12/04/2011 Session
In a resolution adopted today, on the basis of a report by Luca Volontè (Italy, EPP/CD), the PACE called on member states to base their poverty reduction strategies on human rights by ensuring, in particular, that people and communities who experience poverty have access to not only social rights but also civil, political, economic and cultural rights.
The Assembly called on member states “to commit to ending child poverty and extreme poverty by 2025” through a range of measures, such as increased investment in education with a view to raising the level of qualification of young people, full access to employment opportunities, adequate medical assistance and housing, without discrimination, and the right to fair remuneration through the provision of an adequate minimum wage.
People who experience poverty should have some way of making their voice heard; the Assembly therefore encouraged member states to consider developing new forms of governance and participation to promote social inclusion for all. The parliamentarians also called for the strengthening of social cohesion – through volunteering – and family cohesion to prevent the intergenerational transmission of poverty.
PACE also invited national parliaments to promote the signature, ratification and application of Council of Europe instruments for the protection of social rights, in particular the revised Social Charter (Article 30 of which enshrines the right to protection against poverty and social exclusion), and the European Convention on Social Security.
In the recommendation it adopted, PACE also proposed the establishment of non-bureaucratic institutions to which people living in poverty could have access, for example a poverty ombudsman.
In the framework of its biennial debate on human and social rights, the Assembly decided to return to the question of combating poverty in 2013 and to monitor the progress made.