On the 10th of December, the 60th anniversary for the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the optional protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was adopted by consensus in the UN General Assembly. The protocol entails a mechanism for individual complaints to the Committee that monitors the Covenant.
But first the State Parties have to ratify the protocol. A similar mechanism has already existed for 42 years for the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Read more about the UN discussions here .
The text of the protocol is found here.
