3
Considering that, in order further to achieve the purposes of the Covenant and the implementation of
its provisions, it would be appropriate to enable the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(hereinafter referred to as the Committee) to carry out the functions provided for in the present Protocol,
Have agreed as follows:
Article 1
Competence of the Committee to receive and consider communications
1.
A State Party to the Covenant that becomes a Party to the present Protocol recognizes the competence
of the Committee to receive and consider communications as provided for by the provisions of the present
Protocol.
2.
No communication shall be received by the Committee if it concerns a State Party to the Covenant
which is not a Party to the present Protocol.
Article 2
Communications
Communications may be submitted by or on behalf of individuals or groups of individuals, under the
jurisdiction of a State Party, claiming to be victims of a violation of any of the economic, social and cultural
rights set forth in the Covenant by that State Party. Where a communication is submitted on behalf of
individuals or groups of individuals, this shall be with their consent unless the author can justify acting on
their behalf without such consent.
Article 3
Admissibility
1.
The Committee shall not consider a communication unless it has ascertained that all available
domestic remedies have been exhausted. This shall not be the rule where the application of such remedies is
unreasonably prolonged.
2.
The Committee shall declare a communication inadmissible when:
(a)
It is not submitted within one year after the exhaustion of domestic remedies, except in cases
where the author can demonstrate that it had not been possible to submit the communication within that time
limit;
(b)
The facts that are the subject of the communication occurred prior to the entry into force of the
present Protocol for the State Party concerned unless those facts continued after that date;