The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights will meet at the Palais Wilson in Geneva from 4 to 29 November to examine measures taken by Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Kuwait and Norway to comply with the standards of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The Committee is composed of the following 18 Experts: Aslan Khuseinovich Abashidze (Russian Federation); Mohamed Ezzeldin Adel-Moneim (Egypt); Clement Atangana (Cameroon); Maria-Virginia Bras Gomes (Portugal); Jun Cong (China); Chandrashekhar Dasgupta (India); Zdzislaw Kedzia (Poland); Azzouz Kerdoun (Algeria); Mikel Mancisidor (Spain); Jaime Marchan Romero (Ecuador); Sergei Martynov (Belarus); Ariranga Govindasamy Pillay (Mauritius);Lydia Carmelita Ravenberg (Suriname); Renato Zerbini Ribeiro Leao (Brazil); Waleed Sadi (Jordan); Nikolaas Jan Schrijver (Netherlands); Heisoo Shin (Republic of Korea); and Alvaro Tirado Mejia (Colombia).
At the opening of the session, on Monday, 4 November, the Committee will hear an address from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights or her representative. The Committee will then adopt its agenda and discuss organizational matters and its methods of work. In the afternoon, the Committee will hold a meeting with non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions, and will hear information with respect to the country reports that will be reviewed during the session.
Eight out of the 10 States parties presenting reports during this session have been previously reviewed by the Committee.
Belarus is presenting its combined fourth to sixth periodic report (E/C.12/BLR/4-6), and the Committee’s concluding observations and recommendations on its third periodic report, which was considered in November 1996, can be found in (E/C.12/1/Add.7/Rev.1). Austria is presenting its fourth periodic report (E/C.12/AUT/4), and the Committee’s concluding observations and recommendations on its third periodic report, which was considered in November 2005, can be found in (E/C.12/AUT/CO/3). Belgium is presenting its fourth periodic report (E/C.12/BEL/4), and the Committee’s concluding observations and recommendations on its third periodic report, which was considered in November 2007, can be found in (E/C.12/BEL/CO/3). Norway is presenting its fifth periodic report (E/C.12/NOR/5), and the Committee’s concluding observations and recommendations on its fourth periodic report, which was considered in May 2005, can be found in (E/C.12/1/Add.109).
Kuwait is presenting its second periodic report (E/C.12/KWT/2), and the Committee’s concluding observations and recommendations on its initial report, which was considered in April and May 2004, can be found in (E/C.12/1/Add.98). Bosnia and Herzegovina is presenting its second periodic report (E/C.12/BIH/2), and the Committee’s concluding observations and recommendations on its initial report, which was considered in November 2005, can be found in (E/C.12/BIH/CO/1). Albania is presenting its combined second to third periodic report (E/C.12/ALB/2-3) and the Committee’s concluding observations and recommendations on its initial report, which was considered in November 2006, can be found in (E/C.12/ALB/CO/1). Egypt is presenting its combined second to fourth periodic report (E/C.12/EGY/2-4), and the Committee’s concluding observations and recommendations on its initial report, which was considered in May 2000, can be found in (E/C.12/1/Add.44).
Gabon is presenting its initial report (E/C.12/GAB/1) and Djibouti is presenting its combined initial and second periodic report (E/C.12/DJI/1-2)
The main documents before the Committee regarding these countries are accessible from the Committee’s web page. At the end of the session, the concluding observations of the Committee on each State party will also be accessible on this website.
