From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Bahram Ghazi</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:bghazi@ohchr.org">bghazi@ohchr.org</a>></span><br><div class="gmail_quote"><br><br>
<u></u>
<div style><span></span><font face="Arial" size="4"><b>Pillay welcomes major breakthrough enabling
individual complaints on economic, social and cultural rights</b></font>
<div><div><div><div><p>
<br><font face="Arial" size="3">GENEVA (6 February 2013) - The UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Wednesday applauded the upcoming <span style="color:rgb(51,51,255)">entry
into force</span> 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. </font>
<br>
<br><font face="Arial" size="3">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. </font>
<br>
<br><font face="Arial" size="3">“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. </font>
<br>
<br><font face="Arial" size="3">“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.</font>
<br>
<br><font face="Arial" size="3">“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.</font>
<br>
<br><font face="Arial" size="3">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.</font>
<br><font face="Arial" size="3"><br>
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. </font>
<br>
<br><font face="Arial" size="3">“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.<br>
</font>
<br><font face="Arial" size="3">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.<br>
</font>
</p><p>
</p><p><font face="Arial" size="3">The full text of the Optional Protocol can
be found at: </font><a href="http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/docs/A.RES.63.117_en.pdf" target="_blank"><font color="blue" face="Arial" size="3">http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/docs/A.RES.63.117_en.pdf</font></a><font face="Arial" size="3">
</font>
</p><p><font face="Arial" size="3">The full text of the provisional rules of
procedure under the Optional Protocol can be found at:</font>
<br><a href="http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/index.htm" target="_blank"><font face="Arial" size="3">http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/index.htm</font></a><font face="Arial" size="3"><br>
</font>
<br><font face="Arial"><b>My voice, my right, my voice counts</b>
– Watch the Human Rights Day’s video: </font>
<br><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCnLOpUW7tY&feature=share&list=UU3L8u5qG07djPUwWo6VQVLA" target="_blank"><font color="blue" face="sans-serif"><u>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCnLOpUW7tY&feature=share&list=UU3L8u5qG07djPUwWo6VQVLA</u></font></a><font face="sans-serif">
</font><font face="Arial"> </font>
<br>
<br><font face="Arial"><b>UN Human Rights, follow us on social media:</b></font>
<br><font face="Arial"><b>Facebook:</b> </font><a href="https://www.facebook.com/unitednationshumanrights" target="_blank"><font color="blue" face="Arial"><u>https://www.facebook.com/unitednationshumanrights</u></font></a><font face="Arial">
</font><font face="sans-serif"><b><br>
</b></font><font face="Arial"><b>Twitter:</b> </font><a href="http://twitter.com/UNrightswire" target="_blank"><font color="blue" face="Arial"><u>http://twitter.com/UNrightswire</u></font></a><font face="Arial">
</font>
<br><font face="Arial"><b>Google+</b> <a href="http://gplus.to/unitednationshumanrights" target="_blank">gplus.to/unitednationshumanrights</a>
</font><font face="sans-serif"><b><br>
</b></font><font face="Arial"><b>YouTube:</b> </font><a href="http://www.youtube.com/UNOHCHR" target="_blank"><font color="blue" face="Arial"><u>http://www.youtube.com/UNOHCHR
</u></font></a>
<br><font face="Arial"><b>Storify: </b></font><a href="http://storify.com/UNrightswire" target="_blank"><font color="blue" face="Arial"><u>http://storify.com/UNrightswire</u></font></a><font face="Arial">
</font>
<br>
<br><font face="Arial">Check the Universal Human Rights Index: </font><a href="http://uhri.ohchr.org/en" target="_blank"><font color="blue" face="Arial"><u>http://uhri.ohchr.org/en</u></font></a>
</p><div dir="rtl" align="right"></div>
<div dir="rtl" align="center"></div><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p></div>
<p></p>
</div><br></div></div></div></div><br>