Around twenty-five (25) human rights defenders from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, and China gathered for three days in Quezon City, Philippines on February 24-27, 2010 to exchange experiences, stories, insights, and methods in advocating for economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights such as food, housing, education, health, social security, and work.
The topics covered during the three-day conference proper were: organizing civil society into a social movement for ESC rights; monitoring the recommendations of the UN Committee on ESC Rights; monitoring administrative and judicial practices; and campaigning for the ratification of the Optional Protocol for the International Covenant on ESC Rights.
During the discussions, common problems affecting ESC rights implementation in the countries represented surfaced including negative attitude of governments to these rights, lack of laws and non-enforcement of existing laws, inferior legal standing of these rights compared to civil and political rights, massive corruption, insufficient budget allocation, and official adherence to neo-liberal policies like privatization and trade liberalization.
Aside from these issues, human rights advocates from China and Sri Lanka revealed that they also face threats, harassment and official restrictions whenever they articulate or conduct activities critical of the government. In Sri Lanka, if NGO workers ask questions, they are accused of destroying the sovereignty of their country while in China, even the use of internet is regulated.
Despite these difficulties, civil society organizations in the four countries continue to strive towards the recognition and realization of ESC rights using the following approaches: applying consistent pressure on the government to implement laws; building coalitions; training local leaders; using and promoting the UN procedures; lobbying for legal reforms; and monitoring and documentation of violations.
Based on the sharing of experiences in advocating for ESC rights, the participants realized the need to strengthen and broaden the civil society movement for ESC rights, to focus more on filing complaints and cases in courts, and to raise the awareness of the people because they have the ultimate power to bring about change in society.
On the fourth day of the regional workshop, foreign participants visited urban poor areas in Navotas and Caloocan and had a discussion with the community leaders regarding the human rights situation in those villages.
