The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted on December 16, 1966, imposes obligations on States parties to take measures, individually and through international assistance and cooperation, to the maximum extent of their available resources, in order to ensure progressively the full realization of economic, social and cultural rights. The Covenant's complaints mechanism is provided for in its Optional Protocol, which was adopted on 10 December 2008. It is a separate treaty open to the States parties to the Covenant. States that have become parties to the Optional Protocol recognize the competence of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, a group of 18 independent experts meeting twice a year, to receive complaints from persons within their jurisdiction regarding alleged violations of their rights under the Covenant. In 2012, the Committee adopted provisional rules of procedure that apply to complaints submitted under the Optional Protocol.
According to the Optional Protocol, the Committee may facilitate the amicable settlement of complaints submitted to it at any stage of the procedure and before a final decision on the merits of the case is taken. The friendly settlement procedure is conducted on the basis of the consent of the parties and is confidential. The Committee may cease its efforts to promote a friendly settlement procedure if it concludes that the issue under consideration is unlikely to be resolved or that either party does not agree to apply such a procedure, decides to terminate it or does not demonstrate the required will to achieve a friendly settlement based on respect for the obligations set out in the Covenant.
After both sides have definitely agreed to a friendly settlement, the Committee takes a decision stating the facts and the solution reached. In all cases, a friendly settlement should be based on respect for the obligations set out in the Pact. If no amicable settlement has been reached, the Committee continues to consider the complaint in accordance with the usual procedure.
Under the Optional Protocol, States parties are required to take appropriate measures to ensure that persons under their jurisdiction are not subjected to any form of ill-treatment or intimidation as a result of communications to the Committee in connection with a complaint submitted to it. If the Committee receives reliable information that the State party has failed to comply with this obligation, it may request the State to provide clarification and take measures to end this situation.
The Committee may, if necessary, refuse to consider a complaint if it does not clearly infringe on the rights of its author, except in cases where the Committee considers that the complaint raises a serious issue of general importance.