A/HRC/25/31 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 22/5, the Human Rights Council requested the Secretary-General to continue to prepare and submit to the Council an annual report on the question of the realization in all countries of economic, social and cultural rights, with a special focus on access to justice relating to violations of economic, social and cultural rights (para. 18). The legal protection of economic, social and cultural rights has already been considered in previous reports prepared by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.1 Since then, a number of developments in the United Nations human rights system have further clarified the issues and obligations that should be taken into account by Member States in ensuring access to justice for violations of economic, social and cultural rights. In the present report, the Secretary-General reviews some of these developments and considers, firstly, the scope of the right to an effective remedy for violations of economic, social and cultural rights, as elaborated by United Nations human rights treaty bodies and special procedures mandate holders. Following this review, he discusses the principal barriers to access to justice that constitute a violation of the right to an effective remedy. The report concludes with an identification of the due process requirements that the United Nations treaty bodies and special procedures mandate holders have proposed for remedial proceedings relating to economic, social and cultural rights violations. II. The right to a remedy for violations of economic, social and cultural rights 2. The right to a remedy for violations of human rights is fundamental to the very notion of human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides in its article 8 that everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.2 This applies equally to all civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. However, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights lacks a specific provision requiring States parties to provide effective remedies in such cases — in contrast with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which includes such a clause in article 2, paragraph 3. Any lack of clarity has, however, since been largely overcome as a result of the interpretative work of United Nations human rights treaty bodies and the work of the special procedures mandate holders over the last 20 years, a period during which the United Nations human rights system has consistently recognized the right to an effective remedy for violations of economic, social and cultural rights. 3. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has played an important role in this regard. In one of its key general comments setting out the scope of the obligations arising from article 2, paragraph 1, of the Covenant, the Committee noted that “among the measures which might be considered appropriate [to achieve the full realization of the rights of the Covenant], in addition to legislation, is the provision of judicial remedies with respect to rights which may, in accordance with the national legal system, be 1 2 See, for example, the 2006 report of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights to the Economic and Social Council (E/2006/86). See also the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, art. 6, and the Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law. 3