|
Publications
on Social Policy
subjects |
|
The Social Policy Department produces a wide range of publications in
every field of its activities. Here you find a short presentation
for each subject.
To order any of these books please visit the Bookshop online
|
|
|
Social Security
Guide
to the concept of suitable employment in the context of unemployment
benefit (2010)
|
The involuntary nature of unemployment and the unemployed person's
availability for work are basic conditions for the award of unemployment
insurance benefits. This is why the unemployed are obliged to accept
offers of suitable employment and face penalties if they fail to comply
with this requirement.
What criteria must employment meet in order to be considered suitable?
What kind of employment can workers be required to accept on pain of
losing their entitlement to unemployment benefit? Information collected
from 31 Council of Europe member states in reply to these questions is
set out in table form in this guide.
This publication also lays down guidelines to help member states to
formulate or revise their policies concerning cases in which job seekers
may refuse an offer of employment without incurring penalties. These
guidelines are intended to offer practical assistance and reflect
current practices in many European states. They do not claim to be
exhaustive nor to be applicable in every member state, but they have
been deliberately devised in a sufficiently general manner to allow
member states to take account of their legislation and their national,
social and economic context when incorporating them into their policies
and administrative procedures.
>>
Order this book |
Social security - Protection at the international level and developments
in Europe
|
What international and European legal instruments protect the right to
social security? What are the obligations which states have assumed
under these instruments? How is their application monitored? What are
the trends in national legislation in relation to the standards of the
European Code of Social Security and its protocol, the main Council of
Europe instruments in the social security field? Is social security
considered as a human right and how has the case law of the European
Court of Human Rights developed in this area?
These are some of the key issues addressed in this publication, where
the code and its protocol are viewed against the background of other
standard-setting instruments, developments at national level and human
rights.
>>
Order this book |
|
|
|
Social
Security as a human right - the protection afforded by the European
Convention on Human rights (Human
rights files, N° 23)
|
There is no mention in the European Convention on Human Rights of rights
in the field of social security. Nevertheless, the Convention does
protect certain of these rights which come into its area of application
and this study sets out to explain how.
It also examines recent developments in the relevant case-law of the
European Court of Human Rights which, as well as affording procedural
guarantees, has widened and strengthened the material protection of
specific rights.
In addition, examples are given of measures taken in the member states
following judgments of the Court in cases concerning social security.
This sort of judgment is becoming more common, giving the Convention an
ever-expanding social aspect which has an important impact at national
level.
>>
Order this book |
|
|
European Code of Social Security
- Short Guide |
This publication prepared by Jason Nickless is meant to inform about the
contents and meaning of the social security standards of the Council of
Europe, to explain the ideas behind them and to situate them in the
context of the different approaches to social security.
This short guide aims to provide a comprehensive concise and accurate
information on the European Code of Social Security, the Protocol to the
European Code of Social Security and the European Code of Social
Security (Revised), which are the basic standard-setting instruments of
the Council of Europe in the field of social security, as well as to
explain the technical and complex provisions in an understandable manner
and thus to help promoting these important legal instruments especially
in the new member states of the Council of Europe.
Download
>>
Order this book |
|
|
Co-ordination of Social Security in the Council of
Europe: Short guide |
This
short guide aims to provide its readers with a detailed introduction to
the social security co-ordination instruments of the Council of Europe.
It describes the basic philosophies behind social security co-ordination;
why it is needed and how it may be achieved. It deals also with social
security co-ordination in practice by looking at the range of legal
instruments available and briefly introducing some of the agreements
that are currently in force in Europe. The following Council of Europe
provisions on social security co-ordination are reviewed in this guide:
-The European Convention on Social and medical Assistance
-The European Convention on Social Security
-The Model Provisions for a bilateral Social Security Agreement
-The European Social Charter.
>>
Order this book (also available in Albanian, Bulgarian and
Serbian) |
|
|
Model provisions for a bilateral
social security agreement and explanatory report |
The
aim of this book is to assist states (in particular, Central and Eastern
European countries having joined the Council of Europe recently) with
the drawing up of bilateral agreements on social security. The model
provisions incorporate the basic principles of co-ordination: equal
treatment, determination of applicable legislation, retention of
acquired rights and of rights in course of acquisition and provision of
benefits abroad.
The book is divided into four parts - general provisions, applicable
legislation, special provisions concerning the various categories of
benefits and miscellaneous provisions -and followed by an explanatory
report, which aims to make suggested provisions easier to understand.
Download
>> Order this book |
|
|
Social security: a factor of
social cohesion - Proceedings, Limassol, May 2004 |
Social
security is an important tool to reduce poverty and to promote social
and economic development. It is also a necessary complement to
globalisation and structural adjustment policies.
This publication contains the proceedings of the Mediterrannean
Conference "social security: a factor of social cohesion" which took
place in Limassol on 27 and 28 May 2004.
Download
>>
Order this book |
|
|
Social security and related
issues - English French glossary |
This
glossary will be a privileged tool of translators, experts and all those
working in the field of social issues. About 15 000 primary entries and
a total of 28 500 terms contribute to make this glossary a comprehensive
compilation in the field of social security.
>>
Order this book |
|
|
Social protection in the
European Social Charter (Social Charter Monographs No. 7)
|
The
European Social Charter is the only treaty in European law to apply to
all the aspects of social protection which are the core of the European
social model. It guarantees the right to social security, the right to
social assistance and the right to benefit from social services.
