E/C.12/2016/1
United Nations
Economic and Social Council
Distr.: General
22 July 2016
Original: English
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Public debt, austerity measures and the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Statement by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights *
Background
1.
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is frequently faced with
situations whereby States parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights are unable to comply with their obligations to fully realize the rights
enshrined in the Covenant owing to the adoption of fiscal consolidation programmes,
including structural adjustment programmes and austerity programmes, as a condition for
obtaining loans. Such programmes are negotiated between the States concerned and lenders.
The lenders may be other States or international or regional organizations, including the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), development banks such as the International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), regional development banks and regional
integration organizations such as the European Union.
2.
The adoption of fiscal consolidation programmes may be necessary for the
implementation of economic and social rights. If such programmes are not implemented
with full respect for human rights standards and do not take into account the obligations of
States towards the rights holders, however, they may adversely affect a range of rights
protected by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Most at
risk are labour rights, including the right to work (art. 6), the right to just and favourable
conditions of work, including the right to fair wages and to a minimum wage that provides
workers with a decent living for themselves and their families (art. 7), the right to collective
bargaining (art. 8), the right to social security, including unemployment benefits, social
assistance and old-age pensions (arts. 9 and 11), the right to an adequate standard of living,
including the right to food and the right to housing (art. 11), the right to health and access to
adequate health care (art. 12) and the right to education (arts. 13-14). Low-income families,
especially those with children, and workers with the lowest qualifications are
* The present statement, which was adopted by the Committee at its fifty-eighth session, held from 6 to
24 June 2016, was prepared pursuant to the Committee’s practice on the adoption of statements (see
Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 2011, Supplement No. 2 (E/2011/22), chap. II,
sect. K).
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