Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Seventieth session

27 September–15 October 2021

Item 2 of the provisional agenda

Adoption of the agenda

Annotated provisional agenda *

Provisional agenda

1.Election of the Chair and other officers of the Committee.

2.Adoption of the agenda.

3.Organization of work.

4.Substantive issues arising from the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

5.Follow-up to the consideration of reports under articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant.

6.Relations with United Nations organs and other treaty bodies.

7.Consideration of reports:

(a)Reports submitted by States parties in accordance with articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant;

(b)Reports submitted by specialized agencies in accordance with article 18 of the Covenant.

8.Submission of reports by States parties in accordance with articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant.

9.Formulation of suggestions and recommendations of a general nature based on the consideration of reports submitted by States parties to the Covenant and by the specialized agencies.

10.Consideration of communications under the Optional Protocol to the Covenant.

11.Miscellaneous matters.

Annotations

1.Election of the Chair and other officers of the Committee

In accordance with rule 14 of its rules of procedure, the Committee shall elect from among its members a Chair, three Vice-Chairs and a Rapporteur. The officers of the Committee shall be elected for a term of two years (rule 15). Under rule 53 of the rules of procedure, elections shall be held by secret ballot, unless the Committee decides otherwise in the case of an election to fill a place for which there is only one candidate. These elections were exceptionally postponed from the sixty-ninth session owing to the modalities imposed as a result of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

2.Adoption of the agenda

Under rule 5 of the Committee’s rules of procedure, the first item on the provisional agenda of any session shall be the adoption of the agenda, except when the election of officers is required under rule 14. In accordance with rule 6, the Committee may revise the agenda during a session and may, as appropriate, add, delete or defer items.

The provisional agenda for the seventieth session was prepared by the Secretary-General, in accordance with rule 4 of the rules of procedure.

3.Organization of work

The seventieth session of the Committee, established in accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1985/17, will be held at the United Nations Office at Geneva from 27 September to 15 October 2021. The first meeting will be convened on Monday, 27 September 2021, at 10 a.m.

In accordance with rule 8 of its rules of procedure, at the beginning of each session, the Committee shall consider appropriate organizational matters, including its meetings schedule. The attention of States parties is drawn to the programme of work for the session, which is available on the Committee web page.

4.Substantive issues arising from the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

In accordance with rule 65 of its rules of procedure, the Committee may prepare general comments based on the various articles and provisions of the Covenant. The Committee decided at its fourteenth session, held in 1996, that, as from its fifteenth session, its discussions relating to the implementation of the Covenant (such as days of general discussion, consideration and adoption of general comments, methods of work and submissions by non-governmental organizations) would be conducted under this agenda item.

During the session, the Committee will discuss the general comments that are under preparation.

The Committee will also discuss matters relating to its working methods.

5.Follow-up to the consideration of reports under articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant

The Committee has been discussing follow-up consistently at its sessions, and the issue of follow-up to previous concluding observations is included as an item for discussion during dialogues with delegations and during the consideration of subsequent periodic reports and of working methods. The Committee adopted a written follow-up procedure at its sixty-first session and will continue to identify issues in its concluding observations to be included in this procedure. At its seventieth session, the Committee will consider reports on follow-up to concluding observations adopted at previous sessions.

All information relating to follow-up to the consideration of reports is available on the Committee web page.

6.Relations with United Nations organs and other treaty bodies

Under this agenda item the Committee will continue to consider, as required, matters arising from the meeting of the Chairs of the human rights treaty bodies. Documentation relating to that meeting is being made available to Committee members. Members will also meet with or be informed of activities undertaken by other treaty bodies, where relevant to their work.

7.Consideration of reports

(a)Reports submitted by States parties in accordance with articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant

In accordance with rule 61, paragraph 2, of its rules of procedure, the Committee shall normally consider the reports submitted by States parties under article 16 of the Covenant in the order in which they have been received by the Secretary-General. Long-overdue initial reports will be given priority, to the extent possible. Representatives of the reporting States are invited to the meetings of the Committee when their reports are examined. The representatives should be able to make statements on the reports submitted by their Governments, to engage in an interactive dialogue and to reply to questions put to them by the members of the Committee.

In accordance with rule 62, paragraph 2, of the Committee’s rules of procedure, the Secretary-General has informed the States parties of the opening date and duration of the seventieth session of the Committee.

As at 6 August 2021, 34 reports had been received by the Secretary-General and were pending consideration by the Committee. Reports of States parties that are tentatively scheduled for consideration at the seventieth and future sessions are set out in the table below. Other reports scheduled for consideration by the Committee at its subsequent sessions, subject to approval by the Committee, will be the next reports received by the Committee, generally in chronological order of receipt and in accordance with the duration of the session.

