This report on the implementation of economic, social and cultural rights in South Africa (focusing on selected issues and rights) is a joint initiative of members of the Steering Group of South Africa’s Ratification Campaign of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and its Optional Protocol (the Campaign), in collaboration with the Institute for Poverty,
Land and Agrarian Studies at the University of the Western Cape, and with input and participation by some individual experts.

The Campaign was organised within civil society in response to the delay of the South African government to ratify the ICESCR, despite having signed it in October 1994. The Campaign became operational in May 2009. Following the South African government’s ratification of the ICESCR in January 2015, which was preceded by a series of engagements and advocacy efforts by the
Campaign, the Campaign’s focus has been on raising awareness of the ICESCR and ensuring its effective implementation (including domestication). In relation to the Optional Protocol to the
ICESCR, the Campaign focuses on raising awareness of the Optional Protocol and its mechanisms, as well as advocating for its ratification by South Africa.