FIAN International, being part of the Steering Committee which coordinates the NGO Coalition for the OP-ICESCR, has been lobbying together with more than 300 other civil society groups globally for the last eight years for the Protocol and is calling on all governments worldwide to ratify it.
Three months ago, Uruguay provided the crucial tenth ratification of the Protocol. The ten Sates parties to date are Argentina, Spain, Ecuador, Mongolia, Bolivia, Bosnia & Herzegovina; Slovakia, El Salvador, Portugal and Uruguay.
“The OP-ICESCR establishes a vital tool for people, in particular for those living in poverty, to seek realization of all human rights and to hold their government accountable for violations of ESCR,” said Flavio Valente, Secretary General of FIAN International.
It is intended to complement and not replace national mechanisms, which remain the key space for victims to seek justice. However, the decisions made under this new mechanism are likely to influence national and regional courts around the world.
Therefore, governments ratifying the OP-ICESCR should ensure that there are national mechanisms in place, such as courts and human rights commissions with the mandate and capacity to enforce economic, social and cultural rights.
“In addition to its value as a mechanism of redress for victims, the OP-ICESCR is a new international reference tool that will allow advances to be made in economic, social and cultural rights in many areas,” explained Flavio Valente.
The OP will help to clarify the obligations of the states party to the ICESCR by the development of international case law; it will assist the party states in the practical implementation of the rights contained in the ICESCR by making recommendations that can be applied to a variety of cases; it may motivate the states to strengthen their national monitoring and redress mechanisms; it strengthens the universality, indivisibility, interrelatedness and interdependence of all human rights; it will raise public and judicial awareness of ESCR, it will provide individuals and civil society with a useful tool for the protection of victims of ESCR violations.
FIAN International invites all governments who have not yet ratified the OP-ICESCR to do so and calls on civil society organizations worldwide to increase campaigns for the ratification of the OP-ICESCR.
For more information: Factsheet
See the NGO coalition for the ratification and implementation of the Optional Protocol
