Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
List of issues in relation to the seventh periodic report of Germany *
1.The State Party is invited to submit in writing the information requested below (preferably not exceeding 10,700 words) by 30 April 2026 .
A. General information
2.Please provide information on the measures taken, and their impact, to ensure the justiciability of economic, social and cultural rights in the State Party’s domestic legal order. Please provide information on cases, if any, in which the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights have been invoked before or applied by domestic courts, including the number of such cases and examples thereof. Please provide information on how the legislature was involved in the implementation of and follow-up to the previous concluding observations and in the development of the seventh periodic report.
3.Please provide information on recent improvements, if any, in existing structures and legal frameworks to protect Covenant rights. In addition, please provide information on steps taken to strengthen the German Institute for Human Rights to enable it to discharge its mandate effectively and independently in compliance with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles).
4.Please provide information on steps taken to strengthen the legal obligations of business entities within the State Party’s jurisdiction to respect economic, social and cultural rights and apply the principles of due diligence in their operations both in the State Party and overseas.
5.Please indicate what measures have been taken to ensure the full dissemination and implementation of the Committee’s previous concluding observations, including at the federal and Länder levels, and among judicial, legislative and administrative bodies, including specific steps taken to reduce regional disparitiesin the enjoyment of Covenant rights. Please clarify whether the State Party intends to withdraw its reservations to the revised European Social Charter, including article 30 thereof on the right toprotection against poverty and social exclusion, and whether it will ratify the Additional Protocol to the Charter, allowing for the submission of collective complaints.
6.Please provide information on measures taken by the State Party with regard to the mitigation of climate change, including specific measures, and their impact, to meet the nationally determined contributions for reducing emissions that the State Party has set itself under the Paris Agreement. Please also provide information on the progress made in reducing per capita greenhouse gas emissions and on targets that the State Party has set for further reductions. With respect to climate change adaptation policies and measures, please provide information on:
(a)How the State Party assesses the impacts of climate change on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights, in particular for marginalized and disadvantaged individuals and groups;
(b)Whether the State Party has developed or plans to develop a national adaptation plan, with an adequate allocation of all required resources, to address the impacts of climate change on, inter alia, economic, social and cultural rights;
(c)Measures taken to strengthen preparedness for and responses to natural disasters, disaster risk reduction measures, and measures taken to adopt a strategy to this end, with an adequate allocation of financial resources;
(d)Which institutions are tasked with the development and implementation of climate change adaptation measures and policies for slow-onset impacts in different areas, such as agriculture, housing and health, and how coordination among the institutions responsible for disaster preparedness and management is ensured;
(e)What steps the State Party has taken to implement its international obligations to provide climate finance, technology transfer, assistance and cooperation to developing countries, to deal with the challenges of climate change.
B. Issues relating to the general provisions of the Covenant (arts. 1–5)
Maximum available resources (art. 2 (1))
7.Please provide updated information on the evolution of the following, covering the past 10 years:
(a)The proportion of the population living below the nationally defined poverty line;
(b)Levels of inequality, before and after taxes and transfers, if possible defined as the ratio between the total income of the richest 10 per cent of the population and the total income of the poorest 40 per cent and as the ratio between the assets owned by the richest 10 per cent of the population and the assets owned by the poorest 50 per cent;
(c)The economy, in particular through the annual variations of gross domestic product (GDP), GDP per capita and the level of public debt in proportion to GDP;
(d)The proportion of public revenue generated through taxes and as a percentage of GDP, the proportion of public revenue obtained through direct and indirect taxes, the corporate tax revenue rate and the percentage of total revenue generated from personal tax collected on the incomes of the richest 10 per cent of the population, as well as provide an evaluation of the amount of tax evasion and tax avoidance and the fiscal cost of the main tax benefits;
(e)Public expenditure as a percentage of GDP and, within total public expenditure, the proportion of the public budget allocated to social spending, including social security, food, water and sanitation, housing, health and education;
(f)The proportion of the public budget allocated to defence, explaining whether the 2022 increase has affected or is projected to affect the availability of resources for social investment and the realization of Covenant rights;
(g)The percentage of GDP allocated to development cooperation and the nature of the State Party’s international assistance for developing countries.
Extraterritorial obligations (art. 2 (1))
8.Please provide information on measures taken, and their impact, to obtain the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples in the context of decisions in support of industrial green energy projects that are to be located on their ancestral lands.
9.Please provide information on measures taken by the State Party to ensure that its support of industrial green energy projects and its regulation and monitoring of the business activities of companies domiciled in the State Party do not have a negative impact on the right to a healthy environment or biodiversity.
Non-discrimination (art. 2 (2))
10.Please indicate the measures taken, and their impact, to address systemic discrimination against persons belonging to ethnic and racial minorities, as well as migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees, including the data-collection tools used. Please also indicate whether the State Party has a comprehensive national action plan to address all forms of exploitation, including trafficking in persons.
