A/HRC/12/22 page 5 II. KEY ASPECTS OF THE GENERAL FRAMEWORK OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS IN THE CONTEXT OF TERRORISM AND COUNTER-TERRORISM A. General framework 6. Without doubt, terrorism has a very serious impact on all human rights - civil, political, economic, social and cultural - and it contributes to the creation of a climate of fear and insecurity. As part of their duty to protect individuals’ human rights, States must therefore take effective measures to counter terrorism. At the same time, all such measures must respect human rights. 7. It is clear now that terrorism, and measures adopted by States to combat terrorist acts, are both influenced by and have an impact on the enjoyment of the economic, social and cultural rights of affected individuals, as well as on broader development objectives. To effectively work towards eliminating terrorism, States must pay more attention to the recognition of these rights and give effect to all human rights. It is only by addressing human rights issues, including economic, social and cultural rights, through the lens of the conditions that lead to the spread of terrorism, such as socio-economic marginalization and exclusion, ethnic, national and religious discrimination, political exclusion and lack of good governance, that this goal can be achieved. 8. The obligations of States to respect, protect and fulfil the rights enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights4 are spelt out in article 2, paragraph 1, of the Covenant and further clarified in general comment No. 3 (1990) of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the nature of States parties’ obligations. 9. Recognizing that some rights may be realized only over a period of time due to resource constraints, some of the obligations of States assumed under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights are defined by the concept of progressive realization. However, that should not be interpreted to mean that until States have sufficient resources, they do not have to fulfil their obligations on economic, social and cultural rights. On the contrary, the Covenant imposes an immediate obligation on States to take deliberate, concrete and targeted measures to move as expeditiously and effectively as possible towards the full realization of all rights contained in the Covenant,5 and to use the maximum available, and not just remaining, resources. 4 See International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 26 January 1997, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/ refworld/docid/48abd5730.html; see also African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC) and the Centre for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) v. Nigeria, communication No. 155/96, October 2001. 5 See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 3 (1990) on the nature of States parties’ obligations (art. 2, para. 1, of the Covenant), para. 9.