CESCR
General Comment No. 1
Reporting by States Parties
Third session 1989
E/1989/22
1. The reporting
obligations which are contained in part IV of the Covenant are designed
principally to assist each State party in fulfilling its obligations
under the Covenant and, in addition, to provide a basis on which
the Council, assisted by the Committee, can discharge its Responsibilities
for monitoring States parties’ compliance with their obligations
and for facilitating the realization of economic, social and cultural
rights in accordance with the provisions of the Covenant. The Committee
considers that it would be incorrect to assume that reporting is
essentially only a procedural matter designed solely to satisfy
each State party’s formal obligation to report to the appropriate
international monitoring body. On the contrary, in accordance with
the letter and spirit of the Covenant, the processes of preparation
and submission of reports by States can, and indeed should, serve
to achieve a variety of objectives.
2. A first objective, which is of particular relevance to the initial
report required to be submitted within two years of the Covenant’s
entry into force for the State party concerned, is to ensure that
a comprehensive review is undertaken with respect to national legislation,
administrative rules and procedures, and practices in an effort
to ensure the fullest possible conformity with the Covenant. Such
a review might, for example, be undertaken in conjunction with each
of the relevant national ministries or other authorities responsible
for policy-making and implementation in the different fields covered
by the Covenant.
3. A second objective is to ensure that the State party monitors
the actual situation with respect to each of the rights on a regular
basis and is thus aware of the extent to which the various rights
are, or are not, being enjoyed by all individuals within its territory
or under its jurisdiction. From the Committee’s experience to date,
it is clear that the fulfilment of this objective cannot be achieved
only by the preparation of aggregate national statistics or estimates,
but also requires that special attention be given to any worse-off
regions or areas and to any specific groups or subgroups which appear
to be particularly vulnerable or disadvantaged. Thus, the essential
first step towards promoting the realization of economic, social
and cultural rights is diagnosis and knowledge of the existing situation.
The Committee is aware that this process of monitoring and gathering
information is a potentially time-consuming and costly one and that
international assistance and cooperation, as provided for in article
2, paragraph 1 and articles 22 and 23 of the Covenant, may well
be required in order to enable some States parties to fulfil the
relevant obligations. If that is the case, and the State party concludes
that it does not have the capacity to undertake the monitoring process
which is an integral part of any process designed to promote accepted
goals of public policy and is indispensable to the effective implementation
of the Covenant, it may note this fact in its report to the Committee
and indicate the nature and extent of any international assistance
that it may need.
4. While monitoring is designed to give a detailed overview of the
existing situation, the principal value of such an overview is to
provide the basis for the elaboration of clearly stated and carefully
targeted policies, including the establishment of priorities which
reflect the provisions of the Covenant. Therefore, a third objective
of the reporting process is to enable the Government to demonstrate
that such principled policy-making has in fact been undertaken.
While the Covenant makes this obligation explicit only in article
14 in cases where “compulsory primary education, free of charge”
has not yet been secured for all, a comparable obligation “to work
out and adopt a detailed plan of action for the progressive implementation”
of each of the rights contained in the Covenant is clearly implied
by the obligation in article 2, paragraph 1 “to take steps ... by
all appropriate means ...”.
5. A fourth objective of the reporting process is to facilitate
public scrutiny of government policies with respect to economic,
social and cultural rights and to encourage the involvement of the
various economic, social and cultural sectors of society in the
formulation, implementation and review of the relevant policies.
In examining reports submitted to it to date, the Committee has
welcomed the fact that a number of States parties, reflecting different
political and economic systems, have encouraged inputs by such non-governmental
groups into the preparation of their reports under the Covenant.
Other States have ensured the widespread dissemination of their
reports with a view to enabling comments to be made by the public
at large. In these ways, the preparation of the report, and its
consideration at the national level can come to be of at least as
much value as the constructive dialogue conducted at the international
level between the Committee and representatives of the reporting
State.
6. A fifth objective is to provide a basis on which the State party
itself, as well as the Committee, can effectively evaluate the extent
to which progress has been made towards the realization of the obligations
contained in the Covenant. For this purpose, it may be useful for
States to identify specific benchmarks or goals against which their
performance in a given area can be assessed. Thus, for example,
it is generally agreed that it is important to set specific goals
with respect to the reduction of infant mortality, the extent of
vaccination of children, the intake of calories per person, the
number of persons per health-care provider, etc. In many of these
areas, global benchmarks are of limited use, whereas national or
other more specific benchmarks can provide an extremely valuable
indication of progress.
7. In this regard, the Committee wishes to note that the Covenant
attaches particular importance to the concept of “progressive realization”
of the relevant rights and, for that reason, the Committee urges
States parties to include in their periodic reports information
which shows the progress over time, with respect to the effective
realization of the relevant rights. By the same token, it is clear
that qualitative, as well as quantitative, data are required in
order for an adequate assessment of the situation to be made.
8. A sixth objective is to enable the State party itself to develop
a better understanding of the problems and shortcomings encountered
in efforts to realize progressively the full range of economic,
social and cultural rights. For this reason, it is essential that
States parties report in detail on the “factors and difficulties”
inhibiting such realization. This process of identification and
recognition of the relevant difficulties then provides the framework
within which more appropriate policies can be devised.
9. A seventh objective is to enable the Committee, and the States
parties as a whole, to facilitate the exchange of information among
States and to develop a better understanding of the common problems
faced by States and a fuller appreciation of the type of measures
which might be taken to promote effective realization of each of
the rights contained in the Covenant. This part of the process also
enables the Committee to identify the most appropriate means by
which the international community might assist States, in accordance
with articles 22 and 23 of the Covenant. In order to underline the
importance which the Committee attaches to this objective, a separate
general comment on those articles will be discussed by the Committee
at its fourth session.
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