11.Please provide information on measures taken, and their impact, to prevent discrimination in employment against foreign-trained healthcare workers. Please also explain whether any monitoring and redress mechanisms exist to prevent such treatment in health institutions. With reference to the Committee’s previous concluding observations, please clarify whether the State Party intends to revise or repeal section 87 (2) of the Residence Act (Aufenthaltsgesetz), which obliges public service providers to report undocumented migrants to immigration authorities.
12.Please provide updated information on the mandate and activities of the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency and specify whether “sexual identity” is included as a protected ground in the General Equal Treatment Act. Please also clarify what steps have been taken under the national “Queer Living” action plan to protect LGBTIQ+ individuals from discrimination in access to services provided by and spaces operated by private actors.
13.Please provide information on steps taken to prohibit medically unnecessary gender-assignment surgeries on intersex children without their full and informed consent, and whether such procedures remain legally permitted under current federal law. Please also explain what measures have been taken to implement the Committee’s previous recommendation regarding this issue.
Equal rights of men and women (art. 3)
14.Please provide updated information on:
(a)Measures taken, and their impact, to increase the representation of women in decision-making positions, particularly in the private sector. Please clarify what steps have been taken to expand the scope of the statutory 30 per cent quota for women on supervisory boards, and whether the Government monitors compliance and applies sanctions against companies that fail to report their figures or to justify non-compliance with the quota;
(b)Measures taken, and their impact, to address structural and normative barriers to the participation of women in the labour market on an equal footing with men, including policies to promote full-time work among women, and measures to overcome stereotypes about women’s care responsibilities;
(c)Efforts to close the gender pay gap and gender pension gap and what reforms have been adopted to eliminate pension gaps linked to periods of unpaid caregiving;
(d)Measures to ensure the effective implementation of the Maternity Protection Act (Mutterschutzgesetz) of 2018 and to address barriers that limit the enforcement of maternity rights in the workplace.
C. Issues relating to the specific provisions of the Covenant (arts. 6–15)
Right to work (art. 6)
15.Please provide updated information on measures taken, and their impact, regarding the right to work, including:
(a)Efforts to promote access to employment for persons with disabilities in the formal labour market, including steps taken to shift away from sheltered workshops towards inclusive employment. Please include data on the use and accessibility of the budget for work and the budget for training, and clarify which Länder have reduced funding for these instruments;
(b)Measures taken, and their impact, to promote the employment of persons with a migrant or ethnic minority background, as well as updated data on employment rates and vocational support measures targeting this group;
(c)Steps taken to improve access to the German labour market for foreign-trained professionals and migrant workers, including provisions under the Skilled Immigration Act and the new “opportunity card”, as well as information on the support available for having foreign qualifications recognized;
(d)Updated information on legal reforms and policy implementation to ensure equal labour rights for workers in church-run institutions, including whether the scope of religious exemptions under section 9 of the General Equal Treatment Act has been revised to prevent labour discrimination based on religion or belief;
(e)Updated information on measures taken to review and amend the legal and regulatory framework with a view to enabling asylum-seekers to access the labour market.
Right to just and favourable conditions of work (art. 7)
16.Please provide information on:
(a)Measures taken to ensure the adequacy and enforcement of the statutory minimum wage, as well as the State Party’s monitoring of compliance with the statutory minimum wage, including in sectors where low-wage and seasonal employment is concentrated, such as, for example, care, agriculture and hospitality;
(b)Efforts to ensure just working conditions and occupational health and safety, including for domestic workers and caregivers who are foreign nationals, seasonal migrant workers, asylum-seekers, refugees, agricultural labourers and workers in the meat-processing sector;
(c)Measures taken, and their impact, to ensure access to complaint mechanisms, healthcare and social security.
17.Please clarify how the State Party ensures reasonable working hours, paid rest periods, and the effective recording of working time, especially in non-standard forms of employment. Please include information on the impact of the proposal to relax working time protections, as included in the coalition agreement.
Trade union rights (art. 8)
18.Please provide updated information on the legal and practical protection of trade union rights, including on:
(a)Measures taken, and their impact, to ensure that trade unions have access to both physical and digital workplaces in order to carry out recruitment and communication activities;
(b)Whether trade union membership and activities are explicitly protected under the State Party’s anti-discrimination and labour protection frameworks. Please also provide data on cases of reprisals against trade union members and remedies available to them;
(c)Measures being considered to revise the absolute prohibition of strike action for civil servants, including schoolteachers, in the light of pending litigation before the European Court of Human Rights and International Labour Organization standards on freedom of association;
(d)Measures taken, and their impact, to ensure that provisions in domestic law limiting strike action comply with the Covenant and International Labour Organization standards, including in relation to solidarity strikes and strikes motivated by political or policy objectives.
