The Extraterritorial Scope of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Work of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Abstract

Over the years, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has indicated that the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) may have an effect beyond the borders of States Parties, meaning that states may be bound by their obligations under the treaty when acting extraterritorially. The present contribution aims at researching the use of the notion of the extraterritorial scope of the ICESCR in the documents adopted by the Committee, such as General Comments, Statements and Concluding Observations. The article concludes that, although the Committee did introduce some basic notions, it has never clarified at length, in-depth and systematically the notion of the extraterritorial scope of State Parties' obligations from a conceptual perspective. There is therefore a need for the Committee to further develop the notion of the international scope and application of the ICESCR, for example, by holding a day of general discussion and adopting a key document on this topic which should contain concrete guidance to States Parties. The present article provides examples of questions and issues that are relevant in order to gain a more coherent understanding of the extraterritorial scope of the ICESCR from a legal point of view.

Human Right to Water in the Helmand Basin: Setting a Path for the Conflict Settlement between Afghanistan and Iran

“…The Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights explains that 'international cooperation for development and the realization of economic, social, and cultural rights is an obligation of all states.' 71 In its last General Comment, it is stated that the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights determines that all state parties have an international obligation to take joint and separate actions to achieve human rights towards other countries and to individuals located outside of their territory. 72 Furthermore, it states: 'to comply with the international obligations concerning the right to water, state parties have to respect the enjoyment of the right in other countries.…”

Towards a Division of Labour for Sustainable Development: Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations

“…etoconsortium.org/nc/en/main-navigation/library/documents/?tx_drblob_pi1%5BdownloadUid% 5D¼163 (last accessed 5 January 2018). 23 For a systematic overview, see Coomans (2011), pp. 1-35.…”

International Human Rights and Governing Land Grabbing: A View from Global Civil Society

“…NGOs have contributed to this work by regularly submitting parallel reports to the CESCR that have focused exclusively on the breaches of ETOs by states, which have served as a de facto monitoring of ETOs and increased the reputational pressure on states and non-state actors in the absence of direct mechanisms to do so. The expertise of academics (especially international legal scholars) and activists also play a significant role in expanding and adding precision to the concept of ETOs in what is Coomans, 2011;Coomans and Künnemann, 2012;Langford et al, 2013).…”