The European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) is publishing today its Findings 2022 adopted at its 331st session (5-9 December 2022) in respect of seven States (Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia and Sweden) which have accepted the collective complaints procedure. In accordance with the current system for presentation of state reports on the application of the European Social Charter these States were for 2022 exempted from reporting on the accepted provisions of the Charter in the framework of the ordinary “conclusions” and were instead invited to provide information on the follow-up given to the decisions on the merits of collective complaints in which the ECSR had found violations.
The ECSR found that none of the decisions examined in these Findings had been fully implemented by the States concerned bringing the situation into conformity with the Charter, but in several cases it found that definite progress had been made.
The President of the ECSR, Aoife NOLAN, took the opportunity provided by the publication of the Committee’s Findings 2022 to call upon the States concerned to take all necessary measures to implement the decisions at issue. While acknowledging that some of the situations examined are complex and require time and resources to bring them into conformity with the Charter, she stressed States’ Parties duty to act in good faith, both in their participation in the procedure under the Additional Protocol and in relation to the Charter itself. She noted that States Parties’ duty to cooperate with the Committee and its findings in relation to collective complaints arises from an application of the principle of good faith to the observance of all treaty obligations.
She also called upon the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers – the body with ultimate responsibility for overseeing the follow-up to decisions in collective complaints – to continue to show vigilance in ensuring that the ECSR’s decisions are properly implemented.
The ECSR will publish its Conclusions 2022 on Charter provisions belonging to the thematic group “Labour rights” by the end of March 2023.
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