Roundtable on “European Social Charter – 60th anniversary and 25 years of Russian membership to the Council of Europe”

29 September 2021, Moscow/online

Dear Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection,

Dear Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Dear Chairman of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights,

Dear General Secretary of ETUC,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of the Council of Europe I am pleased and honoured to open this event that marks not only 25 years of the Russian Federation’s membership of the Organisation, but also the 60^th anniversary of the European Social Charter. Two very important milestones in the history of the Council of Europe.

The European Social Charter was adopted and opened for signature in Turin, Italy, on 18 October 1961, 60 years ago. It was revised in 1996, 25 years ago, the same year that the Russian Federation entered the Council of Europe.

The European Social Charter is one of the pillars of the Council of Europe, rightly regarded by many as a “Social Constitution” for Europe.  Together with the European Convention on Human Rights, it forms a comprehensive legal space for human rights protection in Europe. The Charter is the embodiment of the principle that all human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent.

The Charter was linked at birth with the very mission of the Organisation, which according to Article 1 of our Statute is “to achieve a greater unity between its members for the purpose of safeguarding and realising the ideals and principles which are their common heritage and facilitating their economic and social progress.”

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has regularly affirmed the importance of social rights across the continent, in particular at its Ministerial Session in Helsinki in May 2019, where it acknowledged that social justice is an indicator of a healthy democracy and pointed to increased inequality as a major challenge for Europe. Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored how crucial social rights are in holding together our societies in the face of adversity.

One thing is words, another is deeds. Historically, social rights have often been regarded as “poor” or “not quite” human rights. Indivisibility has been achieved in solemn declarations, but unfortunately not yet on the ground. In particular when it comes to enforcement there is still a great divide between civil and political rights on the one hand and social rights on the other.

Thankfully a political consensus has emerged in recent years that there is a need to improve the implementation of social rights in Europe and to reinforce the European Social Charter and its procedures.

It is to this end, that the Secretary General of the Council of Europe presented last April a series of reform proposals to the Committee of Ministers aiming to strengthen political commitment and support for the Charter, to improve and simplify its procedures while promoting dialogue, communication and visibility and to launch a reflection on possible future substantive and procedural developments. An exchange of views on these proposals was held by the Ministers’ Deputies last week.

In this context, I would like to pay tribute to the ratification by the Russian Federation of the Revised Charter in 2009. The ratification came after many years of excellent preparation and cooperation activities between the Russian authorities and the Council of Europe. The extension of the Charter’s application to the Council of Europe’s largest member State was a momentous development which should not be underestimated.

For more than a decade the Russian Federation has now been subject to the social rights monitoring of the European Committee of Social Rights. In many areas the situation has been found to comply with the Charter’s requirements, while in a few others problems have been identified (other speakers will address this monitoring in more detail later in the day).

This is nothing unusual. In fact this is the same for all the States Parties to the Charter. This is the nature of monitoring, it is precisely why the Council of Europe has set up monitoring mechanisms. The point, of course, is to remedy the problems identified in a constructive dialogue between the national authorities and the monitoring bodies (which will be another theme for this roundtable).

However, ratification of the Revised Charter is not the end of the road for any State Party. The ultimate goal should be that all States Parties accept all the Charter’s provisions[1] as well as the collective complaints procedure so as to ensure effective enforcement of the rights.

I very much hope that the Russian Federation will consider increasing its commitment to the Charter in the coming years. It goes without saying that I look forward to the discussion of these points at the Roundtable today.

Let me conclude by wishing this Roundtable all possible success.

Thank you.