During recent decades, levels of global wealth have grown at an impressive rate but at the same time inequalities in wealth distribution and the gap between the rich and the poor have also increased significantly. While some people take the enjoyment of comforts made available by technological advances for granted and consume goods and services at a rate unimaginable even just a few decades ago, for the majority of humanity such developments are unattainable and many persons die of hunger or curable diseases, do not have shelter, access to education or basic sanitation facilities. Undoubtedly this raises moral questions, but it is also a juridical problem. This study attempts to show that at least the 145 States Parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) bear significant obligations with regard to the fulfilment of these rights. The present work analyses the work of the main supervisory mechanism of the ICESCR, the U.N. Committee on Economic,
