International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
Basic facts about the ICESCR
- The 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
- Click here to read The Manual of Human Rights Monitoring: Monitoring Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- CESCR last monitored the UK’s implementation of the treaty in 2016.
- Dates for the UK’s next reporting cycle have yet to be confirmed by the UN.
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)
- 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)
Image taken from here.
Guidance for NGO submissions on the ICESCR
- UN Information Note for civil society and national human rights institutions
- Submission should be submitted in English, French or Spanish
- Should be concise, not exceed 10 pages for individual and 15 pages for coalition submissions
- Paragraphs should be numbered for ease of reference
- Deadlines:
- For the session: preferably 6 weeks and latest 3 weeks before the beginning of the session.
- The UK state party’s report due date for cycle 7 is yet to be confirmed.
- For the Pre-sessional working groups: preferably 10 weeks and latest 8 weeks before the beginning.
- How submission should be made:
- to the CESCR Secretariat electronically in word format to the following email address: cescr@ohchr.org
Useful guides &
links
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