Day Four: Thursday 9 February 2006
Programme for the day
The focus of the morning session was international cooperation and assistance. The afternoon session was cancelled.
Themes from Statements
In general, some States reiterated that they bear responsibility to respect human rights and that international cooperation is central to comply with this responsibility. Some States stressed that international cooperation establishes “legal” obligations while others (such as Canada) emphasised the non-legal nature of any duty of international cooperation and assistance. It was emphasized that the provisions in article 2.1 of the ICESCR were central to this treaty and that the obligation to use the maximum of available resources includes national resources as well as those resources available through international assistance and cooperation. A delegation mentioned that reference to international cooperation applied to all states and not to specific ones. It was stressed that international cooperation is not and should not be a precondition for the implementation of the Covenant. Some delegates pointed to the practices of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and favaoured including that approach in an Optional Protocol to the ICESCR. A proposal was made to create a fund to implement recommendation of the Committee in relation to individual communications. Other States rejected this proposal.
Some States, such as Sweden and The Netherlands emphasised their commitments to international assistance although they raised concerned about the inclusion of such obligations under the OP.
France provided information on the meeting which took place in Nantes in July 2005 and the discussions there about the issue of international cooperation and assistance. The United Kingdom continued raising concerns about the OP in general and the possibility of submitting complaints regarding international assistance and cooperation. The delegate for the U.K. questioned the ability of the Committee members to provide advice in regard to provisions regarding International assistance.
The delegate of Finland stressed that international assistance should be used to comply with the Covenant. In this regard, she noted the importance of a human rights based approach to development and that consultation between development agencies and Committee members would be extremely useful.
The delegate of the Netherlands reiterated the commitments of his country to international assistance. Nonetheless, he considered that a complaint mechanism is not the way to deal with international cooperation. He stressed that they are not in favour of any duplication of procedures.
The delegate of Morocco on behalf of the African Group submitted the proposal to create an international fund to implement the decisions of the Committee under individual complaints. He emphasised that international cooperation was a key component of the Covenant, a central obligation for all States party to the treaty. He recalled General Comments No. 2 and 3. He stressed that this fund would be essential to comply with the views of the Committee.
Several countries from the region supported the idea of the fund. These included Egypt, Nigeria, Angola, South Africa, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Senegal. Some other countries also supported the creation of such a fund, i.e. Indonesia and Iran.
Switzerland noted that the Committee would be able to do more in regard to international assistance so the inclusion of these obligations under an Optional Protocol would not be necessary.
Portugal stressed that it is particularly important that the issue of international cooperation is addressed in a non-confrontational manner, suggesting that we should give priority to articles 22 and 23 ICESCR. They expressed support to include a provision similar to article 44 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child. It was noted that the Committee could, for example, receive the power to invite international agencies to provide assistance, recommend the GA to make studies on issues related to ESCR and to transmit the Secretary General its views.
NGO activities
The NGO Coalition made statements for each of the topics included in the programmes (see web page).
