The Committee meets in Geneva and normally holds two sessions per year, consisting of a three-week plenary and a one-week pre-sessional working group.
The Committee also publishes its interpretation of the provisions of the Covenant, known as general comments.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) acts as the secretariat for the Committee and also provides technical assistance to States to engage with the reporting process.
For more information about the work of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, click here
What is treaty reporting?
All states parties are obliged to submit regular reports to the Committee on how the rights are being implemented. States must report initially within two years of accepting the Covenant and thereafter every five years. The Committee examines each report and addresses its concerns and recommendations to the State party in the form of "concluding observations".
The aim of this process is not to criticize the Government, but to provide constructive advice on ways in which the Government can make better progress towards ensuring that all Cambodians can enjoy the rights set out in the Covenant.
The Committee does not rely solely on information provided in the Government's report to make its assessment. It is also open to submissions from national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as well as United Nations agencies, such as WHO and ILO.
Cambodia's reporting under the Covenant
Reporting to the Committee is an opportunity of the Government to present the steps it has taken to develop Cambodia for the benefit of its citizens and to seek advice from the Committee's experts on areas where more progress is required.
Cambodia's initial report was due on 1 June 1994. It should subsequently have reported in 1999 and 2004. These reports are all overdue.
OHCHR's Cambodia Office twice assisted the Government in preparing draft reports for the Committee in 1998-9 and again in 2002-5. These reports unfortunately were never finalized.
The Committee in Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has now decided that it will consider the situation in Cambodia at its forty-second session in May 2009 and has requested the Government submit its initial, second and third reports in a single report by 1 August 2008. It has indicated that it will consider Cambodia's record whether or not the Government submits its report.
A delegation from the Government will be invited to attend the session in Geneva in order to discuss the report through what is called a "constructive dialogue".
Can NGOs and other civil society representatives participate in the process?
The committee is open to submissions from international and national NGOs. It asks that national NGOs join together and submit relevant information in a single document organized according to the rights set out in the Covenant. There is also an opportunity for NGO representatives to attend the Committee session in order to brief members in person.
In 2002, in anticipation of a report by the Government, OHCHR supported Cambodian NGOs in preparing a report for the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Cambodia.
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![Access to clean water is a human right. Cambodia's enjoying their right to leisure, to work and to food at Kamping Pouy. [Photo credit: J de Rivero]](images/icescr_img01.jpg "Access to clean water is a human right. Cambodia's enjoying their right to leisure, to work and to food at Kamping Pouy. [Photo credit: J de Rivero]")