17. Shortly after the American Convention on Human Rights had been approved, the Inter-American Commission recognized “the difficulty of establishing criteria that would enable it to measure the states’ fulfillment of their obligations 38 [with respect to economic, social and cultural rights].” 39 This showed that due protection of these rights through the American Convention was not enough and could even be considered incomplete. 18. Thus, the Inter-American Commission shifted the matter to the OAS General Assembly for consideration. It stated the need for the General Assembly: […] To reaffirm that the effective protection of human rights also extends to economic, social and cultural rights, and that it is the duty of the governments of the member states to cooperate as fully as possible in the task of hemispheric development, in order to alleviate extreme poverty, and to adopt specific measures which permit fulfillment of this objective. 40. 19. The OAS General Assembly subsequently decided to task the General Secretariat to develop a draft Additional Protocol to the American Convention, defining economic, social and cultural rights. 41 The initiative eventually took the form of the Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, known as the “Protocol of San Salvador,” signed on November 17, 1988, during the 18th regular session of the OAS General Assembly. C. The Protocol of San Salvador 1. This protocol is the primary Inter-American instrument for the protection, guarantee and promotion of economic, social and cultural rights. As an international treaty, it recognizes a body of State obligations (the obligation to adopt measures, obligation to enact domestic legislation, nondiscrimination, inadmissibility of restrictions) and rights (right to work, right to just, equitable, and satisfactory conditions of work, trade union rights, right to social security, right to health, right to a healthy environment, and the like). 2. Two points should be clarified about the content of the treaty. First, with respect to the enforceability of the rights set forth in the Protocol of San Salvador, Article 19 provides the option of taking action with the InterAmerican Commission and, when applicable, before the Inter-American Court through the system of individual petitions, only if the rights established in paragraph (a) of Article 8 (trade union rights) and in Article 13 (right to education) are violated. 3. Article 19 of the Protocol of San Salvador also stipulates that the States Parties, in keeping with the provisions of the article and the corresponding rules to be formulated for that purpose by the General Assembly of the OAS, undertake to submit periodic reports on progressive measures they have taken to ensure due respect for the rights set forth in the Protocol. The current practice has these reports examined by the Working Group for the Protocol of San Salvador (WGPSS), created according to parameters established by the General Assembly of the OAS. 42 Emphasis added. Cf. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Annual Report 1979-1980, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.50 doc. 13 rev. 1, October 2, 1980, Chapter VI, para. 5. 40 Cf. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Annual Report 1980-1981, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.54 doc. 9 rev.1, October 16, 1981, Chapter V, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Recommendations, para. 10. 41 Cf. AG/RES. 619 (XII-O/82), November 20, 1982, sole operative paragraph. 42 Cf. AG/RES. 2262 (XXXVII-O/07), June 5, 2007. 38 39