PHM-Exch> Major breakthrough enabling individual complaints on economic, social and cultural rights

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Bahram Ghazi <bghazi at ohchr.org>


**
*Pillay welcomes major breakthrough enabling individual complaints on
economic, social and cultural rights*


GENEVA (6 February 2013) - The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi
Pillay on Wednesday applauded the upcoming entry into force of a key
Protocol to an international treaty which will, for the first time, enable
individual complaints on economic, social and cultural rights, thereby
helping place all human rights on an equal footing.

After crossing the required threshold of state ratifications on Tuesday,
the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights will enter into force on 5 May.

“The entry into force of the Optional Protocol is a major breakthrough,
which will enable victims under the jurisdiction of the States parties to
seek justice for violations of their economic, social and cultural rights,”
Pillay said.

“The Protocol will provide an important platform to expose abuses linked to
poverty, discrimination and neglect, which up until now victims have had to
endure without any possible recourse at the international level. It will
provide a way for individuals, who may otherwise be isolated and powerless,
to make the international community aware of their situation,” the High
Commissioner said.

“The entry into force of the Optional Protocol will also finally help place
economic, social and cultural rights on an equal footing with all other
human rights,” Pillay said. “The Protocol makes a strong and unequivocal
statement about the equal value and importance of all human rights and the
need for strengthened legal protection of economic, social and cultural
rights in particular,” she added.

Uruguay triggered the coming into force of the Optional Protocol when, on 5
February, it became the tenth country to ratify, joining Argentina,
Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mongolia, Portugal,
Slovakia and Spain.

The Optional Protocol was adopted four years ago, on 10 December 2008, by
the UN General Assembly. It gives the Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights – the body which monitors the International Covenant to
which the Protocol is attached – the competence to examine complaints from
individuals or groups of individuals who claim a violation of rights
protected under the Covenant. It also enables the Committee to conduct
inquiries if it receives reliable information indicating grave or
systematic violations by a State party of any of the economic, social and
cultural rights covered by the Covenant.

“With the entry into force of the Optional Protocol, a jurisprudence will
now be developed that will help define the scope of application of
economic, social and cultural rights and outline adequate remedies for
victims,” Pillay said.

The High Commissioner strongly encouraged other States among the 160 that
are already party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights to ratify the Optional Protocol as soon as possible. The
equivalent Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights came into force 37 years ago (in March 1976), and has been ratified
by 114 States.

The full text of the Optional Protocol can be found at:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/docs/A.RES.63.117_en.pdf

The full text of the provisional rules of procedure under the Optional
Protocol can be found at:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/index.htm

*My voice, my right, my voice counts* – Watch the Human Rights Day’s video:
*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCnLOpUW7tY&feature=share&list=UU3L8u5qG07djPUwWo6VQVLA
*<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCnLOpUW7tY&feature=share&list=UU3L8u5qG07djPUwWo6VQVLA>


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