Monitoring of commitments concerning social rights
Reply to Recommendation
| Doc. 12806
| 12 December 2011
- Author(s):
- Committee of Ministers
- Origin
- Adopted at the 1129th meeting of
the Ministers’ Deputies (7 December 2011). 2012 - First part-session
- Reply to Recommendation
- : Recommendation 1958
(2011)
- Thesaurus
1. The Committee of Ministers welcomes Parliamentary
Assembly
Recommendation
1958 (2011) on “Monitoring of commitments concerning
social rights”, which it considers as a timely contribution to the celebration
in 2011 of the 50th anniversary of the European Social Charter (ETS
No. 35) and the 15th anniversary of the revised European Social
Charter (ETS No. 163). It has transmitted the recommendation to
the member States’ governments for information. On 25 May and 15
June 2011, the Committee of Ministers held debates on the European
Social Charter, with a view,
inter alia, to
preparing the Charter’s anniversary.
2. The Parliamentary Assembly rightly notes the Council of Europe
member States’ strong support for the Social Charter instruments,
the great majority of which have acceded to some or all of the treaties
constituting the European Social Charter. On the occasion of the
50th anniversary of the Charter, the Committee of Ministers adopted
a declaration in which it reaffirmed the paramount role of the Charter
in guaranteeing and promoting social rights on our continent. The
Committee of Ministers shares the Assembly’s view that it is a propitious
time to remind all parties and bodies involved of the importance
of the Social Charter mechanisms for the protection of social rights.
For this reason, it has invited member States and relevant bodies
of the Council of Europe to increase their efforts to raise awareness
of the Charter at national level amongst legal practitioners, academics
and social partners as well as to inform the public at large of
their rights.
3. In respect of the specific recommendations made by the Assembly,
the 50th anniversary of the Charter provided an opportunity for
the Committee of Ministers to reaffirm that all human rights are
universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated (paragraph
4.1. of the Assembly recommendation). The Committee of Ministers
also underlined the particular relevance of social rights and their
guarantee in times of economic difficulties, in particular for individuals
belonging to vulnerable groups. In this context, it further welcomed
the numerous examples of measures taken by States Parties to implement
and respect the Charter, and called on governments to take account,
in an appropriate manner, of all the various observations made in
the conclusions of the European Committee of Social Rights and in
the reports of the Governmental Committee. Moreover, the Committee
of Ministers affirmed its determination to support States Parties
in bringing their domestic situation into conformity with the Charter
and to ensure the expertise and independence of the European Committee
of Social Rights.
4. The Committee of Ministers notes the great number of ratifications
of the Charter instruments since the Second Summit of Heads of States
and Governments. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the
Charter, it called on all those member states that have not yet
ratified the revised European Social Charter, or have not accepted
the collective complaints mechanism, to consider doing so (paragraphs
4.2., 4.3. and 4.4.)
5. The Committee of Ministers notes also the Assembly’s request
that, pending the entry into force of the Turin Protocol, it should
take a decision to allow for the election of the 15 members of the
European Committee of Social Rights by the Assembly (paragraph 4.5.).
It does not consider it appropriate, however, to take such a measure
at the present stage.
6. With respect to the Assembly’s request that the Committee
of Ministers revises the collective complaints procedure so as to
allow the Assembly and other stakeholders to intervene as a third
party (paragraph 4.6.), the Committee of Ministers observes that
the collective complaints procedure has so far only been accepted by
a limited number of member states. For this reason, it does not
consider it wise to revise this instrument for the time being.
7. Finally, the Committee of Ministers observes that the Parliamentary
Assembly will conduct political monitoring in the coming years concerning
the application of the Social Charter in the member States, including a
general review of the development of social rights and a follow-up
to the European Committee of Social Rights’ decisions on the merits
of collective complaints (paragraph 5). It will follow this work
closely and welcomes the fact that the Assembly will thereby fulfil
the role given to it in Article 29 of the 1961 Charter as amended
by the Turin Protocol.