Disseminate the concluding observations widely among all
levels of society, particularly among Federal and State
government officials and judicial authorities to inform the
Committee on the steps that it has taken to implement the
following in the next periodic report
Engage NGOs and Civil Society Groups in the process of
discussion at the national level prior to the submission of the
next
periodic report.
India should submit its sixth periodic report by 30th June
2011 and include detailed information on the steps undertaken to
implement the recommendations contained in the concluding
observations
-
Review legal obligations under the Covenant to take steps
towards maximum of its available resources (Under Optional
Protocol
of the Covenant and General Comment 13 and 14 under core
obligations)
-
Review all aspects of negotiations with trade agreements,
especially EU and EFTA to ensure that rights of disadvantaged
and
marginalized are not undermined
-
Adopt mechanisms to enhance direct applicability of the Covenant
by domestic courts. Also, with judicial training, effective
measures should be taken to increase awareness of the rights
enshrined in the ICESCR among the public at large.
-
Enhance the effectiveness of the NHRC and the State Human Rights
Commissions, in particular through increased budgetary
allocations
-
States and UTs to establish their respective Human Rights
Commissions and Human Rights Courts
-
India should take necessary measures to protect human rights
defenders against violence, threats, retaliation, pressure or
any arbitrary action as a consequence of their activities.
-
Strengthen human rights training for law enforcement officials
and ensure that all allegations of human rights violations are
promptly investigated and perpetrators persecuted
-
Repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act
-
Provide updated annually collected disaggregated by age, sex,
ethnicity, religion and by region, regarding all provisions in
the Covenant, paying particular attention to disadvantaged and
marginalised groups
-
Strengthen enforcement of existing legal prohibitions of
discrimination and enacting comprehensive administrative,
civil/criminal anti discriminatory legislation, guaranteeing the
right to equal treatment and discrimination in the field of
employment, social security, housing, health care, education,
grounds of race, colour, sex, language religion, political or
other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or
other status.
-
Enforcement of criminal justice system to strengthen procedures
for prompt investigations and effective prosecution of
violations under SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Also,
expand throughout the State preventive programmes to curb
violence against persons belonging to SCs, STs, and women
-
Provide data regarding the percentage of the GDP allotted for
education, health and housing programmes in the country
-
Ensure full implementation of the recommendations of the Sachar
Committee Report without further delay
-
Strengthen efforts to raise public awareness about gender
equality, including by providing support to the NCW and STW
Sensitise and train medical professionals on the criminal nature
of sex selection with a view to ensure stringent enforcement
of Pre-conception and Prenatal Diagnostic Technique (Prohibition
of Sex Selection) Act
-
Enact legislation on equal pay for work of equal value in both
public and private sectors.
-
Adopt affirmative actions to promote active political
participation of women
-
Provide information on situation of women and the extent to
which they enjoy the right to own land and property independent
of their male relatives to be provided in the next report. Also,
the impact of micro credit programmes for women, the
difficulties they encounter and the progress achieved. Lastly,
detailed information regarding street children
-
Take effective measures to ensure that violations concerning
bonded labour, manual scavenging and worst forms of child labour
are stringently prosecuted and employers duly sanctioned
-
Launch a national campaign to abolish manual scavenging and
other degrading forms of work and provide results achieved in
the
next periodic report
-
India should ratify the following ILO Convention: No. 2
(Unemployment), 98 (Right to Organise and Collective
Bargaining), 102
(Social Security) , 182 (Worst Forms of Child labour), 138
(Minimum age) and 174 (Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents)
-
Provide information on the measures taken within the framework
of 10th and 11th Plans to achieve an adequate rate of
employment growth
-
Establish an effective system of indexation and regular
adjustment of minimum wage to the cost of living
-
Enact the Unorganised Sector workers Social Security Bill and
entitle workers to social security benefits such as health,
maternity benefit, old age benefit, labour accident insurance
and dependent benefit.
-
Enact a law that criminalises trafficking in persons and
commercial sexual exploitation of women
-
Provide detailed info on the extent of domestic violence, and on
legislative and other measures taken to address this phenomenon, including facilities and remedies provided for
victims
-
Establish specific mechanisms to monitor implementation of
poverty reduction strategies and evaluate the progress achieved.
-
Provide detailed annual data on the incidence and depth of
poverty, disaggregated by gender, caste, ethnicity and region
-
Ensure full implementation of planned farm debt waiver programme.
Develop rural infrastructure, provide financial and other
forms of assistance to families of suicide victims, and ensure
existing agriculture insurance schemes are fully implemented
and accessible to farmers. Review the Seed Bill and provide
State subsidies to enable farmers to purchase generic seeds with
a view to eliminate their dependency on MNCs
-
Develop a national strategy and a plan of action on adequate
housing. India should provide detailed info on homelessness and
the extent of inadequate housing, disaggregated by interalia,
sex, caste, ethnicity and religion
-
Provide info on progress achieved, including disaggregated
statistics, in terms of measures taken to prevent displacement
and
forced evictions and undertaking participatory consultations
with affected families in the event of any development projects
-
India should conduct post-Tsunami rehabilitation process in
affected areas and provide detailed info in next periodic report
regarding the extent to which the affected groups were consulted
throughout the different stages of the process
-
Significantly increase health care expenditure. Accord highest
priority to reducing maternal and infant mortality rates and
preventing and treating serious communicable diseases, including
HIV/AIDS. Fully implement NRHM and undertake a systematic
assessment of policy measures related to mental illness with a
view to improve the treatment and care of such persons
-
Ensure equitable access to safe drinking water by enforcing
existing laws on water treatment and effectively monitoring
compliance
-
Strengthen measures to improve sanitary and hygienic conditions
in prisons to ensure the right to mental and physical health
of all prisoners
-
Provide info on measures taken to rehabilitate the survivors of
Bhopal Gas tragedy
-
Expand availability and accessibility of reproductive and sexual
health information for everyone and ensure its incorporation
in educational programmes in school curriculum
-
Provide info on the measures taken to regulate the private
healthcare sector
-
Provide info on trade in human organs
-
Achieve universal primary education, compulsory and free of
charge. The State should allocate more funds to public schools
to
ensure that teachers are fully trained and qualified
-
Intensify literacy programmes for adults, design specific
strategies for women and those living in poverty
-
Provide human rights education in schools at all levels and in
university to cultivate values of tolerance, social inclusion
and participation
-
Preserve and promote culture and ensure that no development
initiatives are carried without effective consultation with the
local communities and that any potential negative impact on
their rights to take part in cultural life
-
Ratify the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and also the
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All
Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
Download Concluding Observations of the Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights
