Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Six ty- second session
Summary record (partial)* of the 78th meeting**
Held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, on Friday, 6 October 2017, at 3 p.m.
Chair:Ms. Bras Gomes
Contents
Substantive issues arising from the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (continued)
Consideration of reports (continued)
(a) Reports submitted by States parties in accordance with articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant (continued)
Closure of the session
The meeting was called to order at 3.05 p.m.
Substantive issues arising from the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (continued)
The Chair, reviewing the activities and meetings that had taken place during the session, said that the Committee had considered the reports of four States parties, namely Colombia, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of Moldova and the Russian Federation. The consideration of the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Mexico, which had been scheduled to take place at the current session, had been postponed following the devastating earthquake in the country.
The Committee had continued its work under the Optional Protocol to the Covenant, examining one communication, which had been declared inadmissible; had continued to work on its general comments, including one on the right to science and another on land and economic, social and cultural rights; and had discussed its working methods, including the preparation of lists of issues.
The Committee had held an informal meeting with States to update them on its work and to hear their views. It had held discussions with the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities and the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises. In addition, the Committee had met with various stakeholders, including the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and non-governmental organizations, and it had discussed a range of issues, such as the review of the human rights treaty body system to take place in 2020, climate change and the privatization of education. The Committee had held an exchange with the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the issue of strategic litigation and had met with non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions in relation to the consideration of State party reports.
The Committee had discussed its annual report and amendments had been proposed. She took it that the Committee wished to adopt its annual report as amended.
It was so decided.
The Chair said that the pre-sessional working group would meet during the following week to adopt lists of issues in respect of the reports of Argentina, Germany, South Africa and Turkmenistan. At its sixty-third session, the Committee would review the reports of Bangladesh, the Central African Republic, New Zealand, the Niger and Spain.
Consideration of reports (continued)
(a) Reports submitted by States parties in accordance with articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant (continued)
The Chair said that, if there were no objections, she would take it that the Committee wished to adopt its concluding observations on the reports of Colombia (E/C.12/COL/CO/6), the Republic of Korea (E/C.12/KOR/CO/4), the Republic of Moldova (E/C.12/MDA/CO/3) and the Russian Federation (E/C.12/RUS/CO/6).
It was so decided.
Mr. Abashidze said that, in future, it would be helpful if Committee members could be given the opportunity to review the final version of concluding observations before they were made available to the public.
The Chair said that the Committee’s practice was to entrust the rapporteurs with producing the final versions of concluding observations. In any case, the matter could be discussed at the following session.
Closure of the session
Following an exchange of courtesies, the Chair declared closed the sixty-second session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The discussion covered in the summary record ended at 3.20 p.m.