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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,