland adopted by the CESCR at its fifty-eighth session (June 2016)
Useful Guides
