This guidebook brings together the field experience of Terre des Hommes France’s old or recent partners such as Guamina, as part of the Malian ESC Rights Platform, Convergencia de Organismos Civiles (Mexico), FASE (Brazil), and PhilRights (Philippines) in drafting a shadow report for presentation to the UN Committee on ESC rights.

In Mali, the initiative of drafting a parallel/shadow report to that of the Malian state, which signed and ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in 1966 and 1974, respectively, was encouraged by a suitable political and social background

This international programme of training on Economic, Social and Cultural (ESC) Rights enforceability approaches brings together Non-Governmental Organizations from Benin, Cameroon, France, India, Mali, Senegal, Togo and the Philippines. We decided to pool our experiences, notably via this website, in order to mutually build our capacities and share them with other stakeholders. Partners: Aoudaghost Network : Senegal Unit Benin Unit Togo Unit Malian Unit and the Malian ESC rights (...)

The Network, as a civil society organization, defines itself as a framework of solidarity, exchange and (institutional, structural, and technical) capacity building, specialized in promoting development intiatives carried out by young people, women and children in Africa. It aims more precisely at promoting and protecting young people’s, women’s and children’s economic, social and cultural rights.

The Malian Unit was created along with the adoption of the AOUDAGHOST Network’s “refounding” texts during the General Assembly of December 10, 2004, in Lomé (Togo). It gathers 4 organizations together:

• Association d’appui aux initiatives de développement - AID-Mali, (Association of support to development initiatives)
• Association jeunesse – action - AJA-Mali, (Youth Action Association)
• Mali –Environnement et Jeunesse- Mali-EnJeu, (Mali – Youth and Environment)
• GUAMINA

This document compiles exchanges of the first international training session which took place in Bamako, April 14th-17th, 2008. The themes addressed were: the various steps of mobilising civil society on ESC rights (Setting up ESC rights platforms, Indicator setting with participative enquiries and collection of data, Lobbying, advocacy), the participation in the elaboration and modification of laws integrating ESC rights and the drafting of shadow reports.

The second international seminar of this programme took place in Bangalore (India) in June 2009. We discussed the thematics : Organizing civil society into a broad social movement, Monitoring the UN Committee on ESC rights’ recommendations, Monitoring administrative and judicial practices and Mobilizing for the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Presentation of the Malian ESC rights platform during the third international training session on the Economical, Social and Cultural rights Dakar, 20- 26 September 2010

The association set as its goal to teach, train and give advice to women and young people so as to facilitate their integration and fulfillment within our country’s new democratic world, both in urban and rural areas.

The African regional workshop on ESC Rights Enforceability Approaches was held in Yaounde (Cameroon) from January 18th to 22nd, 2010.
“The populations don’t often know their rights. The Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have an obligation to inform them, to train them for actions of promotion and defence of these rights. Therefore, the issue is to make the CSOs accountable for promotion and protection of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESC Rights).”

Two years after taking office as UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to food, Prof. Olivier De Schutter presents a review of the progress made by a number of countries in implementing the human right to food at national level.

After the African regional workshop on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESC Rights) enforceability approaches from January 18th to 22nd in Yaounde (Cameroon), Madani Koumaré, African coordinator of the ESC Rights international programme talks about the ESC Rights in Africa.

Presentation of the Malian ESC rights platform during the third international training session on the Economical, Social and Cultural rights
Dakar (20- 26 septembre 2010).
Contribution presented by : Mohamed El Moctar MAHAMAR
Charged of the Contents of the ESC rights Malian platform

The Malian ESC Rights Platform, that initiated the first alternative report on economic, social and cultural rights in Mali and West Africa, invites the Malian government to seize this opportunity and be one of the first States to sign and ratify the Optional Protocol.

The Malian ESC Rights Platform is organizing throughout the month of September an advocacy campaign for the signature of the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR.

Information, education and awareness raising activities will be carried out at the Djoliba Center in Bamako and in the mass media.

Yet, Mali has not presented any first official report since the Covenant came into force in 1976. There is a lack of harmonisation, which compromises the achievement and protection of economic, social and cultural rights even more as long as the protocol has not been ratified.

It was thus necessary for the Malian ESC Rights Platform to organize itself so as to develop and carry out an advocacy strategy for the ratification of the Optional Protocol.

Since its foundation in 1994, the DEME SO legal clinic has aimed at improving social, legal and economic living conditions in Malian jails.

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.

Civil society plays an important role not only in monitoring and orienting public policies and legislation but also in monitoring administrative and judicial practices so as to ensure their compliance with the legislation, identify problems and find solutions.

After the African regional workshop on ESC rights enforceability approaches that was held from January 18th to 22nd in Yaounde (Cameroon), the foreign participants talk about their platform, the local actions on site, their 2010 prospects, etc.

Presentation of the Malian ESC Rights Platform:

• Origin
• Why the Malian ESC Rights Platform ?
• Activities
• Strategies of intervention
• Member Organizations
• Structuring
• Membership
• Achieved from the Malian ESC Platform

NGOs welcome historic step forward for the protection of all human rights.

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.

As part of the national activities of the International Programme of Training on ESC Rights Enforceabililty Approaches, the DEME SO Legal Clinic decided to carry out various awareness raising and communication actions on women’s economic, social and cultural rights in the town of Bancoumana: radio broadcasts, conferences-debates and radio broadcast debates.

This third session ends the cycle of training over three years dedicated to the exchange of experiences to enforce ESC rights.

This module on women’s economic, social and cultural rights was drafted as part of the support project for promoting the ESC rights of women and grassroots women’s groups, a project that was developed by the DEME SO Legal Clinic in the rural town of Bancoumana, Mali.