Do not let this go unnoticed – the ICESCR Optional Protocol
Juan Ibarrondo, Hector Zalama and Juana Mari Astigarraga and I signed this article back in March 2013 announcing the good news that from then on, it was possible for individuals to file reports before the United Nations Claims Committee thanks to the approval of the Optative Protocol of the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
This is a part of the article:
Among so many cuts in terms of rights, there is a piece of news that has largely gone unnoticed in newspapers and news programmes. Last 6th February, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, informed about the forthcoming enforcement of a new key protocol for an international treaty that will allow individual citizens like you and me to go before a United Nations Committee and present claims related to economic, social and cultural rights, which places such rights which have traditionally been undervalued on an equal footing with civil and political rights. After the ratification of the Optional Protocol of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by the tenth State to do so -this was Uruguay last 5th February- the three-month period established for its enforcement starts. The Spanish State is among the countries that have previously ratified it and will therefore have to enforce its provisions.
As with the rest of my articles, I shall be translating this article in full in due course. Until then you can see the original version in Spanish in the links below.
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