There is a growing appreciation of the need for mechanisms to ensure greater protection for human rights, and the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and cultrual Rights provides some hope if it can translated into a utility that is real and accessible to those that need it the most. This article considers the merit in adopting the Optional Protocol, the contribution of the South African judicial experience of enforcing and understanding social, economic and cultural rights and raises a few practical points which will hopefully strengthen, by some small measure, the supervisory capacity of the Committee tasked with handling the complaints.

Keywords: Optional Protocol, ICESCR, UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, South Africa, justiciability, human dignity.