Status of State party reports pending consideration by the Committee

Reporting State	Symbol of report	Date received	Date due	Session at which the report is tentatively scheduled for consideration
1. Armenia (fourth periodic report)	E/C.12/ARM/4	6 Aug. 2020	30 May 2019	Future
2. Azerbaijan (fourth periodic report)	E/C.12/AZE/4	27 Dec. 2018	31 May 2018	Seventieth
3. Bahrain (initial report)	E/C.12/BHR/1	3 Dec. 2019	30 June 2009	Seventieth
4. Belarus (seventh periodic report)	E/C.12/BLR/7	26 Dec. 2019	31 Oct. 2019	Seventy-first
5. Bolivia (Plurinational State of) (third periodic report)	E/C.12/BOL/3	12 Mar. 2019	30 June 2010	Seventieth
6. Bosnia and Herzegovina (third periodic report)	E/C.12/BIH/3	11 Mar. 2019	30 Nov. 2018	Seventieth
7. Brazil (third periodic report)	E/C.12/BRA/3	4 June 2020	30 June 2014	Future
8. Cambodia (second periodic report)	E/C.12/KHM/2	24 June 2020	30 June 2012	Future
9. Chad (fourth periodic report)	E/C.12/TCD/4	21 Aug. 2020	30 June 2012	Future
10. China (third periodic report)	E/C.12/CHN/3	19 Dec. 2019	30 May 2019	Future
Hong Kong, China(fourth periodic report)	E/C.12/CHN-HKG/4	19 Dec. 2019	30 May 2019	Future
Macao, China (thirdperiodic report)	E/C.12/CHN-MAC/3	19 Dec. 2019	30 May 2019	Future
11. Czechia (third periodic report)	E/C.12/CZE/3	9 Sept. 2019	30 May 2019	Seventy-first
12. Democratic Republic of the Congo (sixth periodic report)	E/C.12/COD/6	13 Aug. 2019	30 June 2013	Seventy-first
13. El Salvador (sixth periodic report)	E/C.12/SLV/6	31 Oct. 2019	30 May 2019	Seventy-first
14. France (fifth periodic report)	E/C.12/FRA/5	30 July 2021	30 June 2021	Future
15. Guatemala (fourth periodic report)	E/C.12/GTM/4	2 Dec. 2019	30 Nov. 2019	Seventy-first
16. Iraq (fifth periodic report)	E/C.12/IRQ/5	26 Feb. 2021	31 Oct. 2020	Future
17. Ireland (fourth periodic report)	E/C.12/IRL/4	16 Feb. 2021	30 June 2020	Future
18. Italy (sixth periodic report)	E/C.12/ITA/6	29 June 2021	30 June 2021	Future
19. Kyrgyzstan (fourth periodic report)	E/C.12/KGZ/4	20 Apr. 2021	30 June 2020	Future
20. Kuwait (third periodic report)	E/C.12/KWT/3	30 Nov. 2018	30 Nov. 2018	Seventieth
21. Lithuania (third periodic report)	E/C.12/LTU/3	6 May 2020	30 May 2019	Seventy-first
22. Luxembourg (fourth periodic report)	E/C.12/LUX/4	24 Jan. 2020	30 June 2008	Seventy-first
23. Mauritania (second periodic report)	E/C.12/MRT/2	11 Aug. 2020	30 Nov. 2017	Future
24. Mongolia (fifth periodic report)	E/C.12/MNG/5	9 July 2021	31 Oct. 2020	Future
25. Nicaragua (fifth periodic report)	E/C.12/NIC/5	23 May 2019	30 June 2013	Seventieth
26. Panama (third periodic report)	E/C.12/PAN/3	27 Apr. 2020	30 June 2004	Future
27. Portugal (fifth periodic report)	E/C.12/PRT/5	2 June 2020	30 Nov. 2019	Future
28. Qatar (initial report)	E/C.12/QAT/1	31 Aug. 2020	21 Aug. 2020	Future
29. Romania (sixth periodic report)	E/C.12/ROU/6	11 Dec. 2020	30 Nov. 2019	Future
30. Serbia (third periodic report)	E/C.12/SRB/3	3 May 2019	30 May 2019	Seventy-first
31. State of Palestine (initial report)	E/C.12/PSE/1	16 Nov. 2020	2 July 2016	Future
32. Tajikistan (fourth periodic report)	E/C.12/TJK/4	30 Mar. 2020	30 Mar. 2020	Future
33. Uzbekistan (third periodic report)	E/C.12/UZB/3	19 June 2019	30 May 2019	Seventy-first
34. Yemen (third periodic report)	E/C.12/YEM/3	11 July 2013	30 June 2013	Future

(b)Reports submitted by specialized agencies in accordance with article 18 of the Covenant

In accordance with rule 67 of its rules of procedure, the Committee is entrusted with the task of considering the reports submitted by specialized agencies pursuant to article 18 of the Covenant.

In accordance with rule 68 of the rules of procedure, the representatives of the specialized agencies concerned may make statements on matters falling within the scope of the activities of their respective organizations.

Any report which may be received from the specialized agencies under article 18 of the Covenant will be made available to the Committee in due course.

8.Submission of reports by States parties in accordance with articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant

In accordance with rule 59, paragraph 1, of its rules of procedure, the Committee shall at each session consider the status of submission of reports under articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant and may make appropriate recommendations to the Council, including recommendations to the effect that the Secretary-General should send reminders to States parties from which reports have not been received. In this regard, the Committee may also convene informal meetings with States. The Committee will have before it under this item the note by the Secretary-General on the status of submission of reports by States parties under articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant.

9.Formulation of suggestions and recommendations of a general nature based on the consideration of reports submitted by States parties to the Covenant and by the specialized agencies

Pursuant to rule 64 of its rules of procedure, the Committee may wish to make suggestions and recommendations of a general nature on the basis of its consideration of reports submitted by States parties and reports submitted by specialized agencies, in order to assist the Council to fulfil, in particular, its responsibilities under articles 21 and 22 of the Covenant. The Committee may also wish to make suggestions for consideration by the Council with reference to articles 19, 22 and 23 of the Covenant.

10.Consideration of communications under the Optional Protocol to the Covenant

In accordance with the provisional rules of procedure under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Committee will consider under this item communications that are, or appear to be, submitted to it under the Optional Protocol. It will also consider its follow-up progress report on individual communications.

In accordance with article 8 of the Optional Protocol and rule 19, paragraph 1, of the provisional rules of procedure under the Optional Protocol, the Committee or its Working Group on Communications shall examine communications in closed meetings.

11.Miscellaneous matters

At its twenty-first session, held in 1999, the Committee decided to include in its agenda a standing item, entitled “Miscellaneous matters”, under which it might consider any issue falling outside the scope of the other standing agenda items.