Promoting and Protecting Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Within the Context of Addressing Inequalities in the Recovery From the Covid-19 Pandemic

Encourages international financial institutions as appropriate to refrain from imposing austerity policies and programmes that may impede enjoyment and realization of economic, social and cultural rights and in this regard encourages the enhanced provision of concessional loans, assistance and support to programmes related to the promotion and protection of economic, social and cultural rights;

Encourages the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Human Rights Council, the United Nations development system, international financial institutions, regional organizations and other stakeholders, as appropriate and within their respective mandate, to take into consideration the needs of States, especially in developing and least-developed countries, to fulfil their responsibilities to better promote and protect economic, social and cultural rights, address inequalities, implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and promote the well-being of all human beings in their relevant strategies and policies;

Requests the Office of the High Commissioner to enhance its work, within its mandate, in the field of economic, social and cultural rights, in order to effectively assist all countries in promoting and protecting economic, social and cultural rights and addressing inequalities in the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic;

Calls upon the Secretary-General and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to take steps to ensure that the necessary financial and human resources are allocated for the fulfilment of the Office’s mandate related to the promotion and protection of economic, social and cultural rights and to addressing inequalities;

Encourages States to come forward and make more voluntary contributions to the Office of the High Commissioner for its work in promoting and protecting economic, social and cultural rights and addressing inequalities;

Calls upon the Office of the High Commissioner to guide its work and set its priorities on economic, social and cultural rights, taking into consideration relevant resolutions and decisions of the Human Rights Council, with due regard to the fulfilment of the obligations of international cooperation, as essential requirements for the realization of these rights;

Requests the High Commissioner, with dedicated capacity and the support of specialized experts, to prepare a report on the research activities and projects of the Office of the High Commissioner in promoting and protecting economic, social and cultural rights within the context of addressing inequalities, as well as on efforts and the progress the Office has made in improving its capacity in this field, and to present the report to the Human Rights Council at its fifty-first session;

Requests the High Commissioner to convene, before the fifty-second session of the Human Rights Council, a three-day workshop, in a hybrid format and fully accessible to persons with disabilities, including with sign language interpretation and webcasts, open to the participation of States, relevant treaty bodies and mandate holders, academia, civil society and other relevant stakeholders, to discuss practical ways to further enhance and strengthen the work of the Human Rights Council and the Office of High Commissioner in promoting and protecting economic, social and cultural rights within the context of addressing inequalities in the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, including through focused advocacy on easing economic burdens, vaccine equity, the removal of structural impediments and the development of technical assistance programmes aimed at enhancing the capacity-building of States, especially developing and least-developed States;

Requests the President of the Human Rights Council to appoint, in consultation with regional groups, an expert to chair and facilitate the workshop;

Requests the High Commissioner to ensure that the expert receives the necessary support to fulfil the work;

Also requests the High Commissioner, with dedicated capacity based on the workshop discussions and proposals presented, to present the vision of the Office of the High Commissioner for reinforcing its work in promoting and protecting economic, social and cultural rights within the context of addressing inequalities in the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in the form of a report, for consideration by the Human Rights Council at its fifty-fourth session, to be followed by an interactive dialogue;