The Charter's Treaty System

The treaty system of the European Social Charter is an integrated set of international standards concerning social rights and a mechanism for monitoring their implementation within the States concerned.

Taking into account the evolution which has occurred in Europe since the adoption of the European Social Charter in 1961, the Revised European Social Charter, adopted in 1996, embodies in a single instrument all the rights guaranteed by the 1961 Charter and its Additional Protocol of 1988, while up-dating some of them and adding several completely new rights.

The Revised Charter is gradually replacing the initial 1961 treaty.

Enforcement of the Revised Charter within the States parties is submitted to the same monitoring mechanism as the 1961 Charter, i.e. the reporting system; this system was developed and strengthened in 1991 by an Amending Protocol (the 'Turin Protocol'). For the States parties which have accepted it, the reporting system is complemented by the collective complaints procedure, based on the relevant Additional Protocol of 1995.

Today, the Charter treaty system is one of the most widely accepted human rights set of standards within the Council of Europe. The widespread support for social rights is assured by the fact that 42 out of the 46 member States of the Council of Europe are Parties to either the 1961 Charter or the Revised Charter. For more information see the website of the Treaty Office of the Council of Europe, the table on signature and ratifications, the table of accepted provisions or the interactive map below.

Legend

The information displayed on this map is not necessarily complete, exhaustive, accurate or up to date. For any official information concerning the treaties of the European Social Charter, the status of signatures and ratifications, the declarations and reservations made by States, please consult the website of the Treaty Office of the Council of Europe.

TABLES OF SIGNATURES AND RATIFICATIONS

Reservations and declarations

The European Social Charter
a guardian of our social rights

events

Back Deputy Secretary General opens Joint Workshop on family as a hub for social policies in Rome

The Deputy Secretary General Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni will open together with the Italian Minister for Equal Opportunities and Family, Elena Bonetti the Joint Workshop on family as a hub for social policies. The event is organised by the Department for Family Policies of the Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministers and the European Social Cohesion Platform (PECS) of the Council of Europe and will take place in Rome on 9 and 10 October.

The joint workshop will be focused on the main social topics having an impact on both women and men, especially on working mothers and fathers and their children and it is divided into 4 working sessions:

Work-life balance and company welfare;
Family measures to promote the increase in the birth-rate in Europe;
Support services for children witnessing violence and children orphaned by domestic crimes;
Eradication of child poverty.

Opening remarks will also be addressed by the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs of Armenia, Zaruhi Batoyan; by the Minister of Social Security and Labour of Lithuania, Linas Kukuraitis and by the Minister for the Family, Children’s Rights, and Social Solidarity of Malta, Michael Falzon.

The joint workshop will be followed by the 4th meeting of the European Social Cohesion Platform*. The Platform will exchange views on the draft work plan for 2020-2021 and make proposals for future activities, it will examine the draft Declaration of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers on Addressing Child Poverty, as well as the draft Council of Europe Revised Strategy (2020-2021) on social cohesions. In addition, the Platform will hold a discussion on the Report on Middle Class and Social Cohesion that will be presented by Prof. Paolo Graziano, the author.

* The objective of the European Social Cohesion Platform is to reinforce the intergovernmental component of the Secretary General’s strategy to enhance the Council of Europe’s work in the area of social cohesion, in particular through the promotion of the European Social Charter and its collective complaints procedure in order to ensure equal and effective access to social rights.