Our Demands

The core elements which have been promoted and defended over the years by the International Coalition for an OP-ICESCR in the ESCR Protocol Now! Campaign include:

An Optional Protocol to the ICESCR shall provide victims of violations of economic, social and cultural rights access to international justice. 

It should establish a communications procedure that should enable individuals and groups to file complaints before the CESCR Committee for specific violations of the rights contained in the Covenant. Similar procedures are already available for violations of other international and regional human rights treaties. 

The primary purpose of the NGO Coalition for the OP to the ICESCR is to advocate for the adoption and use of an effective OP to the ICESCR.

Members of the Coalition have identified five key elements for an effective OP.  Each is a minimum requirement for the Optional Protocol that should be promoted by all NGOs wishing to contribute to the process of making the OP to the ICESCR a meaningful human rights instrument. 

ELEMENT ONE: The OP should contain at least two procedures: (1) a Communication Procedure and (2) an Inquiry Procedure.  The Coalition for an OP-ICESCR also supports the inclusion of other important procedural elements, such an early warning/emergency procedures mechanism, interim measures in cases of immediate or irreparable harm to complainants, and effective remedies and follow-up measures.  An inquiries procedure, including fact-finding missions to the State Party concerned, would enable the CESCR Committee to launch, at its own initiative, investigations into grave and/or systematic violations of the rights contained in the Covenant. 

ELEMENT TWO: The Procedures established under the OP to the ICESCR should be available to victims of violations of ANY substantive right enshrined in the Covenant. The procedures under the OP to the ICESCR should extend to ALL the rights set forth in the Covenant.  The OP to the ICESCR must be comprehensive in its coverage and should include all the rights contained in the ICESCR, including the right to self-determination. 

ELEMENT THREE: The violations to be reviewed under the Procedures established under the OP to the ICESCR should be linked to all levels of state obligations.  This should include the obligations to respect, protect, and fulfil economic, social and cultural rights.  It should also include all components of a right, and not simply the “core” rights or “minimum rights”.

ELEMENT FOUR: Standing should extend to individuals, groups and organisations.  The capacity to submit complaints under an OP should extend to individuals, groups of individuals, and organisations (including NGOs and trade unions). The OP should enable complaints to be submitted by or on behalf of individuals, groups of individuals and organisations.

ELEMENT FIVE: No reservations should be allowed under the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR.

In addition to these five core elements, the Coalition also believes that other issues are important and should continue to be discussed during the process of advocating for an OP, including the capacity to address and acknowledge the role of international cooperation in the realisation of ESCR and the responsibilities of non-state actors, in particular transnational corporations.  Once discussions around an OP progress to the drafting of the mechanism, the NGO Coalition will advocate for progressive approaches towards other more procedural elements such as the exhaustion of local remedies rule and the protection of complainants against reprisals.