Human rights law. Ahmed T. Ghandour.

Human rights in Europe II. Other instruments and procedures.

3. The system of international control.

Acceding to part IV of the Charter which found a system of control and supervision. Art. 25 set committee of Experts in ( Social Conditions ), elected for 6 years and any member has chance to be re-elected. Art. 26 mentioned that ILO nominate a member to assist the committee in its duty. This committee has the function of receiving and examining the reports which have been mentioned in Arts. 21 and 22 of the Charter, the first for the application of provisions of part 2, and the second for the Committee of Ministers to determine the type of requested reports.

The Committee of Expert should inform the trade unions, employers organisations and the Council of Europe and its social committee. Normally the reports of the committee are more critical to the governments than the governmental social committee,

After receiving the Conclusions of the European Committee of Social Rights ( governmental ), the Committee of Ministers adopts a Resolution by a majority of two-thirds of those voting. The resolution closes each supervision cycle and may contain individual recommendations to the States parties concerned. (according to Art. 29). When the European Committee of Social Rights concludes that a situation is not in conformity, the State Party concerned has to bring the situation into conformity. If the State takes no action, the Committee of Ministers may address a Recommendation to that State, asking it to change the situation in law and/or in practice. In view of the importance of this decision, a two-thirds majority of those voting is required here.

In the case of both resolutions and recommendations, only States parties to the Charter may take part in the vote. In the framework of the Reporting system, the Committee of Ministers’ work is prepared by the Governmental Committee of the European Social Charter and European Code of Social Security, comprising representatives of the governments of the States Parties to the Charter.

4. The future of the charter.

The European Social Charter is a Council of Europe treaty that guarantees fundamental social and economic rights as a counterpart to the European Convention on Human Rights, which refers to civil and political rights. It guarantees a broad range of everyday human rights related to employment, housing, health, education, social protection and welfare. The Charter lays specific emphasis on the protection of vulnerable persons such as elderly people, children, people with disabilities and migrants. It requires that enjoyment of the abovementioned rights be guaranteed without discrimination. No other legal instrument at pan-European level can provide such an extensive and complete protection of social rights as that provided by the Charter, which also serves as a point of reference in European Union law; most of the social rights in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights are based on the relevant articles of the Charter. The Charter is therefore seen as the Social Constitution of Europe and represents an essential component of the continent’s human rights architecture.

We must know : Till the year 1998, unfortunately, nearly half of the member states have not yet ratified the basic document of 1961. it is time to intensify efforts towards common European social standards by launching a campaign for ratifications. In the medium term, the reflection should aim at transforming the Committee of independent experts into a European Court of Social Rights, by modifying its composition and statute. The recently introduced practice of monitoring the commitments undertaken by member States, should also comprise social rights. Finally, the Council of Europe's intergovernmental Work Programme would have an increased impact if there was an interface with the findings of the supervisory bodies of the Social Charter.

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