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Reply to Recommendation | Doc. 14500 | 16 February 2018
Human rights of older persons and their comprehensive care
1. The Committee of Ministers has carefully
considered Recommendation
2104 (2017) – “Human rights of older persons and their
comprehensive care”. It transmitted it to the Steering Committee
for Human Rights (CDDH), to the European Committee on Social Rights
(ECSR), to the Governmental Committee of the European Social Charter
and the European Code of Social Security and to the European Social
Cohesion Platform (PECS) for information and possible comments.
2. The Committee of Ministers considers that ensuring the protection
of human rights and care of older persons is a major challenge in
Europe today and in the years to come. It welcomes the positive
reaction of the Assembly to its Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)2 on
the promotion of human rights of older persons which it considers
to be a useful tool for member States.
3. In paragraph 4.1 of its recommendation, the Assembly recommends
that the Committee of Ministers thoroughly examine the implementation
of Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)2.
In this respect, the Committee of Ministers would inform the Assembly
that it has invited the CDDH to carry out this specific task in
2018-2019. As suggested, civil society and all other relevant stakeholders
will be closely associated in this process. The Committee of Ministers
has also taken note of the readiness of the ECSR to participate
in this work and of the preliminary comparison already carried out
between the principles guaranteed in the Committee of Ministers’ Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)2 and
those enshrined in Article 23 of the revised European Social Charter (the
right of elderly persons to social protection).
4. As a first step in this work, member States, national human
rights institutions and other stakeholders will be invited to update
the catalogue of good practices accompanying the recommendation
from 2014 and to communicate any positive developments occurred
since 2014. On the basis of the information received, a workshop
or an intergovernmental seminar involving civil society and national
human rights institutions will be organised by the CDDH in June
2018. Within such a framework, discussions could take place, if
appropriate, to explore the relevance of a specific legally binding
instrument in this field as suggested by the Assembly in paragraph
4.2.
5. It is clear, however, that the added value of such a new instrument
should be considered in the light of the existing instruments of
the Council of Europe, namely the European Convention on Human Rights
and the revised European Social Charter. In this respect, the Committee
of Ministers would underline the particular relevance of Article
23 (the right of elderly persons to social protection) of the revised
European Social Charter. It further recalls that the Charter contains
a number of other provisions that protect older persons in areas
not covered by Article 23. It would therefore be necessary to assess
whether or not an effective implementation by member States of these
standards is sufficient to ensure appropriate protection.
6. Moreover, with a view to strengthening the treaty system of
the European Social Charter within the Council of Europe through
the ratification of the revised European Social Charter and the
acceptance of the collective complaints procedure, the Turin Process
was launched by the Secretary General at the High-level Conference
on the European Social Charter held in Turin on 17 and 18 October
2014. Furthermore, the CDDH has also been entrusted in 2018-19 to
conduct a thorough reflection on the protection of social rights
within the Council of Europe and, in this framework, it will also
address, inter alia, the situation of older persons.
7. Finally, in response to paragraph 4.3 of the recommendation,
and in view of the importance it attaches to the protection of human
rights of older persons, the Committee of Ministers would invite
those member States which have not yet done so to consider signing
and ratifying the revised European Social Charter and accepting,
in particular, its Article 23.