Right to social security (art. 9)
19.Please provide updated information on access to and the adequacy of social security benefits, including under the citizen’s income (Bürgergeld) system, as well as details on the methodology used to determine benefit levels under the citizen’s income system and how this corresponds to the national poverty threshold. Please include disaggregated data for single parents, women and older persons. Please also provide updated information on measures taken to ensure pension adequacy, including for women, persons with interrupted work histories and low-wage earners. Please explain the steps taken to address the gender pension gap and to guarantee an adequate non-contributory minimum pension. Please also describe safeguards in place to protect dependants in sanctioned households.
Protection of the family and children (art. 10)
20.Please provide information on steps taken to address rising rates of child poverty, including in single-parent households and low-income families and among children with migrant backgrounds. Please clarify whether the State Party intends to revive the previously proposed universal child basic income (Kindergrundsicherung) or introduce a similar measure, and what specific reforms are planned to improve benefit adequacy and simplify the application process. In addition, please describe the steps taken to expand access to full‑day schooling and afterschool care to ensure that working parents, including single mothers, can engage in full-time employment.
21.With reference to the Committee’s previous recommendations, please provide information on the status and impact of the suspension of family reunification for persons granted subsidiary protection, including its compatibility with article 10 of the Covenant.
22.Please provide information on measures taken to ensure that shared custody is implemented in practice, and that child maintenance orders accurately reflect the actual division of time and financial responsibilities between divorced parents. Please provide information on the legal safeguards in place to ensure that domestic violence is duly taken into account in judicial decisions concerning custody and visitation rights.
Right to an adequate standard of living (art. 11)
23.Please provide information on measures taken, and their impact, to address the ongoing housing crisis, including the shortfall of affordable and social housing units. Please include data on the current supply of publicly subsidized housing and clarify what steps are being taken to meet the projected demand of 2 million social housing units by 2030. In addition, please provide updated statistics on homelessness, disaggregated by gender, age and household status, and explain what specific measures the State Party has implemented to meet its commitment to end homelessness by 2030. Please also describe how the State Party ensures that emergency accommodation is not used as a long-term solution and that homeless families, including single parents with children, have access to appropriate housing.
24.Please provide information on steps taken to prevent energy poverty and ensure the affordability of heating and electricity for low-income households, as well as the safeguards in place to prevent energy cut-offs, including for recipients of social assistance. In addition, please describe efforts to address housing discrimination, including against Roma, Sinti, people with a migration background, and persons on low incomes.
25.Please provide information on concrete measures taken, and their impact, to address the housing crisis and to enable the State to fulfil its role as a regulator in the housing market, including to ensure the availability of adequate social housing for vulnerable populations and that it is accessible.
Right to physical and mental health (art. 12)
26.In line with the Committee’s previous recommendations, please provide updated information on the enjoyment of the right to physical and mental health, including information on steps taken to ensure that undocumented migrants and other persons with an irregular status can access healthcare services without fear of being reported to immigration authorities. Please clarify whether the State Party intends to repeal section 87 (2) of the Residence Act and establish a legal firewall between the health and immigration authorities.
27.Please provide updated information on the availability, accessibility and quality of mental health services, including for asylum-seekers and persons affected by trauma, as well as measures in place to ensure timely access to psychotherapy. In addition, please clarify what legal and practical measures have been adopted to ensure access to comprehensive and affordable sexual and reproductive health services, including safe abortion, without discrimination, delay or unnecessary legal or procedural barriers. Please indicate whether the State Party envisages revising sections 218 and 219 of the Criminal Code with a view to ensuring that abortion services are available in all Länder.
28.Please provide information on access to healthcare for asylum-seekers and migrants, including healthcare related to pregnancy and childbirth, vaccinations and medically required preventive check-ups for the first 18 months of their stay in the State Party.
Right to education (arts. 13 and 14)
29.Please provide updated information on the enjoyment of the right to education, including the steps being taken to ensure prompt, equal and non-discriminatory access to education, including higher education, for all disadvantaged and marginalized groups, including ethnic minorities, persons with a migrant background, refugees and asylum-seekers.
30.Please provide updated information on the development of an inclusive education system for children with disabilities, including data on the proportion of children still attending special schools. Please clarify how the Government ensures the accessibility of school buildings and staffing to facilitate meaningful inclusion in mainstream schools. In addition, please provide information on the prevalence of discrimination in the school system, including based on origin, religion, language and gender identity. Please explain what complaint mechanisms and anti-discrimination structures are available for pupils and families and whether schools are mandated to implement inclusive and rights-based education.
Cultural rights (art. 15)
31.Please provide information on measures taken, and their impact, to ensure access to and participation in cultural life for all individuals and groups, including those facing marginalization or exclusion, such as, for example, persons with disabilities, migrants and ethnic minorities, including Roma and Sinti. Please clarify whether cultural inclusion is recognized as a national objective and whether data are collected on access to publicly funded cultural institutions. In addition, please provide information on steps taken to ensure digital inclusion and access to cultural content for persons on low incomes and older persons.
32.Please provide information on the legal framework for protecting the rights of artists, especially regarding copyright protection in the digital sphere. Please clarify how the State Party ensures fair remuneration for artists considering recent copyright reforms and the commercial use of cultural content online.