The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Wednesday [6 Feb 2013] applauded the upcoming entry into force of a key Protocol to an international treaty that will, for the first time, enable individual complaints on economic, social and cultural rights, thereby helping place all human rights on an equal footing.<\/p>\n
After crossing the required threshold of state ratifications on Tuesday, the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights will enter into force on 5 May 2013. \u201cThe entry into force of the Optional Protocol is a major breakthrough, which will enable victims under the jurisdiction of the States parties to seek justice for violations of their economic, social and cultural rights,\u201d Pillay said.<\/p>\n
Uruguay triggered the coming into force of the Optional Protocol when, on 5 February, it became the tenth country to ratify, joining Argentina, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mongolia, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain.<\/p>\n
The Optional Protocol was adopted four years ago, on 10 December 2008, by the UN General Assembly. It gives the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights \u2013 the body which monitors the International Covenant to which the Protocol is attached \u2013 the competence to examine complaints from individuals or groups of individuals who claim a violation of rights protected under the Covenant. It also enables the Committee to conduct inquiries if it receives reliable information indicating grave or systematic violations by a State party of any of the economic, social and cultural rights covered by the Covenant.<\/p>\n