Economic and Social Council

2010 Substantive Session

51^st Meeting (AM)

Economic and Social Council Adopts Resolution Concerning Working Methods

 

of Committee on Economic, Social, Cultural Rights

 

Also Adopts Text Distributing Council’s Seven Seats

On Peacebuilding Commission’s Organizational Committee

Concerned over the persistent backlog of reports of States parties awaiting consideration, the Economic and Social Council today adopted a resolution asking its Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to improve its working methods in order to enable the Council to determine how to address that backlog, including by temporarily giving it more time if necessary, and to report back to the Council’s July 2011 session on efforts to do so. 

Also by that text, adopted by consensus, the Economic and Social Council asked the Secretary-General to include in his report to the General Assembly’s sixty-sixth session concrete, tailored proposals on the Committee and other human rights treaty bodies to improve their effectiveness and identify efficiencies in their working methods and resource requirements, in order to better manage their workloads, bearing in mind budgetary constraints and their respective varying burdens.

The text also reflected the Council’s concern that the Committee’s existing working methods and meeting arrangements no longer allowed it to fully discharge its responsibilities under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Economic and Social Council resolution 1985/17 (1985) efficiently and timely, and recognized that the entry into force of the International Covenant’s Optional Protocol would increase the Committee’s workload.

Before adopting the resolution, a representative of the Secretariat read out a statement that noted that by the terms of the text’s two operative paragraphs, there would be no budget implications.

The Economic and Social Council also adopted a resolution on its seven-seat membership on the Organizational Committee of the Peacebuilding Commission, deciding to distribute one seat for each of its five regional groups, including the African States, Asian States, Eastern European States, Latin American and Caribbean States, and Western European and Other States, for terms starting 1 January 2011.  The two remaining seats went to the African States regional group.  Further, the Council decided that its established practice regarding members elected to its subsidiary bodies that were unable to complete their terms of office should apply to members elected to the Organizational Committee.

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