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.

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.

The European Social Charter
a guardian of our social rights

Indietro Reinforcing social rights protection in Europe: to achieve greater unity and equality

Expert seminar

The Department of the European Social Charter organised, under the auspices of the French Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, an expert seminar to discuss the protection of social rights in Europe so as to achieve greater unity and equality. The seminar also followed up on the Committee of Ministers declaration at its Helsinki session in May 2019. At that session, the Committee of Ministers invited all the member States concerned to consider signing and ratifying the revised European Social Charter and its Additional Protocol providing for a system of collective complaints, as a starting point for a resolutely proactive and collective drive to combat inequalities and achieve greater social justice.

The European Social Charter and the European Committee of Social rights guarantee key principles such as free movement of persons, non-discrimination, legal and social security, protection against poverty and exclusion, access to decent housing, health, education and training, as well as employment, safety at work and equality at the workplace, including equal pay.

Participants were welcomed by Ambassador Jean-Baptiste Mattéi, Ambassador of France to the Council of Europe, and Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe. An introduction on strengthening social rights to ensure social justice, national cohesion and the rule of law was pronounced by José Fernandez-Albertos, Researcher at Institute for Policies and Public Goods, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).

The seminar was organised in liaison with the “Institut de recherche Carré de Malberg”, University of Strasbourg.