UNITED NATIONS E Economic and Social Distr. GENERAL Council E/1990/5/Add.56 23 October 2002 Original: ENGLISH Substantive session of 2003 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS Initial reports submitted by States parties under articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant Addendum GREECE* [17 September 2002] * The Information submitted by Greece in accordance with the guidelines concerning the initial part of reports of States parties is contained in the core document (HRI/CORE/1/Add.121). GE.02-45183 (E) 181102 E/1990/5/Add.56 page 2 CONTENTS Paragraphs Page Introduction .............................................................................................. 1 - 10 2 I. GENERAL PROVISIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS ................................................................ 11 - 62 5 Article 1 ....................................................................................... 11 - 29 5 Article 2 ....................................................................................... 30 - 62 9 II. SPECIFIC RIGHTS OF THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS ................................................................ 63 - 699 14 Article 6 ....................................................................................... 63 - 141 14 Article 7 ....................................................................................... 142 - 187 34 Article 8 ....................................................................................... 188 - 227 43 Article 9 ....................................................................................... 228 - 269 50 Article 10 ..................................................................................... 270 - 287 58 Article 11 ..................................................................................... 288 - 407 61 Article 12 ..................................................................................... 408 - 533 87 Article 13 ..................................................................................... 534 - 592 113 Article 14...................................................................................... 593 126 Article 15 ..................................................................................... 594 - 699 127 E/1990/5/Add.56 page 3 Introduction 1. Greece has the pleasure to submit its initial report to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This report covers mainly the period 1996-2001, but in some areas it covers the whole or major part of the 1990s or goes back to the 1980s or even to previous decades; data given also vary from the 1980s to as recent as the current year, e.g. in the treatment of the right to education (school year 2001-2002). 2. In total, 13 ministries were gathered to contribute towards drawing up this report, each one in its field of competence or more than one in fields of parallel competence. These ministries are mentioned here below, in the order of articles related to them of the Covenant and of the relevant Guidelines included in chapter II of the document HRI/GEN/2/Rev.1 of 9 May 2001: − Ministry of Foreign Affairs: overall coordination of the ministries involved, editing - synthesis of the report, introduction, and articles 1 and 2 (paras. 5, 6); − Ministry of National Economy and Finance: articles 2 (para. 7) and 11 (para. 42); − Ministry of Labour and Social Security: articles 6, 7 and 8, as chef-de-file and with the cooperation of: (a) Ministry of the Interior, Public Administration and Decentralization/ Secretariat-General for Gender Equality on articles 6 (paras. 8, 9,10) and 7 (paras. 15, 17); (b) Ministry of the Interior, Public Administration and Decentralization on 6 and 8 (para. 24); (c) Ministry of Public Order on article 8 (para. 24); and (d) Ministry of National Defence on article 8 (para. 24); − Ministry of Labour and Social Security/Secretariat-General of Social Security: article 9; − Ministry of Agriculture: articles 6 (paras. 8, 9, 13) and 11 (para. 43); − Ministry of Health and Social Welfare: articles 9 (paras. 27, 28), 10, 11 (para. 43) and 12; − Ministry of the Environment, Town Planning and Public Works: article 11 (para. 44); − Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs: articles 13 and 14; E/1990/5/Add.56 page 4 − Ministry of Culture: article 15, as chef-de-file and with the cooperation of: (a) Ministry of Development/Secretariat-General of Research and Technology on article 15 (paras. 67, 68, 69, 71); and (b) Ministry of Press and Mass Media on article 15 (para. 66). 3. In the elaboration of the report, which proved an interesting and fruitful exercise, every effort was made to follow, as far as possible, the indicative, wide-spectrum Guidelines on the form and content of the reports to be submitted by States parties to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. 4. On the whole, since this is the initial report of Greece to the Committee it was deemed useful - and corresponded to the approach of many among the ministries involved - to expand on a number of important issues even farther than the outline set in the said Guidelines. In certain cases, the same or similar issues are dealt with twice, since they fall under the competence either of more than one ministry, such as in paragraphs 9 (a) and 9 (b) (situations of employment), or of one single ministry, but fit in more than one place, such as in paragraphs 66 (b) (f) and 69 (the Stone Centre). Again, in other cases, for the sake of cohesion and continuity of the presentation, paragraphs and/or subparagraphs were dealt with in a different order from that in the Guidelines, e.g. under the main paragraph 44 on the right to adequate housing. 5. Wherever questions put in the Guidelines remain unanswered, it is principally due to the fact that they are not pertinent to the Greek situation. This is especially the case with regard to final paragraphs under each article bearing on the role of international assistance in the realization of the relevant rights. Greece, being a developed country, a member State of the European Union since 1981, does not in principle receive international assistance with a view to implementing the rights under the Covenant but for support in the framework of relevant programmes of the European Union destined to its member States. An exceptional case where Greece receives international assistance may be considered the technical knowledge offered by the World Health Organization as mentioned in paragraph 55. 6. However, in most cases in which those final paragraphs are answered, information is given on international assistance provided by Greece, bilaterally or in the European Union framework, to third countries, e.g. in paragraph 43 (h) regarding realization of the right to adequate food. 7. Alternatively, information is given on improvement of infrastructure, equipment or services through financial support from European Union programmes, e.g. in the main paragraphs 41 and 64 regarding respectively the realization of the rights enshrined in articles 10 and 13 of the Covenant. E/1990/5/Add.56 page 5 8. On substance and as a general remark, it has to be noted that the Greek Constitution, as revised in 2001, is characterized by its reinforced social character. In particular, the revised Constitution has introduced expressly into the Greek legal order the principle of the “social State of law” (art. 25, para. 1), which is placed under the guarantee of the State, together with the rights of persons as individuals and as members of the society. 9. This fundamental supra-legislative principle has assumed a concrete form in various other constitutional provisions, such as in article 21, paragraph 6 (“protection of disabled persons”), and in article 22, paragraph 3 (“collective labour agreements for civil servants and servants of local administration or of other public organizations”); these provisions render evident the tendency of the new Greek legal order to give emphasis on and substantive content to the protection of social rights in general of all persons residing on Greek territory. 10. At the same time, the aforesaid constitutional provisions result in the creation of new important obligations of the State, whose bodies have to guarantee the unimpeded and effective exercise of civil and social rights and of the principle of the “social State of law”, in accordance with article 25, paragraph 1, of the Constitution. I. GENERAL PROVISIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS Article 1 11. The right to self-determination, as it is defined in article 1 of the Covenant, as well as in all international instruments for the protection of human rights has, as a rule, three aspects: (a) The right of external self-determination, in other words the right to self-determination of peoples who are under a colonial or racist regime or under foreign occupation or who have perforce been integrated into a certain state. This aspect of self-determination has been recognized and safeguarded by resolutions of the General Assembly of the United Nations, as well as in its declarations 1314 (XII) of 12 December 1948, 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960 and 2625 of 1970; (b) The right of internal self-determination involves the free choosing of the social system and the form of government, on the one hand, and the obligation to conduct elections at regular intervals at the state and local level, on the other; and (c) The right to the free