ESC rights at the international level

“Sharing power with women is a shortcut to reducing hunger and malnutrition, and is the single most effective step to realizing the right to food,” said the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, while urging world governments to adopt transformative food security strategies that address cultural constraints and redistribute roles between women and men.

“Family agriculture has become gradually feminized, with men frequently moving away from the farm in search of work. Yet the women who increasingly face the burden of sustaining farms and families are too often denied the tools to thrive and improve their situation – on and off the farm,” Mr. De Schutter stressed as he presented his report on Gender and the Right to Food to the UN Human Rights Council today in Geneva.

The Optional Protocol on ESC Rights Comes into Force in May 2013.

Very soon, those who have experienced violations of economic, social and cultural rights will have a new opportunity to access justice.

The Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (the Optional Protocol), will allow individuals and groups to seek justice in an international forum if their rights – including adequate housing, food, water, sanitation, health, work, social security and education – are violated and their government fails to ensure access to an effective remedy at the national level.

The General Assembly today elected 18 countries to serve on the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) for a period of three years beginning on 1 January 2013.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Thursday welcomed the emergence of the Bali Democracy Forum as an important platform for the promotion of good governance, the rule of law and human rights in the region, while urging ASEAN leaders to take more time to develop a regional Human Rights Declaration.