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ESC Rights Update from Geneva: 63rd session of the CESCR

ESC Rights Update from Geneva: 63rd session of the CESCR

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ESC Rights Update from Geneva: 63rd session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (12 to 29 March 2018)

 

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) held its 63rd session from 12 to 29 March 2018.  This Update provides a summary of the meetings and key developments.

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State Reporting Procedure The Committee considered the State Party reports for the following States: Mexico, Niger, Bangladesh, Central African Republic, Spain and New Zealand

It was very pleasing to see Bangladesh, Niger and Central African Republic appearing before the Committee for the first time to discuss their Initial Reports.  The Committee has published its Concluding Observations for all States HERE.

Pre-session The Committee’s pre-sessional Working Group met from 3 – 6 April 2018, and it adopted Lists of Issues in respect of Cameroon, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Mauritius, Slovakia.

The Lists of Issues are available HERE.

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Communications under the OP-ICESCR The Committee has now registered 26 communications and dealt with 17 of those. The Committee has made four substantive decisions and found 12 communications inadmissible. One communication was withdrawn by the complainant.

The Committee considered 1 Communication during this session and found it inadmissible.

Jaime Efraín Arellano Medina v Ecuador (7/2015) (E / C.12 / 63 / D / 7/2015).

The case was against Ecuador and involved allegations of violations of the rights to work (Art 6), to just and favourable conditions of work (Art 7) and to health (Art 12). The author was an employee of the Ecuadorian State Petroleum Corporation, ‘Petroecuador’, for 30 years. In 2007 he filed a petition for termination of the employment relationship under the Labour Code because, he said, the company did not maintain the minimum cleaning conditions and adequate measures for the handling of chemical and harmful substances.

The author contended that he was entitled to a workers’ compensation payment pursuant to the relevant collective agreement, in addition to his entitlement under the Labour Code. The employer paid the author an amount pursuant to his Labour Code entitlement but not pursuant to the collective agreement. The author took the dispute to Court and was successful at first and second instance. The State appealed again and the National Court of Justice dismissed the author’s claim. The author then brought a claim to theConstitutional Court, which on April 9, 2014, declared that there was no violation of constitutional rights.

The State argued that the Communication was inadmissible on the grounds that:

  • domestic remedies were not exhausted by the author - Art 3(1);

  • it was not filed within one year after the exhaustion of domestic remedies - Art 3(2)(a);

  • the relevant facts occurred in October 2007, before the date of entry into force of the Protocol Optional for Ecuador (May 5, 2013) – Art 3(2)(b); and

  • the allegations of violations of Articles 6 & 7 were manifestly unfounded and did not demonstrate a violation of the Covenant rights - Art 3(2)(e).

In relation to Article 3(1) of the Optional Protocol, the State alleged that the author had failed to pursue available domestic remedies with respect to his claim of damage to his health due to the working conditions. The State described specific domestic processes available to the author, which were not pursued by the author. The Committee found that the author had not convincingly refuted that the domestic remedies mentioned by the State party would not have been effective in remedying the alleged violations. Therefore, the Committee found that the author did not exhaust all remedies available in the domestic jurisdiction with respect to the right to health allegations and therefore those allegations were inadmissible under Article 3(1).

In relation to admissibility under Article 3(2)(a), the State contended that the decision of the Constitutional Court should not be considered a ‘domestic remedy’ because it was the National Court of Justice that terminated the labour law proceedings and the petition to the Constitutional Court dealt only with alleged violations of Constitutional Rights. The Committee disagreed and found that ‘domestic remedies’ are those remedies available to author within the domestic jurisdiction, ordinary and extraordinary, directly related to the initial events that gave rise to the alleged violation, and prima facie can be reasonably considered as effective to repair the alleged violations of the Covenant. Therefore, domestic remedies were exhausted with the ruling of the Constitutional Court of April 9, 2014 and the Communication was submitted within the 1 year time period.

