Geneva Academy Hosts Expert Consultation on CESCR’s General Comment on ICESCR in Armed Conflict

8 May 2025

On the occasion of the 77th session of the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR), the Geneva Academy convened an expert consultation on the CESCR’s General Comment on the Application of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in Situations of Armed Conflict. Around 20 individuals from the UN and diplomatic community, as well as from academia and NGOs, attended the meeting, together with several members of the CESCR and the drafting group of the General Comment. The event was carried out in the framework of the support that the Geneva Academy’s IHL Expert Pool has been providing to the CESCR, ranging from the provision of advice and feedback on key IHL topics addressed in the General Comment to the facilitation of exchanges between the CESCR and key stakeholders in the matter.

‘This General Comment represents a crucial milestone in reaffirming the importance of economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights in armed conflict situations as it aims to clarify States’ obligations under the ICESCR in such contexts and to provide a practical legal framework to guide their implementation. Grounded in international jurisprudence, comparative legal analysis, and concrete case studies, this General Comment will address key legal and operational challenges in securing ESCR in conflict settings’, says Prof. Ludovic Hennebel, Vice-Chair of the CESCR and Rapporteur on this initiative. ‘In a global context marked by increasingly complex and protracted armed conflicts, it is crucial to reaffirm the indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights and to ensure that economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCR) are neither neglected nor undermined during war and instability - social justice and the protection of ESCR must not be sidelined even in the most challenging times.’

The meeting has provided an exclusive forum for engaging with the drafting team, contributing expert insights, and shaping the legal and policy discourse on this critical issue. ‘Participants in this consultation have discussed several key aspects of the General Comment’, says Dr. Francesco Romani, Research Fellow at the Geneva Academy and coordinator of the IHL Expert Pool. ‘These include the types of situations in relation to which the application of ICESCR needs to be investigated; the issue of extraterritorial obligations; the complementarity of international humanitarian law and ESCRs, and particularly the indications that the former body of rules can provide in substantiating minimum core obligations; and the responsibility of non-State actors’.

Florence Foster, Senior Project Manager, and Dr. Erica Harper, Head of Research and Policy at the Geneva Academy, expressed appreciation for the collaboration with CESCR. ‘This meeting not only facilitated substantive discussions but also fostered new partnerships with CESCR members and the drafting group. We look forward to the next steps in this ambitious endeavor, ensuring rigorous legal analysis with meaningful policy impact.’

The CESCR looks forward to continuing its engagement with experts and institutions as the drafting process moves ahead, and welcomes expressions of interest from those wishing to contribute.