Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Monitoring the economic, social and cultural rights
The Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) is the body of independent
experts that monitors implementation of the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by its States
parties. The Committee was established under ECOSOC Resolution 1985/17 of 28 May 1985 to carry
out the monitoring functions assigned to the United Nations
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in Part IV of the
Covenant.
All States parties are obliged to submit regular reports to the
Committee on how the rights are being implemented. States must
report initially within two years of accepting the Covenant and
thereafter every five years. The Committee examines each report and
addresses its concerns and recommendations to the State party in the
form of “concluding observations”.
The Committee cannot consider individual complaints, although a
draft
Optional Protocol to the Covenant is under consideration which
could give the Committee competence in this regard. The Commission
on Human Rights has established a working
group to this end. However, it may be possible for another
committee with competence to consider individual
communications to consider issues related to economic, social
and cultural rights in the context of its treaty.
The Committee meets in Geneva and
normally holds two sessions
per year, consisting of a three-week plenary and a one-week
pre-sessional working group.
The Committee also publishes its interpretation of the provisions
of the Covenant, known as general
comments.
For more information about the work of the Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights, click here.
New Publication
Now
available in PDF
Compilación de observaciones finales del Comité de
Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales sobre países de
América Latina y el Caribe (1989-2004)
A compilation of CESCR concluding observations for Latin
American and Caribbean countries in their original languages.
Contains all of the concluding observations of the Committee
from 1989 to 2004 relating to Spanish-speaking countries in
Spanish, English-speaking countries (as well as Brazil) in
English, and Francophone countries in French.
Published by OHCHR-UNDP in Santiago, Chile.
ISBN: 956-299-504-6
To download a copy (2.2MB), click on the cover page
A limited number of hard copies are available from the
Santiago regional office by contacting gmira@eclac.cl Subject to
availability of stock. |
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