In relation to Article 3(2)(b) of the Optional Protocol, it is sufficient for the relevant facts to continue after the date of entry into force (even if they commenced before that date) and judicial or administrative decisions of national authorities are also considered part of ‘the facts’ under Article 3(2)(b): when they are the result of processes directly related to the initial events, acts or omissions, which gave rise to the violation; and provided they can repair the alleged violation, according to the law applicable. The Committee found that the judgment of the Constitutional Court of April 9, 2014, met these criteria and therefore the Communication was admissible pursuant to Article 3(2)(b).

Finally, in relation to Article 3(2)(e), the Committee said the author’s claim at its core questioned the interpretation of Ecuadorian law by national Courts. It alleged that the National Court of Justice had incorrectly applied the law with respect to the author’s entitlement to a ‘bonus’ under the collective agreement (and the legal concepts of ‘labour eviction’ and ‘voluntary separation’ under Ecuadorian law). The Committee noted its own jurisprudence - that its work is confined to analysis of whether the facts, including the application of national legislation, reveal a violation by the State of Covenant rights and that it is for the domestic courts to evaluate the facts and evidence in each particular case, and to interpret the relevant legislation.

The Committee said it must only make an evidentiary assessment or an interpretation of domestic law applied to the case, when the domestic Court’s assessment is manifestly arbitrary or equivalent to a denial of justice, and has led to the violation of a Covenant right. Since there was no information provided to the Committee to suggest this, the Committee found that the author had not sufficiently substantiated his allegations regarding Articles 6 and 7 of the Covenant, and they were therefore inadmissible under Article 3(2)(e), of the Optional Protocol.

The documentation is published HERE.

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Elections The elections for membership of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights were held on 16 April 2018 in New York (in the ECOSOC). 9 seats were open for election.

 
 

After the elections, the Committee is in the unusual situation where there are 2 seats that were open for election but no candidate was elected. The ECOSOC decided to hold a further election in July 2018 in respect of those 2 seats (Asia, GRULAC).

It is also notable that unfortunately the gender balance on the Committee has gone backwards. One female member, Ms Virginia Bras Gomes (Portugal) will be stepping down from the Committee on 31 December 2018, and another female member, Ms Shin was re-elected. The remainder of those elected were men. Unless female candidates are elected in the July elections, the Committee will have only 4 female Committee members from 2019 (out of 18 members).

Further information is available HERE.

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Next sessions

The sixty-fourth sessionof the Committee will be held from 24 September to 12 October 2018 during which the Committee will consider the reports of:

Argentina, Cabo Verde, Germany, Mali, South Africa, Turkmenistan

The deadline for civil society submissions in respect of the review of these countries is 31 August 2018.

The Programme of Work for the 64thsession (including dates for the Dialogues) is not yet available but will be posted on the website in the coming weeks.

The following States will be reviewed in future sessions (probably 2019) but have not yet been scheduled: Bulgaria, Cameroon, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Mauritius, Slovakia, Switzerland, Yemen.

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Climate and Environmental Justice

We have advanced rights-based and gender-transformative transition frameworks through research that centres the lived experiences of women and marginalised communities on the frontlines of extractive energy policies, promoting climate and energy frameworks attentive to the social and care-related impacts of transition pathways. We have developed a clear vision for a gender-just transition, firmly rooted in gender and human rights norms, establishing both the legal basis and the direction for the transformative changes our planet and societies urgently need. In particular, the ‘Guiding Principles for Gender Equality and Human Rights in the Energy Transition’, a collective effort built through online consultations, an in-person workshop and multiple rounds of revision with activists, practitioners and experts from around the world, outline a transformative vision for reshaping global energy systems through a human rights and gender equality lens.

Our work recognises that the climate emergency is both an existential threat and an opportunity to reimagine societies built on social, gender, economic and environmental justice. We ground our advocacy in feminist and intersectional principles, prioritising the agency and perspectives of communities in the Global South who have contributed the least to the climate emergency yet face its most devastating consequences. Central to our approach is the understanding that energy is not merely a commodity but a fundamental human right; essential for dignity, health, education, work and the realisation of countless other rights. We challenge approaches to the energy transition that risk replicating the harmful patterns of fossil fuel extraction and, instead, advocate for transformative policies that ensure human rights and gender equality as central to building climate-resilient societies rooted in dignity, justice and planetary well-being.

