op-icescr and Economy & Society
An op-icescr coalition of NGOs: Major human rights instruments have a procedure for examining complaints of unresolved violations. This system has helped human rights violations victims get redress, allowed States Parties to undertake appropriate measures to prevent the recurrence of the violations, and enriched the understanding of the rights themselves. But there is no such system under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
Thus in 1990, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (Committee) started discussing the possibility of drafting an Optional Protocol to the ICESCR (OP-ICESCR) that would create this system. This was followed by the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action that encourages the continued examination of optional protocols to the ICESCR. In 1997, the Committee submitted a 1996 draft Optional Protocol to the Commission on Human Rights for consideration. In 2002, the Commission created the ICESCR/Optional Protocol Working Group with a mandate to consider options regarding the elaboration of an Optional Protocol and to make specific recommendations on the issue.
The need for the OP-ICESCR
There are existing complaint procedures at the international level dealing with alleged violations of economic, social and cultural rights. They include the following: