Written submission to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Draft General Comment on the ICESCR in Armed Conflict

This submission sets out the correct methodology for assessing the application and interpretation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in armed conflict. It demonstrates that the existence of an armed conflict does not terminate, suspend or displace the Covenant. In the absence of any derogation clause, the ICESCR continues to apply during armed conflict, occupation and post-conflict settings. Armed conflict may nevertheless be relevant to the Covenant in three ways. First, the territorial and extraterritorial application of particular Covenant obligations should be assessed contextually, by reference to the relevance of the obligation in question. Secondly, conflict-related factual circumstances may affect the operation of Covenant rights in particular situations. Thirdly, in most cases, international humanitarian law and the Covenant will simply apply alongside one another, without any need to consider the interaction between the two. The submission emphasises the independent and additional protective function of the ICESCR.