What's next?

We will continue to challenge approaches that treat energy transition as merely a technical shift, instead positioning it as an opportunity to reimagine economies and societies rooted in dignity for all, with particular attention to communities in the Global South who have contributed least to the climate emergency yet are most exposed to its worst effects.

We will connect community-level evidence and the lived experiences of those on the frontlines of extractive policies to national reform and global norm-setting, breaking down silos between human rights, gender, and climate movements, and advancing a shared vision that recognises just transitions as not only fundamental to achieving climate-resilient and sustainable societies, but as transformative pathways that advance social and gender equality, redistribute power and resources equitably, and ensure that energy systems serve the public good rather than profit.

We will mainstream rights-based and genderjust transition priorities in key multilateral spaces (particularly, within the Just Transition Work Programme and the to-be-developed Just Transition Mechanism, within the UNFCCC) to guarantee that just transitions are advanced at all levels.

We will also translate our work, through strategic advocacy, into at least two concrete policy wins, whether promoted, adopted, implemented, or scaled, in priority countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, or Kenya), ensuring these policies align with human rights standards, centre gender equality, and reflect the needs and views of affected communities.

We will build momentum for the progressive recognition of the right to sustainable energy to shift dominant narratives away from purely extractive solutions that sideline gendered impacts, community participation, and Global South perspectives.

Economic Justice and Climate Finance

Our work has transformed the global discussion on fiscal policy in a more just, emancipatory and sustainable direction. Our approach has combined both high-level, expert contributions within decisionmaking circles, with bold, impactful work on narrative change with the general public.

We have been instrumental in the inclusion of human rights as a guiding principle of the future United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, a multilateral instrument with the potential of raising approx. USD 492 billion per year in public revenues currently foregone to global tax abuse. In the process leading to the ‘Compromiso de Sevilla’ decided at FfD4, we proposed and succeeded in creating a specific human rights workstream within the Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism, which was critical to ensure that explicit commitments on the matter were included in the negotiating outcome. In a context of cutbacks in multilateral institutions, we have amplified the capacities of technical experts, providing rigorous technical support and leveraging our influence to ensure the enactments of groundbreaking standard-setting instruments, such as the 2025 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Statement on Fiscal Policy and Human Rights, and the first ex oficio hearing on the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights on Fiscal and Economic Policies to Address Poverty and Structural Inequality, leading to an upcoming thematic resolution on the matter. We have also bridged the silos between multilateral tax discussions and climate finance debates, promoting ambitious financing commitments to increase international and domestic resource mobilisation during COP 28, 29 and 30.

At the regional level, our engagement with fiscal cooperation platforms such as the Platform for Fiscal Cooperation of Latin America and the Caribbean (PTLAC), where we are member of its Civil Society Consultative Council, and the African Anti-IFFs Policy Tracker, for which we participated in the pilot mission in Ivory Coast together with Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), have been critical in cementing a growing engagement between tax administrations and ministries of finance with international legal experts, exploring actionable and transformative initiatives, such as the taxation of high-net-worth individuals, beneficial ownership registries and corporate countryby-country reports, to be implemented at the international level.

At the local level, our interventions in fiscal reform debates in Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Nigeria have contributed to shaping legislative outcomes in a more progressive, rights-compliant direction.

