Independent national defenders for a stronger social Europe post 2020: using the synergies between the European Pillar of Social Rights and the European Social Charter to advance the sustainable development goals in the social area

Back Independent national defenders for a stronger social Europe post 2020: using the synergies between the European Pillar of Social Rights and the European Social Charter to advance the sustainable development goals in the social area

What can be done to help protect people’s social rights - from education, to housing, to employment and healthcare - and to tackle extremes of poverty and inequality?

How can be used the synergies between the European Social Charter and the European Pillar of Social Rights to promote social Europe?

The European Network of Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI), the European Network of Equality Bodies (Equinet) and the Council of Europe, Department of European Social Charter, held a side event, entitled “Independent national defenders for a stronger social Europe post 2020: using the synergies between the European Pillar of Social Rights and the European Social Charter to advance the sustainable development goals in the social area” at the Annual Convention for Inclusive Growth 2019, organised by the European Commission in Brussels on 20 May 2019. The side event gathered more than 100 participants from civil society, international organisations and national authorities.

Olivier de Schutter, author of the Study on the European Pillar of Social Rights and the role of the European Social Charter in the European Union legal order, presented how the Pillar could strengthen its links with the European Social Charter in order to reinforce social rights in Europe.

Humbert de Biolley, Deputy Head of Office, underlined that to reach the full potential of the European Social Charter, governments across the EU and beyond should commit themselves to the revised version of the Charter, launched in 1996, and join the collective complaints mechanism. Moreover, the European Social Charter could and should become a pedestal supporting the European Pillar of Social Rights, with the European Union and important partners such as national human rights institutions, equality bodies and other civil society organisations helping to enforce its provisions. This can serve to improve people’s lives, to reduce dangerous inequalities and to restore faith in democracy across Europe.