A/HRC/24/38 Quite generally, it must be recognized that the profit system all too frequently trumps civil society. 41. A democratic and equitable international order cannot be achieved as long as civil society lacks mechanisms to ensure change, e.g. by democratically enforcing a shift in priorities away from military expenditures and toward general disarmament, away from surveillance of citizens and toward the prosecution of corruption and criminality, away from “austerity measures” and toward social justice. V. Good practices 42. The Independent Expert welcomes a number of legislative measures adopted by numerous States aimed at enhancing participation, and encourages States to put these into practice. 43. Among good practices, the Independent Expert hails the ratification by States of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and its entry into force on 5 May 2013, as well as the ratification of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance,64 which entered into force on 15 February 2012. He encourages further ratifications. He recalls the entry into force on 3 May 2008 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, pursuant to which States parties undertake to “Ensure that persons with disabilities can effectively and fully participate in political and public life on an equal basis with others, directly or through freely chosen representatives…”65 The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is already establishing important jurisprudence through its Concluding Observations and examination of individual cases through its Optional Protocol procedure.66 44. Several initiatives endeavour to advance a democratic and equitable international order by providing judicial and constitutional review as well as enforcement mechanisms, in particular the proposal of the Tunisian Government to establish an International Constitutional Court.67 Proposals for the establishment of a World Court of Human Rights have been endorsed by the Swiss Initiative to Commemorate the 60 th anniversary of the Universal of Human Rights,68 the International Commission of Jurists and the International Bill of Rights Association.69 The Initiative of the United Nations University for Peace70 and the Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future aimed at the creation of an International Court for the Environment71 were discussed at Rio+20. 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 14 See http://www.ipu.org/idd-E/afr_charter.pdf. Art. 29, http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/conventionfull.shtml. See http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRPD/Pages/CRPDIndex.aspx. Comité ad hoc pour la Création d’une Cour Constitutionnelle Internationale, Project de Création d’une Cour Constitutionelle Internationale, Tunis 2013. See http://www.udhr60.ch/report/hrCourt-Nowak0609.pdf; see also Julia Kozma and Manfred Nowak, “A World Court of Human Rights, Consolidated Draft Statute and Commentary”, May 2010, http://www.eui.eu/Documents/DepartmentsCentres/Law/Professors/Scheinin/ConsolidatedWorldCour tStatute.pdf. A/HRC/19/NGO/124, http://www.internationalbillofrights.org/. Joost Pauwelyn, “A World Environment Court”, International Environmental Governance (Gaps and Weaknesses/Proposals for Reform) Working Paper, Tokyo, UNU-IAS, 2002. Cf. Ellen Hey Reflections on an Int'l Environmental Court, 2000; Ole Pedersen, An International Environmental Court, Oxford 2012 See http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/index.php?page=view&type=400&nr=222&menu=45 and http://effectius.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/InternationalCourtForTheEnvironment_StephenHo ckmanQC_Effectius_Newsletter14.21260322.pdf.