February 23, 2010
SPECIAL REPORT: Poland and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Since their creation, the eight United Nations human rights treaty bodies, including the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), have evolved from organizations dedicated to monitoring governments' compliance with the spirit of the aspirational provisions contained in the treaties into ones that, with the help of international, non-governmental, and civil society organizations, attempt to enforce at the national level the human rights expressed in those treaties while sidestepping democratic processes. In short, the treaty body committees and their New York and Geneva-based staff housed in the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights ("UNOHCHR") are attempting to globally govern social and cultural rights. As a case study, the Solidarity Center for Law and Justice, P.C., a public-interest law firm based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, published a report in advance of Poland's review session on November 6, 2009 during CESCR’s 43rd Session. The report analyzes the list of issues submitted to Poland by CESCR and assesses the degree to which CESCR and international and non-governmental organizations are attempting to interfere with Poland's sovereign domestic policy-making abilities.
To read the Solidarity Center’s report on Poland, please click here.
A JOINT PROGRAM OF
