Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Opens Seventy-Fourth Session

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights today opened its seventy-fourth session, hearing opening remarks from Wan-Hea Lee, Chief, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Section, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Representative of the Secretary-General. The Committee elected a new Chair and Bureau and adopted its agenda and programme of work for the session, during which it is scheduled to review the reports of Chad, the State of Palestine, Brazil, France, Qatar and Armenia.

Ms. Lee, opening the session, said the world’s leaders had just concluded their deliberations at the Sustainable Development Goals Summit last week in New York, agreeing on the path for an accelerated implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The 2030 Agenda was a human rights agenda, and these goals would not be achieved unless economic, social and cultural rights were realised for all.

This month, the focus of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ “Human Rights 75” initiative was on social protection, sustainable development and right to development, Ms. Lee said. In highlighting that focus, the Office drew significantly from the Committee’s general comment 19 on the right to social security. Social security systems contributed to eradicating poverty and inequality and promoted social inclusion – a key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. She called on the Committee to be a champion of the right to social security.

During the meeting, the Committee elected Laura-Maria Craciunean Tatu (Romania) as Chair; Preeti Saran (India), Karla Vanessa Lemus De Vásquez (El Salvador) and Ludovic Hennebel (Belgium) as Vice-Chairs; and Peters Sunday Omologbe Emuze (Nigeria) as Vice-Chair and Rapporteur.

Laura-Maria Craciunean Tatu, newly elected Chair of the Committee, thanked the Committee for supporting her election and congratulated the four Committee members elected to the Bureau. She said that assuming the position was both a sincere honour and a great responsibility. Further, she expressed thanks to outgoing Chair Mohamed Ezzeldin Abdel-Moneim and the former Bureau for all the work that they had done over the past two years, and to the Secretariat for their support.

She expressed her satisfaction that her election coincided with the eighth anniversary of the adoption of the 2030 Agenda, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and their 169 associated targets, an ambitious project aiming to achieve a better world. Ms. Craciunean Tatu said she was happy that the Committee had developed a new general comment on sustainable development and the Covenant, which would be discussed during the session.

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 meetings of the session can be found online.

The Committee will next meet in public at 3 p.m. this afternoon, Monday, 25 September, to begin its consideration of the fourth periodic report submitted by Chad (E/C.12/TCD/4).

Statements

WAN-HEA LEE, Chief, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Section, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Representative of the Secretary-General, opened the Committee’s seventy-fourth session. She said the world’s leaders had just concluded their deliberations at the SDG Summit last week in New York, agreeing on the path for an accelerated implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The 2030 Agenda was a human rights agenda, and the Sustainable Development Goals would not be achieved unless economic, social and cultural rights were realised for all. The Committee had issued a statement in 2019 saying that prioritising disadvantaged and marginalised individuals and groups was a common objective of the 2030 Agenda and the Covenant. States would be able to strengthen their ability to realise these goals and fulfil their pledges by complying with the normative obligations of the Covenant.

With only seven years left before reaching the 2030 deadline for achieving the global goals, progress was stalled or even reversed in many areas, and there had once again been a rise in extreme poverty. The Secretary-General had stated that Africa was currently spending more on debt interest than on healthcare. According to the Secretary General, inequality was defining our time. 1.2 billion people in Africa were living in acute poverty, and hunger was at levels not seen since 2005. The Secretary-General stressed the need for an urgent transition in food, energy, digitalization, education, social protection, jobs and biodiversity to meet current global challenges. He called for at least 500 billion United States dollars a year to be invested in sustainable development in developing countries. It was time, he said, to redesign the international financial infrastructure to make it truly universal, and a safety net for developing countries in trouble.

She said that the calls of the Secretary-General were reinforced by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’ “Human Rights 75” initiative, designed to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with a specific human rights issue or range of issues spotlighted each month. During September 2023, the focus would be on social protection, sustainable development and right to development. In highlighting that focus, the Office drew significantly from the Committee’s general comment 19 on the right to social security, which enhanced understanding of the full scope of article nine of the Covenant and related rights. Social security systems contributed to eradicating poverty and inequality and promoted social inclusion – a key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The Committee should be a champion of the right to social security.

The Office continued to actively promote efforts to strengthen the treaty body system. The conclusions adopted by the Chairs of the treaty bodies at their 35th annual meeting had the potential to significantly improve the work of the Committee and the treaty body system. The Chairs had considered options for the eight-year predictable review calendar, including intermittent follow-up reviews. The Chairs confirmed that any of the options for the schedule of reviews and the further digitalisation of the treaty bodies’ work needed to be supported by the necessary human, technical and financial resources. The High Commissioner would convene an informal briefing with Member States on 1 November 2023 in Geneva, and in the spring of 2024 in New York, to solicit the views of Member States on the options. These discussions would facilitate the development of the next biennial General Assembly resolution on the human rights treaty body system in December 2024. It was essential to make the limitations of the system visible, particularly to Member States who created it to serve the interests of their citizens.

The Committee then elected by consensus Laura-Maria Craciunean Tatu (Romania) as Chair; Preeti Saran (India), Karla Vanessa Lemus De Vásquez (El Salvador), and Ludovic Hennebel (Belgium) as Vice-Chairs; and Peters Sunday Omologbe Emuze (Nigeria) as Vice-Chair and Rapporteur.

LAURA-MARIA CRACIUNEAN TATU, Chair of the Committee, thanked the Committee for supporting her election as the Chair and congratulated the four Committee members elected to the Bureau. She said that assuming the position was both a sincere honour and a great responsibility. She looked forward to cooperating with the other members of the Committee, including newly elected Bureau members. Further, she expressed thanks to outgoing Chair Mohamed Ezzeldin Abdel-Moneim and the former Bureau for all the work that they had done over the past two years, and to the Secretariat for their support.

She expressed her satisfaction that her election coincided with the eighth anniversary of the adoption of the 2030 Agenda, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and their 169 associated targets, an ambitious project aiming to achieve a better world. The 2030 Agenda, which pledged to leave no one behind, pivoted around five pillars: people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership. It considered social, environmental and economic development dimensions. Ms. Craciunean Tatu said she was happy that the Committee had drafted a new general comment, which would be discussed during the session. The general comment addressed social protection in the context of sustainable development, in addition to the Covenant. Social security systems should not be purely reactive; they needed to be sustainable and prepared for the future shocks.

During the session, the Committee would review the reports of Chad, State of Palestine, Brazil, France, Qatar and Armenia, and would be discussing follow-up assessments for Bosnia and Hercegovina, Finland and Latvia. All delegations were expected to participate in reviews of periodic reports in person. Further, the Committee would engage with colleagues from other treaty bodies and from United Nations funds and programmes to the extent possible. The Committee was grateful to all the country-based United Nations partners who were providing support to States in their efforts to follow up on the recommendations of the Committee.

Since the last session, the reports of Sierra Leone, Pakistan, Angola and Mexico were received. While there were still many long overdue reports, the Committee had now established a backlog of reports pending review, including due to postponements related to the pandemic.

The Committee would also, during the session, be considering matters related to the Optional Protocol to the Covenant, including the Working Group’s proposals regarding individual communications. The Working Group held its meeting on 22 September 2023. Likewise, the Committee could also consider other matters under agenda item 11 as required.