Eibe H. Riedel - Böcker

Article 9 of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights on the right to social security is the shortest article in the entire Covenant and for that reason alone highly abstract and vague. A comprehensive analysis of the article 9 is still lacking, not least because it is widely regarded as a Pandora's box better not to be opened. Experience has shown that the quality of the state reporting procedure is greatly improved once the Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights has adopted a General Comment. Thus, it seems very desirable to close this gap. For the reason, an International Expert Workshop on the Right to Social Security was held in April 2005 at the German Institute for Human Rights, whose purpose was to highlight specific issues of the right to social security which should be addressed by the Committee when drafting a General Comment on article 9. The results of this workshop are published in this volume providing an insight into the current challenges on social security as a human right.

The present volume compiles the German National Reports on Public Law that are to be presented at the XVIIth Congress of the Inter- tional Academy of Comparative Law, which will take place from 16 – 22 July 2006 in Utrecht, the Netherlands. By publishing the conference report before the conference itself has taken place, we hope to enable interested scholars and practitioners to gain information in greater - tail as it will be possible during the conference, and in this way to stimulate and inspirit the overall discussion. The Congress, like its predecessors, will bring together academics and practitioners from all over the world and thus offer an excellent opportunity for discussion and comparison on a wide range of current and interesting issues. The articles of this volume map out the current situation and doctrinal ramifications of a specific comparative project, as designed by the C- gress organisers. Each contributor provides both a full picture of the subject area and sets out his or her view on the topic, which will, given our experiences from the previous conferences, stimulate and enrich the discussions at this year’s conference. This volume contains eight reports focussing on specific topics of G- man Public Law and two dealing with questions of European Consti- tional Law.