A/RES/63/117
United Nations
Distr.: General
5 March 2009
General Assembly
Sixty-third session
Agenda item 58
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 10 December 2008
[on the report of the Third Committee (A/63/435)]
63/117. Optional Protocol to the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
The General Assembly,
Taking note of the adoption by the Human Rights Council, by its resolution 8/2
of 18 June 2008, 1 of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
0F
Adopts the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic,
1.
Social and Cultural Rights, the text of which is annexed to the present resolution;
Recommends that the Optional Protocol be opened for signature at a
2.
signing ceremony to be held in 2009, and requests the Secretary-General and the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to provide the necessary
assistance.
66th plenary meeting
10 December 2008
Annex
Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights
Preamble
The States Parties to the present Protocol,
Considering that, in accordance with the principles proclaimed in the Charter
of the United Nations, recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and
inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom,
justice and peace in the world,
Noting that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 2 proclaims that all
human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and that everyone is
1F
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1
See Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-third Session, Supplement No. 53 (A/63/53),
chap. III, sect. A.
2
Resolution 217 A (III).
08-47781