How to enforce ESC rights?

On July 26th, 2011 the Plurinational Legislative Assembly of Bolivia gave approval for ratification of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Bolivia will be formally bound by the treaty once it deposits its instrument of ratification with the United Nations Secretariat.

This document was drafted within the framework of the economic, social and cultural rights methods exchange programme (“ESC Rights Action”) lead by Terre des Hommes France. It deals with methods to impact public policies followed by stakeholders with various practices, cultures and experiences.

MEXICO CITY (21 June 2011) - "Although 7 out of 10 Mexican adults are overweight or obese, costing the country 0.5 per cent of its GDP, the agricultural and trade policies are still not aligned towards the need to support access to balanced diets," Olivier De Schutter said* on the last day of his official mission to Mexico. “The right to food will soon be recognized in the Constitution, an important achievement that I applaud. The next step is to adopt a national strategy for the realization of the right to food which can address the twin challenges of obesity and food poverty by improving consistency across the different policy areas that affect this right."

This guide was completed within the framework of the programme for the exchange of experiences on economic, social and cultural rights enforceability approaches coordinated by Terre des Hommes France. It is based on stakeholders’ experiences with various practices, cultures and backgrounds in countries such as the Philippines, India, Brazil, Cameroon, Mexico and Senegal.

The Toolkit for Action for the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provides practical guidance to NGOs and other civil society groups, as well as States on their work around the Optional Protocol. The Toolkit aims to facilitate international and national advocacy work for the ratification and the entry into force of the Protocol and the national implementation of economic, social and cultural rights.

Ratify the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to ensure justice for victims of economic, social and cultural rights violations

The Philippines is a country rich in metal resources (gold, copper and chromium) and non-metal because it is in the area called "Pacific Ring of Fire". The Philippine Congress with the Mining Act of 1995 has decided to accelerate industrialization and to encourage economic growth. TheMining Act of 1995 is a law on large scale mining and it completely liberalized the mining industry in the Philippines by allowing 100% foreign economic projects. This is contrary to the Constitution of 1987 which prohibits it.

To enable a greater appropriation of the action plan by the platform members and partners and to organise work within thematic groups were two of the main objectives of the participants of the workshop on the appropriation of the action plan of the Cameroon ESCR platform that took place on the 8th to the 9th of July in the Benedictine Monastery at Mont Febe at Yaounde. In addition to the member organisations of this platform that were part of the different thematic groups during the constitutive general Assembly of October 2009, a few agent of State institutions and of development partners were present.