A/HRC/40/29 B. Minimum core obligations of States for the realization of economic, social and cultural rights 17. The concept of minimum core obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights offers an important entry point for ensuring inclusiveness and equality. It is based on the understanding that everyone is entitled, without discrimination, to enjoy minimum essential levels of each of the rights under the Covenant. Like the obligations to ensure equality and non-discrimination, ensuring minimum essential levels of economic, social and cultural rights is considered to be of immediate effect. If a State fails to ensure such minimum levels of rights can be enjoyed by its population because of a lack of resources, it must demonstrate that it has made every effort to use all available resources to satisfy, as a matter of priority, its core obligations. Even if a State has clearly inadequate resources at its disposal, the Government must still introduce low-cost and targeted programmes to assist those most in need so that its limited resources are used efficiently and effectively.6 18. Examples of minimum core obligations of States under the Covenant, highlighted by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its general comments, include: (a) Ensuring the right of access to employment, especially for disadvantaged and marginalized individuals and groups, enabling them to live in dignity; (b) Guaranteeing access to the minimum essential food which is sufficient, nutritionally adequate and safe, to ensure freedom from hunger for everyone; (c) Ensuring access to basic shelter, housing and sanitation, and an adequate supply of safe drinking water; (d) Providing essential drugs, as defined under the World Health Organization Action Programme on Essential Drugs; (e) Ensuring free and compulsory primary education for all; (f) Ensuring access to a social security scheme that provides a minimum essential level of benefits that cover at least essential health care, basic shelter and housing, water and sanitation, foodstuffs and the most basic forms of education. 19. The right to social security can serve as a tool in combating inequality and discrimination. Social security plays an essential role in alleviating poverty and promoting social inclusion. It guarantees a life in dignity and secures an income even for the poorest, mitigating the negative impacts of steep economic inequality. National social protection floors, when designed and implemented in accordance with human rights standards and principles as laid down in International Labour Organization (ILO) Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202), have the potential to contribute significantly to gender equality, respect for the minimum core of economic, social and cultural rights and the protection of marginalized groups, such as children, older persons, persons with disabilities, informal workers and non-nationals (A/HRC/28/35, para. 54). 20. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in its general comment No. 16 (2005) on the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights (para. 22), clarifies that addressing gender-based prejudices is a crosscutting obligation and, in its general comment No. 19 (2007) on the right to social security (para. 32), that social security schemes should eliminate such factors that discriminate against women. Social security programmes should address imbalances of power and the multiple forms of discrimination that women experience (see, e.g., A/HRC/11/9, para. 68, and A/65/259, paras. 45–66).7 6 7 6 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 3 (1990) on the nature of States parties’ obligations, paras. 10–12. See also Magdalena Sepúlveda and Carly Nyst, The Human Rights Approach to Social Protection (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, 2012), pp. 32–33.