2018 Ii Annual Report of the Office of the Special
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2018 II ANNUAL REPORT OF THE OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEAUR ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, CULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS 2018 “Working for the indivisibility and effective interdependence of all human rights for all people in the Americas” Special Rapporteur: Soledad García Muñoz CONTENTS Chapter I Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 A. Nature and Creation of the Mandate: adoption of the first Strategic Agenda and Work Plan. .................................................................................................................................. 1 B. Main Activities of the Special Rapporteurship for ESCER ....................................... 3 1. Participation in periods of sessions and public hearings of the IACHR ................. 4 2. System of Petition and Cases ................................................................................................. 6 3. Monitoring Activities ............................................................................................................... 7 4. Promotion Activities and Technical Assistance of the Mandate ............................... 9 5. Working Group of the Protocol of San Salvador of the OAS ..................................... 13 6. Thematic Reports .................................................................................................................... 13 7. Statements ................................................................................................................................. 14 C. Financing .................................................................................................................................... 15 D. Staff .......................................................................................................................................... 17 Chapter II Situation of Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights (ESCER) in the hemisphere. .............................................................................................................................. 18 A. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 18 Antigua and Barbuda ...................................................................................................................... 20 Argentina ............................................................................................................................................ 21 Bahamas ............................................................................................................................................. 22 Barbados ............................................................................................................................................ 23 Belice ................................................................................................................................................... 24 Bolivia ................................................................................................................................................. 24 Brazil ................................................................................................................................................... 25 Canada ................................................................................................................................................ 27 Chile ..................................................................................................................................................... 28 Colombia ............................................................................................................................................ 29 Costa Rica ........................................................................................................................................... 31 Cuba ..................................................................................................................................................... 31 i Dominica ............................................................................................................................................ 32 Ecuador............................................................................................................................................... 33 El Salvador ......................................................................................................................................... 34 Guatemala .......................................................................................................................................... 35 Haití ..................................................................................................................................................... 38 Honduras ........................................................................................................................................... 38 Jamaica ............................................................................................................................................... 41 Mexico ................................................................................................................................................. 42 Nicaragua ........................................................................................................................................... 44 Panama ............................................................................................................................................... 44 Paraguay ............................................................................................................................................ 45 Peru...................................................................................................................................................... 46 Dominican Republic ....................................................................................................................... 48 Saint Kits and Nevis ........................................................................................................................ 49 Saint Lucia ......................................................................................................................................... 49 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ............................................................................................. 50 Trinidad and Tobago ..................................................................................................................... 50 United States ..................................................................................................................................... 51 Uruguay .............................................................................................................................................. 52 Venezuela .......................................................................................................................................... 52 Chap. III Conclusions .......................................................................................................................... 53 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................ 57 Annex 1 ................................................................................................................................................... 59 ii Chapter I Introduction A. Nature and Creation of the Mandate: adoption of the first Strategic Agenda and Work Plan. 1. The Office of the Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights (REDESCA by its initials in Spanish, SRESCER) of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) is the second of its kind created by the IACHR. The decision is the result of a firm commitment on the part of the Commission to strengthen its work on ESCER, in the context of the constant demands from civil society organizations to do so, as well as of numerous OAS member States in the framework of the so-called process for strengthening the inter-American system for the protection of human rights. 2. The decision to create the Special Rapporteurship for ESCER was adopted in 2014, the process was initiated in April of that year through the opening of a special fund to collect the resources necessary to finance it. Previously, in 2012, the IACHR had created an ESCR Unit which was initially entrusted to Commissioner Rose-Marie Belle Antoine, until January 2014 when passed to Commissioner Paulo Vannuchi, who remained until the actual installation of SRESCER. 3. Like the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, SRESCER was established by the Commission as a permanent and autonomous office with its own operating structure and functional independence, which operates with the support and within the legal framework of the IACHR to stimulate the hemispheric defense of the ESCER. 4. After the corresponding inter-American public contest, resolved within the frameworks of the 164th Sessions Period, held in Lima, the IACHR appointed Soledad García Muñoz as the first Special Rapporteur1. 5. The main functions of the Special Rapporteur are2: strategic plan of the IACHR. • Prepare the work plan of the Office of the Special Rapporteur for ESCER, in accordance with the reports, general human rights situation of the member states and sections