28/01/2011 Session
In a text adopted today PACE called on member states to ratify and implement the European Social Charter (1961 and revised in 1996), this being the anniversary year where both the 50 years since the original charter was agreed and the 15 years since its revision will be celebrated. The Assembly urged parliamentarians to specifically promote the revision of the collective complaints procedure by the Committee of Ministers which would allow for third party interventions, including by the Assembly itself.
In line with the rapporteur Bernard Marquet`s (Monaco, ALDE) proposals PACE called on the last four member states who have not yet ratified the Turin Protocol to do so allowing it to elect the 15 members of the European Committee of Social Rights. PACE also decided to schedule joint debates on the situation of social rights and on the state of human rights every two years starting in this June`s Assembly session. It will undertake political monitoring of the implementation of the Charter and of social rights with full consideration of gender mainstreaming and it will closely collaborate with other competent organisations such as ILO and EU bodies.