A/HRC/RES/37/13
Reaffirming also the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants adopted by
the General Assembly on 19 September 2016, in which States reaffirmed the human rights
of all refugees and migrants, regardless of status, and pledged to fully protect such rights,
Recognizing that the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the 169 targets of the
2030 Agenda cover a wide range of issues relating to economic, social and cultural rights,
in particular availability, accessibility, affordability and quality of services, and many
dimensions of civil and political rights, as well as issues that are related to domestic
resource mobilization, international cooperation and the right to development, and that the
implementation of the 2030 Agenda must be consistent with a State’s obligations under
international human rights law,
Recalling its resolutions on the question of the realization in all countries of
economic, social and cultural rights, and the resolutions adopted by the Commission on
Human Rights on the same topic,
Reaffirming the obligations and commitments to take steps, individually and through
international assistance and cooperation, especially economic and technical, to the
maximum of available resources, with a view to achieving progressively the full realization
of economic, social and cultural rights by all appropriate means, including particularly the
adoption of legislative measures,
Underlining the human rights principles of, inter alia, non-discrimination, human
dignity, equity, equality, universality, participation and accountability, as affirmed in
international human rights law and in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action,
and emphasizing that the rights enunciated in the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights are to be realized in a non-discriminatory manner,
Recalling the commitment included in the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights to ensure the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of
all economic, social and cultural rights set forth in the Covenant, and welcoming the
inclusion of both gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls as a standalone goal, and its integration into all goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda and throughout
the implementation process,
Recognizing that human rights and social protection floors complement each other,
and that social protection floors, when used as a baseline, have the potential to facilitate the
enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights and to reduce poverty and inequality,
1.
Calls upon all States to give full effect to economic, social and cultural rights
by, inter alia, taking all appropriate measures to implement the Human Rights Council
resolutions on the question of the realization in all countries of economic, social and
cultural rights, the most recent of which is resolution 34/4 of 23 March 2017;
2.
Also calls upon all States that have not yet signed and ratified the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to consider doing so as a
matter of priority, and States parties to consider reviewing their reservations thereto;
3.
Welcomes the most recent ratification of the Optional Protocol to the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and encourages all States
that have not yet signed and ratified the Optional Protocol to consider doing so, and also to
consider making declarations under articles 10 and 11 thereof;
4.
Takes note with appreciation of the report of the Secretary-General on the
question of the realization in all countries of economic, social and cultural rights, with a
special focus on the role of economic, social and cultural rights in building sustainable and
resilient societies for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,
submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 34/4,1 and of the conclusions
contained therein;
5.
Emphasizes that, in General Assembly resolution 70/1, States committed to
taking bold and transformative steps that were urgently needed to shift the world on to a
sustainable and resilient path, pledged that no one would be left behind and that they would
endeavour to reach the furthest behind first, recognized that the dignity of the human person
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A/HRC/37/30.