HRW Submits Issues List to UN on Germany’s Rights
We write in advance of the 78th Session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) regarding its preparation and adoption of a list of issues in advance of the full review of Germany’s compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). This submission includes: information on recent developments and gaps in economic, social and cultural rights protection; international cooperation on taxation; the Supply Chains Due Diligence Act; the social security system, in particular the Citizen’s Income and its proposed replacement, basic age-related retirement pensions and supplements, and support for low-income households with children; low-wage work; the gender pay gap and gender pension gap; and the right to cultural artefacts.
Ratification of the Optional Protocol and regional social rights instruments (articles 2 and 9)
Human Rights Watch recommends that the Committee ask the German government:
Support for the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (articles 2, 3, 5, 6, and 11)
Human Rights Watch calls upon the Committee to ask the German government:
Business and human rights (articles 2, 3, 7, 11 and 12)
Human Rights Watch calls upon the Committee to ask the German government:
Aspects of the German social security system (articles 1, 3, 6, 9, 11 and 15)
Citizen’s Income: adequacy and conditionality (articles 3, 7, 9, 10, 11)
Age-related statutory pension, means-tested basic pension supplements, and basic income support in older age: adequacy and eligibility criteria (articles 3 and 9)
Human Rights Watch recommends that the Committee ask the German government:
Child Poverty (articles 9, 10 and 11)
Human Rights Watch recommends that the Committee ask the German government:
Low-wage work, and gender implications (articles 3, 7, 9, 10)
Human Rights Watch recommends that the Committee ask the German government:
Gender pay and pension gaps (articles 3, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 15)
Human Rights Watch recommends that the Committee ask German government:
Right of access to cultural artefacts and human remains/Ancestors from German colonial era (article 15(1)(a))
Human Rights Watch recommends the Committee ask the German government:
[1] See full list of reservations: Council of Europe, Reservations and Declarations for Treaty No.163 – European Social Charter (revised) (ETS No. 163), June 16, 2025, https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list?module=declarations-by-treaty&numSte=163&codeNature=0 (accessed June 16, 2025).
https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/07/29/human-rights-watch-submission-to-the-un-committee-on-economic-social-and-cultural