As for our leadership in narrative change, we have a measurable track record in delivering tailored, innovative campaigns which have decisively expanded economic justice constituencies by appealing to a broader tent. In Latin America and the Caribbean, we created the ‘Date Cuenta’ campaign, coordinating over 40 organisations across civil society to deliver plain language, innovative messaging connecting progressive fiscal reforms to the financing of health, education and social protection. ‘Date Cuenta’ generated over 55 original campaign messages that were tailored to the realities of seven priority countries (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Honduras) and disseminated in Spanish, Portuguese and English. In doing so, we convened more than 65 online co-creation workshops with partners, coordinating a unified communications strategy which combined digital outreach, press and media coverage, and collaboration with influencers. Ultimately, ‘Date Cuenta’ resulted in more than 60,000 interactions on social media, coverage in major regional and international media outlets, including El País, Deutsche Welle, Bloomberg and France 24, and the participation of at least 63 social media influencers through 58 dedicated publications. In collaboration with Fundación Gabo and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, we also organised a two-day workshop in Bogota with 20 journalists from 13 countries, building a regional network trained in a human rights-based approach to fiscal policy that has since generated published media coverage on outlets such as La Diaria, Ciper, El Diario Ar and Milenio. Through ‘Date Cuenta’ and our regional advocacy, we strengthened civil society engagement in key processes, including the Financing for Development track and FfD4, co-organised highlevel dialogues with states and civil society from Latin America and Africa.

What's next?

We will shape the UN Tax Convention and its Protocols so they embed human rights principles, and we will stay engaged through follow-up processes (including the expected Conference of the Parties) to support effective implementation. We will keep linking tax and climate finance so that new resources mobilised through fiscal cooperation are channelled to adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage, in line with UNFCCC commitments.

Public Services for Care Societies

We have translated participatory research into accountability and policy outcomes.

In Ivory Coast, our work with Mouvement Ivoirien des Droits Humains and affected communities since 2023 exposed how privatisation and lack of accountability restrict access to quality healthcare. It contributed to the closure of 1,022 illegal private health centres, an executive instrument strengthening the regulation of private hospitals across the country, and the creation of a permanent complaints management committee in healthcare through a bylaw issued by the prefect of Gagnoa. Partners engaged through this process also advanced concrete improvements at facility level: members of the Gagnoa Midwives Association who took part in the participatory action research pooled resources to renovate the neonatal unit of the Regional Hospital, and the Director of the Gagnoa General Hospital launched an action plan to expand services and improve patient reception, with the facility receiving the award for best hospital in the country in 2025.

In Kenya, our research with the Mathare Education Taskforce documented the absence of public schools and the expansion of private provision, evidencing impacts on households and caregivers and strengthening demands for free, quality public education. This work contributed to stronger community agency and collective organisation, alongside ongoing strategies ranging from communications to litigation to secure a public school in the area, some involving GI-ESCR and others led independently.

Across Africa, this work is complemented by a multi-country study examining the human rights implications of austerity in education and health, including how regressive fiscal policies, rising debt burdens and persistent underinvestment undermine the financing and delivery of public services.

In Latin America, from 29 November to 2 December 2021, over a thousand representatives from over one hundred countries, from grassroots movements, advocacy, human rights, and development organisations, feminist movements, trade unions, and other civil society organisations, met in Santiago, Chile, and virtually, to discuss the critical role of public services for our future. Following the meeting, the Santiago Declaration on Public Services was adopted to demand universal access to quality, gender-transformative and equitable public services as the foundation of a fair and just society.

We are currently advancing work on care systems, linking public services and fiscal justice through integrated research, advocacy and communications, including a regional campaign framing care as a collective responsibility requiring sustained public investment.

What's next?

In Ivory Coast, we will evaluate and strengthen the complaints management committee and position it as a replicable model for other health facilities. In Kenya, we will support the Mathare community to co-design a model public school for Mabatini and Ngei wards, grounded in human rights standards. Building on our multi-country austerity study, we will drive national advocacy on financing for education and health: advancing reforms in Ghana; launching a fiscal policy and public services financing agenda in Kenya through the CESCR process and targeted coalition work; and, in Nigeria, using the new tax acts in force since 1 January 2026 to catalyse a national accountability campaign for adequately funded, quality public services. In Latin America, we will amplify locally led care pilots across 8 countries and turn lessons into influence—advancing care policies that strengthen care organisations, protect care workers’ rights, support unpaid caregivers, include disability and family networks, and redistribute care more equitably.