The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 16 December 1966. It entered into force on 3 January 1976 following ratification/accession of the thirty-fifth state party. The Convention’s monitoring body, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) was established in 1985.
The Covenant contains some of the most significant international legal provisions establishing economic, social and cultural rights, including rights relating to work in just and favourable conditions, to social protection, to an adequate standard of living, to the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health, to education and to enjoyment of the benefits of cultural freedom and scientific progress.
There is one optional protocol to the Covenant, allowing the Committee to hear complaints from individuals. 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, from a state which has ratified the protocol claiming to be victims of a violation of any of the economic, social and cultural rights set forth in the Covenant.