2020 CESCR Yearbook is out! Discover at a glance the work of the CESCR over a year’s time

Today GI-ESCR is releasing its Yearbook of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), which captures the full range of the Committee’s activities in a given year. The Yearbook serves to make the Committee’s work more visible and accessible and has quickly evolved into a valuable tool for civil society, human rights practitioners, academics, States and all those with an interest in the potential of human rights to tackle problems of poverty, social injustice and inequality. 

The 2020 edition contains information on the Committee’s latest State reviews, individual communication decisions, general comments and statements. This includes details of the Committee’s engagement with all dimensions of the coronavirus crisis, as well as issues as wide ranging as the climate emergency, evictions, gender equality and land rights. Used wisely, its guidance may be critical in shaping the world that we wish to build as we emerge from the coronavirus pandemic. 

We launched the 2019 edition of the Yearbook in a brand new format designed to make the Committee’s work as accessible as possible. The 2020 edition continues in this vein and is replete with new infographics, statistics and analysis of all elements of the Committee’s activities. It contains information on how the Committee has adapted to work online during the pandemic, as well as all new visual explanations of each of the Committee’s core functions. For the first time, the Yearbook also provides detailed information on Committee elections, follow-up to  concluding observations, and follow-up to individual communication decisions. 

We hope you enjoy reading the Yearbook and share it as widely as possible!

“The CESCR Yearbook serves the valuable function of ensuring that the work that the Committee engages in each year is clearly understandable and accessible to human rights advocates, researchers and broader civil society. We are thankful to GI-ESCR for its ongoing engagement and support of the work of the Committee, and welcome the continued publication of the Yearbook!”

Renato Zerbini Ribeiro Leão, Chair of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Questions or comments regarding the Yearbook?

We are always interested in learning of how the Yearbook is received. Please feel free to send us any comment or question!

Get our regular Economic, Social and Cultural (ESC) Rights Updates from Geneva!

GI-ESCR also provides regular updates from Geneva on significant developments that relate to the field of ESC rights. This includes updates from each session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as each session of the Human Rights Council.

And more…

On GI-ESCR’s recently published CESCR Jurisprudence webpage you can find

• a summary of each of the communications that the Committee has decided

• a database with statistics on all of the Committee’s decisions

• analysis of the most significant trends that have emerged from the Committee’s jurisprudence.

GI-ESCR also hosts an Individual Communication Guide, which includes a step-by-step explanation of the different stages of the individual communication process and a collection of resources where additional information may be found.