Love will almost certainly not be in the air on Valentine’s Day as the UN Committee Members question representatives of the UK and devolved governments on their progress towards respecting, protecting and fulfilling the rights guaranteed in the ‘ICESCR’ (International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights).

Since the last review, back in 2016, economic inequality has grown -  which is quite something when considering the damning reports of both the former UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and the UN Committee on the Rights of People with Disabilities.  Housing need, food and fuel poverty, regressive social security systems and a hostile environment system take their toll every day on poor and marginalised communities, and are widely understood to contribute to growing numbers of people in emotional distress. 

pretty words and promises will not be enough to address the growing inequality across the UK and Ireland (whose review was held in 2024), represented through growing food and fuel poverty, poor housing conditions, lack of housing supply, climate collapse and a health service struggling to meet need

Of course the new Labour administration at Westminster will not want to pick up the tab for failings and regressive policies perpetrated by their predecessors. And it is all to the good that there have been some encouraging noises and even some actions in addressing some of the more egregious inheritances, such as the extension of the move on period for newly recognised refugees. However, pretty words and promises will not be enough to address the growing inequality across the UK and Ireland (whose review was held in 2024), represented through growing food and fuel poverty, poor housing conditions, lack of housing supply, climate collapse and a health service struggling to meet need.

The UN monitoring system has a lot of questions to answer about its effectiveness, and its ability to include people - beyond a narrow cohort of law and policy experts - in a meaningful way. However, the international experts on this Committee and many others have a long track record in engaging seriously and substantively with the information brought to them, by PPR and organisations like us, on behalf of the families we organize alongside. Over the last three reviews, spanning 15 years, the Committee has made a number of recommendations relating directly to PPR’s work, including the need to address religious inequality in housing in North Belfast, to fund mental health services on a par with those for physical health, to review the use of sanctions in social security assessments and to ensure the rights of asylum seekers are protected across the board. Back in 2016, several activists and organisers attended the review to speak directly to UN Committee members and ‘tell it like it is.’

Providing public services in line with the equality and human rights obligations set out in ICESCR ought to be in the DNA of our public servants, whether elected or unelected. Who could argue that housing should be habitable, accessible, affordable, appropriate and good quality? Who could take issue with the idea that mental health services should be trauma-informed and rights-respecting? Who wouldn’t want an inclusive, good quality education for our young people who have fled war and repression and are hoping to contribute to society in future? And yet, sitting in 2025, we are a million miles away from those basic rights being fulfilled. A wise Executive would take heed of the Committee’s recommendations when they are issued and work towards their implementation. A foolish one will try to bury them in a mountain of bluster, or worse, ignore them entirely.

You can read the full submission from the PPR team here.