PART V: THE EUROPEAN SOCIAL CHARTER


A) Introduction to the European Social Charter

The European Social Charter1

The European Social Charter was opened for signature by the members of the Council of Europe, in Turin, on 18 October 1961 and entered into force 26 February 1965. Since that time there have been several amending Protocols to the Charter.

The Revised Social Charter was opened for signature, in Strasbourg, on 3 May 1996, and entered into force 1 July 1999. It incorporates all of the rights in the original Charter and its Protocols, and adds several new rights.

    1. Summary of the Treaty
The European Social Charter provides for a systematic monitoring of the undertakings accepted by States Parties, at regular intervals (from two to four years depending on the provision).

The Charter stipulates that any State wishing to become a Party must undertake to be bound by at least 10 Articles out of 19 (16 in the Revised Charter) or 45 numbered paragraphs of Part II of the Charter. However, each Party must accept at least five of the seven Articles regarded as particularly significant, namely:
  • the right to work (Article 1)
  • the right to organize (Article 5)
  • the right to bargain collectively (Article 6)
  • the right to social security (Article 12)
  • the right to social and medical assistance (Article 13)
  • the right to the social, legal and economic protection of the family (Article 16)
  • and the right to protection and assistance for migrant workers and their families (Article 19).
Thus, the provisions of the Charter do not have to be accepted at once, subject however to the acceptance of a majority of the provisions of the "hard core" and the minimum total of 10 Articles (16 under the revised Charter), which allows States to extend their acceptance within a certain time span in accordance with the development of their social and economic situation.
    2. Summary of the Revised Social Charter
The new Charter is designated to enforce an international guarantee of fundamental social and economic rights. It takes account of the evolution which has occurred since the Charter was adopted in 1961. The revised Charter is an international treaty which embodies in one instrument all rights guaranteed by the first Charter of 1961, its additional Protocol of 1988, and adds the following new rights :
  • right to protection against poverty and social exclusion; right to housing; right to protection in cases of termination of employment;
  • right to protection against sexual harassment in the workplace and other forms of harassment;
  • rights of workers' representatives in undertakings;
  • rights of workers with family responsibilities to equal opportunities and equal treatment;
Amendments from the previous Charter include:
  • reinforcement of principle of non-discrimination; improvement of gender equality in all fields covered by the treaty;
  • better protection of maternity and social protection of mothers; better social, legal and economic protection of employed children; better protection of handicapped people.

The enforcement of the new Charter is submitted to the same system of control as the Charter of 1961 as developed by the Protocol of 1991 and by the Protocol of 1995, providing a system of collective complaints.

The rights under the Revised Charter which are particularly relevant to reproductive and sexual health include, but are not limited to:

Right to maternity protection: Articles 8, 11, 12, 13
Right to highest attainable standard of health: Articles 3, 11, 12, 13 & 14
Right to marry and found a family: Article 12
Right to private and family life: Article 16, 19 & 27
Right to education: 7(3), 15(1), 17
    4. Supervision of the Application of the European Social Charter
Firstly, states must submit reports to the Council of Europe on how they have applied the Charter. These reports are public and the social partners may make observations on them.

The European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) assesses whether the states have respected their undertakings. This committee is composed of nine independent and impartial experts.

The conclusions of the ECSR are transmitted to the Governmental Committee, composed of representatives of the states. In this committee the states represented ensure that each one of them takes the necessary measures to bring the situation into conformity with the Charter.

In the most serious cases, the Committee of Ministers, the decision-making body of the Council of Europe, makes recommendations to states that they change the legislation, regulations or practice not in conformity with the Charter's obligations.
    5. Collective Complaints
The Additional Protocol to the Charter which allows for a system of collective complaints came into force on 1 July 1998. The Revised Charter incorporates this system.

The purpose of this system is to allow for greater efficiency in the supervisory mechanisms of the Charter by allowing them to deal with collective complaints alleging violations of the Charter, in addition to examining government reports.

International non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with consultative status with the Council of Europe may submit complaints. A list of those NGOs may be found at: http://www.humanrights.coe.int/cseweb/GB/GB3/GB31.htm.

In addition, it is sometimes possible for national NGOs to submit collective complaints. In order for an NGO to be able to submit a complaint however, a Member State must make a declaration to the Secretary-General authorizing this power.

Due to space constraints, only the revised Social Charter has been included in these materials in the Basic Texts (Section 2) section that follows.

In Section 3, a partial form for the submission of a national report under the revised Social Charter is included.

Selected excerpts from the conclusions of the European Committee of Social Rights (formerly the Committee of Independent Experts) may be found in Section 4. The conclusions of the ECSR are lengthy, and as a result, much of this information has been omitted. To view the conclusions in their entirety, according to supervision cycle and country, see: http://www.humanrights.coe.int/cseweb/GB/index.htm

Finally, Section 5 contains excerpts from two Social Charter Monographs. Social Charter Monographs describe the case-law of the European Committee of Social Rights by looking at the various supervision cycles. Included in this section are Social Charter Monograph No. 2 - Women in the working world, and Social Charter Monograph No. 2 - Equality between Women and Men in the European Social Charter.


Information for this introduction was obtained from the Council of Europe website at:
http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/CadreListeTraites.htm and the European Social Charter website at: http://www.humanrights.coe.int/cseweb/GB/index.htm.

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