At the 2005 Open-Ended Working Group to consider options for an Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (the Covenant), the Chair of the Working Group was invited to prepare a paper addressing elements for an optional protocol in order to facilitate a more focused discussion at the third session of the Working Group.1 Motivated by widespread concern for the protection and promotion of economic, social and cultural rights (ESC rights), Amnesty International (AI), the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l’Homme (FIDH), Foodfirst Information and Action Network (FIAN), the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), and the International Women s Rights Action Watch Asia-Pacific (IWRAW Asia Pacific), representing the International NGO Coalition for an Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (hereafter the NGO Coalition)2 , submit the following views in response to the Analytical Paper presented by the Chairperson-Rapporteur in November 2005. 3