Reply to Recommendation 1290 (1996) on follow-up to the Copenhagen Summit on Social Development

Doc. 7687
10 October 1996

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS

Reply to Recommendation 1290 (1996) on follow-up to the Copenhagen Summit on Social Development

(adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 2 October 1996 at the 574th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies)

The Committee of Ministers noted with interest Recommendation 1290 (1996) on follow-up to the Copenhagen Summit on Social Development. It regards this as an important stage in laying down guidelines for worldwide social development and welcomes the active part which member states played in discussions at the Summit.

The Committee of Ministers has the following comments on the Assembly's proposals:

11.i - the revised European Social Charter was adopted and then opened for signature on 3 May 1996. So far nine member states have signed it: Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Sweden;

11.ii - the Committee of Ministers did not consider it appropriate for the revised Charter to include a provision allowing accession by the European Union;

11.iii - the Committee of Ministers reiterates the importance which it attaches to protection of social rights and is willing to build that concern into the review which it will shortly be conducting of the Council of Europe's role in social policy in Europe;

11.iv - following a detailed proposal from the Steering Committee for Equality between Women and Men, the Steering Committee for Human Rights has been instructed to consider the necessity and feasibility of including in a draft protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights a fundamental right to equality of women and men. The CDDH will be submitting its conclusions to the Committee of Ministers early in 1997;

11.v.a. - member states have implicitly recommitted themselves to a policy of reducing unemployment by adopting the revised Social Charter. However, the Committee of Ministers, like the Assembly, is aware that achieving that goal depends on a range of economic and social policy measures variously entailing discussion, negotiation or political decisions in the member states. The Council of Europe plays its part in reflection on this question, in particular through the conferences of European Ministers of Labour, the subject of whose next session (Bucharest, September 1997) will be "Employment Policies and Social Cohesion";

11.v.b. and c. - the Committee of Ministers reaffirms its commitment to the principles of solidarity and social cohesion, which are implicit in all the instruments which the Council of Europe has adopted in the social field in the course of its existence. States have pledged themselves to achieving those goals, in particular by ratifying legal instruments such as the European Social Charter and the European Code and revised Code of Social Security. Although the revised European Social Charter is not yet in force, it makes a contribution to maintaining a system of universal social protection in that it lays down higher standards of social security than does the Charter. In addition the revised Charter contains two new provisions to combat poverty: Article 30 (the right to protection against poverty and social exclusion) and Article 31 (the right to housing).

The Committee of Ministers notes that the Assembly decided to play a part in the process of verifying that states which have ratified the Social Charter honour their undertakings, through regular debates on social policy which are based on the conclusions of the Committee of Independent Experts.

For its part the Committee of Ministers, by adopting instruments such as Recommendation No. R (86) 5 on making medical care universally available, Recommendation No. R (87) 5 on making old-age and invalidity benefits generally available, Recommendation No. R (92) 2 on making family benefits generally available, Recommendation No. R (92) 4 on the co-ordination of employment, social and educational services for the integration and reintegration into employment of persons with difficulties and Recommendation No. R (96) 5 on reconciling working life with family life, provides governments with economic and social policy guidance which is rooted in rights enshrined in the Social Charter.

In addition, projects conducted under the Intergovernmental Programme of Activities -those concerned with the dignity of the individual and social exclusion and with social security systems and their functioning in a difficult economic context, for instance - provide opportunities to compare national experience, allow exchange of findings and information, and, in short, help governments to improve the effectiveness of social policy and of programmes and agencies for preventing and combating poverty, all with a view to reducing inequality in European societies;

11.v.d. to g. - the Committee of Ministers would draw attention to the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe, whose aim is to raise public awareness of issues of global interdependence and solidarity and which is highly active in doing so.

The Committee of Ministers would lastly inform the Assembly that Recommendation 1290 (1996) has been forwarded to governments of member states.