This book explains the content of these provisions and the case law of
the European Committee of Social Rights in the light of recent
developments in Europe. The study gives further insight into the scope
of the Charter's protection and the fundamental social rights of
individuals confronted with various risks, such as illness, old age,
poverty, etc.
>>
Order this book |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Access to social rights in Europe |
This
book analyses the obstacles impeding access to different social rights
within and across a range of fields. It also gives examples of how
obstacles are being overcome, examines integrated measures implemented
in the member states of the Council of Europe and identifies the
principles on which measures to improve access to social rights should
be based. Finally, the report develops cross-sectoral policy guidelines
aimed at facilitating access to social rights.
It is divided into four parts - general provisions, applicable
legislation, special provisions concerning the various categories of
benefits and miscellaneous provisions -and followed by an explanatory
report, which aims to make suggested provisions easier to understand.
Download
(also available in
Croatian
-
Czech - Latvian
-
Lithuanian
- Portuguese)
>>
Order this book |
|
|
Access to social rights for
people with disabilities in Europe |
The
report Access to social rights for people with disabilities in Europe
describes general principles and measures designed to give people with
disabilities access to social rights in Europe. However, it also
identifies those obstacles that still impede access for people with
disabilities to social rights and consequently to full participation in
society. It gives numerous concrete examples of good practice, i.e.
action taken by European states to overcome those obstacles. Finally,
the report issues cross-sectoral recommendations for integrated policies
aimed at facilitating access to social rights for people with
disabilities in Europe.
This report is one of the main Council of Europe contributions to the
European Year of Persons with Disabilities 2003.
>>
Order this book |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Parenting in contemporary
Europe: a positive approach |
This publication is an important element of the Council of Europe's
recent work in the field of positive parenting leading up to the
Committee of Ministers' Recommendation Rec(2006)19 on policy to support
positive parenting. The authors review and analyse the major changes
affecting parenting in Europe, arising from legal situations, research
and practice. This work addresses the core issues related to positive
parenting and non-violent upbringing, with particular emphasis on
parents' entitlement to support from the state in carrying out their
parental tasks.
Five themes are focused upon:
1. the legal situation and the results of research: what it means to be
a parent according to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
Child, the Council of Europe and new scientific knowledge;
2. current thinking on the use of violence and corporal punishment
against children;
3. responses to family policy, especially in terms of support programmes
and services for parenting and families;
4. the particular problems and needs of parents and children in
situations of social exclusion; and
5. the relationship between parenting and drug-related behaviour among
children and teenagers.
The book also includes the text of the Recommendation Rec(2006)19, "Keys
for parents" and "Guidelines for professionals".
>>
Order this book |
|
|
Rights of children at risk
and in care |
Children should grow up in their families. When confronted with crises
or difficult situations, families should receive necessary, specifically
adapted assistance from public authorities to help solve their problems.
This is sometimes not possible, however, for example when parents are
unable to bring up their children or when they represent a danger to
them. The child and the parents must consequently be separated, with the
parents' agreement or on the basis of a court ruling.
Placement must always be an exception and a temporary solution - as
short as possible - only foreseeable if all the right conditions are met
and if the principal aim is the best interest of the child, including a
successful and prompt social integration or reintegration. The main
objective should be the development and fulfilment of the child. His/her
views should be taken into account, according to the child's age and
degree of maturity.
Child protection and welfare, based on the rights of the child
-including those of children in institutions - is a priority for the
Council of Europe, as stated in Recommendation Rec(2005)5 of the
Committee of Ministers to member states on the rights of children living
in residential institutions.
The harmful effects of institutions on child development having been
demonstrated, the aims are to prevent the institutionalisation of
children and to reduce the number of children subject to such measures
through the development of alternatives.
This publication, while showing the importance of the issue and the
necessity of dealing with it in a sensible and cautious way, also opens
perspectives for the future.
>>
Order this book |
|
|
Eliminating
corporal punishment: a human rights imperative for Europe's children |
"You
can stop but you cannot take it back." This is how a group of children
recently invited by the Council of Europe to discuss positive and
non-violent parenting expressed themselves about corporal punishment.
Regardless of how badly a parent feels afterwards, some wounds may never
heal.
For the Council of Europe, children are not mini-persons with
mini-rights, mini-feelings and mini-human dignity. They are vulnerable
human beings with full rights and they need protection which always
takes the best interests of the child into account.
Banning all corporal punishment, including within the family, in all its
46 member states is a major concern and commitment for the Council of
Europe. The foundation for this commitment is provided by the human
rights standards set by various legal instruments, including the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child (ratified by all member states),
the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Social Charter
and revised Social Charter.
>>
Order this book |
|
|
Protecting children against
corporal punishment - Awareness-raising campaigns |
Is
smacking a child an acceptable form of punishment? The answer is no.
However, research has shown that the vast majority of children
throughout Europe have experienced some form of corporal punishment.
This publication describes how to raise awareness, primarily through
campaigns to reduce corporal punishment, and goes on to discuss how
child abuse can be prevented.
Case studies of three successful awareness-campaigns in the United
Kingdom, Poland and the United States are presented in detail and are
used as a starting point to describe how best to carry out such
campaigns. The case studies cover aspects such as working effectively
with the media and pooling the work of the police, local authorities,
teachers, parents and professionals.
Three useful model questionnaires aimed at support services, children
and professionals are included at the end of this publication.
While this book will be of particular interest to specialists who work
in the child protection field, it will also be of interest to teachers,
parents and health-care professionals.
>>
Order this book |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|