Parliamentary Group

DRAFT RESOLUTION NO. 100 /XI/1.

RECOMMENDS THE RATIFICATION OF THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE

INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS

CULTURAL

On the October 24, 2009, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luís Amado,

signed, on behalf of the Portuguese State, the Optional Protocol (PF) to the Pact

International on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (PIDESC).

This protocol provides that citizens of the Member States may submit

complaints, to the United Nations (NU), concerning the disrespect for rights

provided for in the PIDESC, in particular with regard to the right to work, to the

health care, food, water, education, the social protection system, the

housing, the protection of the family or, so simply, a conditionnal existence.

The possibility of complaint in the face of the NU instances was already provided for in respect of

to the violation of rights of another nature, civil and political rights, specifically the

right to vote, freedom of expression, situations involving penalty of death or

torture, among others. The existence of two human rights conventions-one

on civil and political rights and another on economic, social and economic rights and

politicians-came, however, to determine the secondary of the latter and translate into the

inferiorization of fundamental rights, and of which it is often dependent on our

own survival.

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The ratification of this protocol, the creation of which was supported from the first moment by

Portugal, will become a key element for the recognition of the existence of these

rights and for their effective observance, and will allow the monitoring of the role of

Portugal in what concerns compliance with the commitments made at the level

international and the recommendations emanating from the United Nations (UN)

in what concerne to Human Rights.

The Facultative Protocol (PF) to the International Covenant on Economic Rights,

Social and Cultural (PIDESC) constitutes an important political tool in the

sense of the recognition of the obligation, on the part of the Member States, of

adopt the necessary measures for the realization of economic, social and

cultural of citizens and in the sense of the recognition that no one can be

deprived of the exercise of these rights on grounds associated with economic deficiency.

Thus, under the applicable constitutional and regimental provisions, the Group

Parliamentary speaker of the Left Bloc proposes to the Assembly of the Republic that

recommend to the Government that:

-Be ratified the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Rights

Economic, Social and Cultural.

Assembly of the Republic, March 30, 2010.

The Deputies and Deputies of the Left Bloc,