Third session (1989)
General comment No. 1: Reporting by States parties
1.
The reporting obligations which are contained in part IV of the Covenant are designed
principally to assist each State party in fulfilling its obligations under the Covenant and, in
addition, to provide a basis on which the Council, assisted by the Committee, can discharge
its responsibilities for monitoring States parties’ compliance with their obligations and for
facilitating the realization of economic, social and cultural rights in accordance with the
provisions of the Covenant. The Committee considers that it would be incorrect to assume
that reporting is essentially only a procedural matter designed solely to satisfy each State
party’s formal obligation to report to the appropriate international monitoring body. On the
contrary, in accordance with the letter and spirit of the Covenant, the processes of preparation
and submission of reports by States can, and indeed should, serve to achieve a variety of
objectives.
2.
A first objective, which is of particular relevance to the initial report required to be
submitted within two years of the Covenant’s entry into force for the State party concerned, is
to ensure that a comprehensive review is undertaken with respect to national legislation,
administrative rules and procedures, and practices in an effort to ensure the fullest possible
conformity with the Covenant. Such a review might, for example, be undertaken in
conjunction with each of the relevant national ministries or other authorities responsible for
policy-making and implementation in the different fields covered by the Covenant.
3.
A second objective is to ensure that the State party monitors the actual situation with
respect to each of the rights on a regular basis and is thus aware of the extent to which the
various rights are, or are not, being enjoyed by all individuals within its territory or under its
jurisdiction. From the Committee’s experience to date, it is clear that the fulfilment of this
objective cannot be achieved only by the preparation of aggregate national statistics or
estimates, but also requires that special attention be given to any worse-off regions or areas
and to any specific groups or subgroups which appear to be particularly vulnerable or
disadvantaged. Thus, the essential first step towards promoting the realization of economic,
social and cultural rights is diagnosis and knowledge of the existing situation. The Committee
is aware that this process of monitoring and gathering information is a potentially
time-consuming and costly one and that international assistance and cooperation, as provided
for in article 2, paragraph 1 and articles 22 and 23 of the Covenant, may well be required in
order to enable some States parties to fulfil the relevant obligations. If that is the case, and the
State party concludes that it does not have the capacity to undertake the monitoring process
which is an integral part of any process designed to promote accepted goals of public policy
and is indispensable to the effective implementation of the Covenant, it may note this fact in
its report to the Committee and indicate the nature and extent of any international assistance
that it may need.
4.
While monitoring is designed to give a detailed overview of the existing situation, the
principal value of such an overview is to provide the basis for the elaboration of clearly stated
and carefully targeted policies, including the establishment of priorities which reflect the
provisions of the Covenant. Therefore, a third objective of the reporting process is to enable
the Government to demonstrate that such principled policy-making has in fact been
undertaken. While the Covenant makes this obligation explicit only in article 14 in cases
where “compulsory primary education, free of charge” has not yet been secured for all, a
comparable obligation “to work out and adopt a detailed plan of action for the progressive
implementation” of each of the rights contained in the Covenant is clearly implied by the
obligation in article 2, paragraph 1 “to take steps ... by all appropriate means ...”.