Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Opens Seventy-Ninth Session
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights today opened its seventy-ninth session in Geneva. The Committee adopted its agenda and programme of work for the session, during which it is scheduled to review the reports of Australia, Georgia, Kenya and Uruguay.
Opening the session, Andrea Ori, Chief of Section, Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Representative of the Secretary-General, said this year marked the sixtieth anniversary of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It was an occasion to reflect on the achievements of the past 60 years, as well as concerns that the human rights that were monitored by the Committee were becoming more precarious across the globe.
In the face of growing security risks, the erosion of multilateralism and the redirection of budgets away from social assistance programmes, the importance of the Committee’s work could not be understated. In the coming months, the High Commissioner would launch the Global Alliance for Human Rights, which would bring together governments, civil society, the entire United Nations system and other stakeholders to strengthen the global human rights ecosystem and renew the promise of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Office counted on the Committee’s support.
While the Committee’s work had never been more important, the treaty bodies were facing unprecedented constraints not seen since their creation. In 2025, more than 30 per cent of meeting time was lost due to the liquidity crisis, coupled with a continuing decrease in the submission of State party reports, which resulted in reductions to the resources for the treaty bodies. This year, the resource situation was expected to remain extremely challenging, with further cuts to resources. A 40 per cent reduction in meeting time was anticipated, which would translate into less work undertaken and less impact for the people the Committee served.
Currently, there was no confirmation of the second session this year for all treaty bodies, and in some cases no confirmation of a first session. The Office recognised the difficulties this presented for all stakeholders and would continue to provide updates on the situation. The High Commissioner had consistently warned that if this trend continued, the system risked reaching a breaking point. He would discuss new proposals with the Chairs at their annual meeting in June 2026. Meanwhile, the Office was doing its utmost to support the Committee and other treaty bodies.
The important achievement of the Committee in adopting the general comment on the environmental dimensions of sustainable development was a highly anticipated milestone. Mr. Ori then highlighted several upcoming events which may be of relevance to the Committee’s work, including the Human Rights Council’s annual full-day meeting on the rights of the child and the new report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education entitled “Right to education in armed conflict: a human rights imperative”. Additionally, the intergovernmental process for elaborating a new legally binding instrument on the rights of older persons was advancing through the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group. It was hoped that the Committee would weigh in on what could become the next addition to the corpus of international human rights law. Mr. Ori wished the Committee much success at its current session.
Preeti Saran, Committee Chair, said the Committee welcomed the signature of Andorra, in September 2025, of the Covenant. Given current challenges, it was clear that the Committee’s work was as important as ever in holding up the importance of international law and human rights frameworks as a tool towards peace and sustainable development.
During the session, among other things, Ms. Saran said the Committee would focus on the draft general comment on the Covenant in situations of armed conflicts. The Committee would review the reports of Kenya, Georgia, Uruguay and Australia, and also discuss the follow-up reports for Lithuania and Tajikistan. It would also adopt lists of issues regarding Ecuador, Egypt, Kazakhstan and Paraguay. Since the last session, the Committee had received the periodic reports of Thailand, Cameroon and Spain, and thus had 40 reports in total awaiting consideration. The concluding observations on the States parties reviewed would be made available publicly on Friday, 27 February.
The Committee’s seventy-ninth session is being held from 9 February until 25 March 2026. All documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session’s webpage. Webcasts of the meetings of the session can be found here, and meetings summaries can be found here.
The Committee will next meet in public at 3 p.m. this afternoon, Monday, 9 February, to begin its consideration of the sixth periodic report of Kenya (E/C.12/KEN/6).
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