The implementation of the Covenant is monitored by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). With the Covenant, state parties did not establish a Committee to oversee and monitor the implementation of the Covenant. Instead, the Committee was established by the UN Economic and Social Council to carry out the monitoring functions.
The Committee was established in 1985 and meets on an annual basis at the United Nations in Geneva. The Committee comprises 18 members who are experts with recognized competence in the field of human rights. Members of the Committee are elected by the states parties and the principles of equitable geographical distribution and the representation of different social and legal systems guide the selection process. The members are independent and serve in their personal capacity, not as representatives of Governments. The Committee is serviced by the United Nations Centre for Human Rights.
According to a UN ICESCR factsheet, “The primary function of the Committee is to monitor the implementation of the Covenant by States parties. It strives to develop a constructive dialogue with States parties and seeks to determine through a variety of means whether or not the norms contained in the Covenant are being adequately applied in States parties and how the implementation and enforcement of the Covenant could be improved so that all people who are entitled to the rights enshrined in the Covenant can actually enjoy them in full.
Drawing on the legal and practical expertise of its members, the Committee can also assist governments in fulfilling their obligations under the Covenant by issuing specific legislative, policy and other suggestions and recommendations such that economic, social and cultural rights are more effectively secured.
States parties are required to submit periodic reports to the Committee – within two years of the entry into force of the Covenant for a particular State party, and thereafter once every five years – outlining the legislative, judicial, policy and other measures which they have taken to ensure the enjoyment of the rights contained in the Covenant. States parties are also requested to provide detailed data on the degree to which the rights are implemented and areas where particular difficulties have been faced in this respect.
The Committee examines reports transmitted by each State party and issues responses to these in the form of concluding observations where the Committee outlines its concerns and makes suggestions and recommendations. The Committee may furthermore issue general comments which are intended to assist and promote States parties’ implementation of the Covenant, suggest improvements in the reporting procedures and stimulate the activities of States parties, international organizations and United Nations specialized agencies concerned with achieving progressively and effectively the full realization of the rights recognized in the Covenant.
The Committee works on the basis of many sources of information, including reports submitted by States parties and information from United Nations specialized agencies -International Labour Organisation, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) and others. It also receives information from non-governmental and community-based organizations working in States which have ratified the Covenant, from international human rights and other non-governmental organizations, from other United Nations treaty bodies, and from generally available literature.” The Committee was the first treaty body to provide NGOs “with the opportunity to submit written statements and make oral submissions dealing with issues relating to the enjoyment or non-enjoyment of the rights contained in the Covenant in specific countries.
State parties that ratify the Optional Protocol recognize “the competence of the Committee to receive and consider communications” (including complaints) …. “submitted by or on behalf of individuals or groups of individuals, under the jurisdiction of a State Party, claiming to be victims of a violation of any of the economic, social and cultural rights set forth in the Covenant by that State Party.”
Canada submitted its sixth periodic report, for the period January 2005 to December 2009, to the Committee in October 2012.
The Committee has not responded to this report. For the previous periodic report (combined fourth and fifth), the Committee issued concluding observations in May 2006 that focused on several issues.
On the positive side, the Committee noted that Canada ranked near the top of the Human Development Index of the United Nations Development Programme and that “Canada has the capacity to achieve a high level of realization of all Covenant rights.” The Committee welcomed:
- the relatively low level of unemployment in Canada and the decrease in the proportion of persons living below the ‘Low-Income Cut-Off’;
- the reduction in disparities between Aboriginal people and the rest of the population with regard to infant mortality and secondary education;
- measures taken in the area of equal pay for equal work; and
- the extension of maternity and parental benefits from six months to one year.
The Committee identified several areas of concern, including:
- the lack of legal redress available to individuals when governments fail to implement the Covenant, the lack of effective enforcement mechanisms for these rights and the inadequate availability of civil legal aid, particularly for economic, social and cultural rights;
- “the absence of a legally enforceable right to adequate social assistance benefits for all persons in need on a non-discriminatory basis” and “the insufficiency of minimum wage and social assistance to ensure the realization of the right to an adequate standard of living for all”;
- “the significantly low proportion of unemployed workers eligible for receiving insurance benefits”;
- “the disparities that still persist between Aboriginal peoples and the rest of the Canadian population in the enjoyment of Covenant rights, as well as the discrimination still experienced by Aboriginal women in matters of matrimonial property”;
- the number of people suffering from food insecurity, including the high percentage of food bank users who are children and young people, and “that about 51 per cent of food bank users while receiving social assistance benefits in 2005, still had to resort to food banks because of the insufficient level of these benefits”; and
- Canada’s failure to “recognize the right to water as a legal entitlement, which is implicitly provided for under articles 11 and 12 of the Covenant”.