On 25 April 2024, the Council of Europe project "Enhanced social protection in Ukraine" implemented within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” for 2023-2026, organised a seminar in hybrid format “European Social Charter (revised) and Ukraine”.
The aim of the event was to provide an overview of the system of the European Social Charter (Revised) and the Additional Protocol providing for a system of collective complaints in the light of the recent reform; to present how Ukraine fulfils its obligations under the Charter based on the conclusions of the European Committee of Social Rights; and to discuss the possibility of Ukraine ratifying the Additional Protocol.
The representatives of 14 state authorities involved in the provision of information for preparing national reports to the European Committee of Social Rights took part in the seminar.
During the opening remarks Erlend Falch, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, mentioned: “The Charter lays specific emphasis on the protection of vulnerable persons such as people with disabilities, IDPs, older persons etc. Unfortunately, in the situation of on-going war of aggression launched by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, more and more persons are becoming persons from vulnerable groups in Ukraine. Hence, the standards of the European Social Charter are relevant for Ukraine as never before».
Daryna Marchak, First Deputy Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine, Olena Kolobrodova, Representative of the Ukrainian Ombudsperson on Social and Economic Rights, and Anatoliy Ostapenko, MP, Chair of the Subcommittee on Social Protection of Veterans' Rights of the Parliament Committee on social policy and protection of veterans' rights, also welcomed the participants.
During the seminar, Henrik Kristensen, Deputy Head of the Department of Social Rights of the Council of Europe, Deputy Executive Secretary of the European Committee of Social Rights, made a detailed overview of the rights enshrined in the Charter, and also explained the monitoring mechanism of the Charter, in particular focusing on the collective complaints procedure. Mr. Kristensen cited the advantages of accepting an Additional Protocol under the Charter as an effective tool for tripartite dialogue and democratic governance.
Alla Fedorova, national consultant of the Council of Europe, member of the European Committee of Social Rights, also joined the event and presented the situation with implementation of the Charter provisions by Ukraine through the prism of the conclusions of the European Committee of Social Rights. Ms Fedorova also commented non-accepted provisions of the Charter by Ukraine and explained the benefits of the ratification of the Additional Protocol by Ukraine.
The Council of Europe project "Enhanced social protection in Ukraine" aims to increase the level of awareness of the Ukrainian state authorities on the European standards in the field of social rights, in particular the European Social Charter (revised) and the case-law of the European Committee of Social Rights.
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