CESCR Committee Elections

The elections for the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) have been announced for 9 April 2024, and the deadline for nominations of candidates is 23 November 2023.

As you know, the CESCR is the monitoring body for the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which promotes and protects international economic, social and cultural rights. The CESCR comprises 18 independent experts elected by States Parties to the ICESCR.

Half of the current members of the CESCR will finish their terms as Committee members on 31 December 2024. Therefore, there are 9 seats up for election. The seats are distributed between the geographical regions. Accordingly, at this election, there are 2 Africa seats, 2 Asia seats, 2 Eastern Europe seats, 2 Western Europe & other seats, and 1 Latin American & Caribbean seat.

Whilst nominations can only be made by States, civil society actors can make suggestions to their Government about suitable candidates.  The CESCR is only as strong as its membership, so it is crucial to ensure that ideal candidates are nominated and elected. Civil society organisations should play a key role in reinforcing the effectiveness of the CESCR by proposing the most qualified and suitable independent experts for the protection and promotion of ESCR. Therefore, we encourage them to identify strong, independent candidates for nominations to the CESCR.

Currently, there are just 6 women on the CESCR; hence, we strongly suggest that civil society actors identify qualified female candidates. Further, the independence of members is sometimes missing, which has serious adverse implications for the work of the CESCR. Therefore, we encourage the civil society movement to advocate for nominating candidates independent of their State. 
 

For further details, please refer to this link: 
https://www.ohchr.org/en/events/events/2024/committee-economic-social-and-cultural-rights-2024-elections.