Chapter 1 | Page 31 provisions remains poorly met.83 These key developmental challenges will be discussed in more detail in the case studies. 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCHOLARSHIP In recent years, there has been increased attention among academics and human rights advocates to ESC rights,84 which has highlighted the need for greater clarity on the difficult concepts at the heart of the ESC rights policy. The coming into force of the Optional Protocol on the ICESCR in May 2013 was another important milestone in ESC rights promotion and protection which heightened interest in this topic. The Optional Protocol establishes three main mechanisms for bringing cases of violation of ESC rights before the ESCR Committee: an individual complaints mechanism; an inter-State complaints mechanism; and an inquiry procedure that the ESCR Committee can initiate.85 Once these mechanisms begin to be used widely, it is hoped that, more attention will be given to ESC rights realisation by governments and policymakers, in addition to scholars and advocates. Despite these developments, the voices of poor and marginalised individuals in both developing and developed countries attest to the serious dispossession of these fundamental rights on a daily basis.86 This is particularly alarming given the ample capacity of the global community (either 83 Human Rights Commission of Maldives, Rapid Assessment of the Housing Situtation in the Maldives (HRCM, Male', Maldives, 2008), <http://hrcm.org.mv/publications/ otherreports/HousingAssesmentDhiv.pdf>. 84 For example see, Amnesty International, Human rights for human dignity: A primer on economic, social and cultural rights (Amnesty International, London, 2014), <http://globalinitiative-escr.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/AI_ESCR_ PRIMER_FINAL.pdf>. 85 Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, opened for signature 5 March 2009, General Assembly Res No A/RES/63/117 (entered into force 5 May 2013). 86 For example, Deepa Narayan, Can Anyone Hear Us ?: Voices From 47 Countries (Poverty Group, PREM and World Bank, 1999), <http://siteresources.worldbank.org/ INTPOVERTY/Resources/335642-1124115102975/1555199-1124115187705/vol1.pdf>, Also see the other reports in the World Bank project “Voice of the Poor”.