The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights this afternoon concluded its seventy-first session after adopting concluding observations on the reports of Bahrain, Belarus, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Serbia and Uzbekistan.
The concluding observations will be available on the webpage of the session on Monday, 7 March.
In his concluding remarks, Mohamed Ezzeddine Abdel Moneim, Committee Chair, thanked all who had worked with the Committee and Committee Experts for their patience, reliance, dedication and commitment.
The Chair noted that during its session, regarding its work under the Optional Protocol to the Covenant, the Committee had examined three communications, declaring two of them inadmissible according to the requirements set by the Optional Protocol. The Committee had found a violation of the Covenant under the Optional Protocol in one communication. The Committee also had decided to discontinue the examination of three individual communications.
The Committee had further adopted its revised rules of procedure under the Optional Protocol, with modifications made to Chapter 1 on individual communications only. Follow-up assessments were adopted on Bulgaria, Denmark, Ecuador, Slovakia, and Switzerland. The Committee had also been working on other matters, including on two general comments related to land and on sustainable development.
The annual non-governmental organization meeting had also been held, and Mr. Abdel Moneim thanked all non-governmental organizations for their engagement with the Committee.
In conclusion, the Chair said that at its seventy-second session, the Committee was scheduled to review reports of El Salvador, Guatemala, Luxemburg, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Yemen. The seventy-second session of the Committee is scheduled to be held from 26 September to 14 October 2022. The Chair said he hoped that it would be an "in-person" session and that the Committee would continue its regular review of State party reports, and other regular work, together, in Geneva.
Aslan Abashidze, Committee Vice-Chair and Rapporteur, said that in spite of the pandemic, 15 of 18 Committee members were able to participate in the session in person. He thanked the Federal Government of Switzerland, the Secretary-General, and the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights for facilitating that. He also thanked the Chair for managing the session in difficult circumstances.
The seventy-second session of the Committee is scheduled to be held from 26 September to 14 October 2022.
