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.

 

European Committee of Social Rights: election of members for the term 2025-2030

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, at the 1500th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies on 5 June 2023, adopted the procedure CM/Del/Dec(2024)1500/4.3c for filling the five seats on the European Committee of Social Rights falling vacant on 31 December 2024, with the terms for these...

Read More

High-level conference on European Social Charter adopts political declaration emphasising social justice and human rights

Today, at the High-level conference on the European Social Charter in Vilnius, ministers, deputy ministers and high-level representatives from the Council of Europe member states, adopted a political declaration and reaffirmed their collective duty to promote respect for, and the continuing...

Read More

European Social Charter

Right to Health

Safety at work

Rights of Older Persons

Right to education

Child Poverty

 

Available in ALB | ARM | AZE | BOS | FR | GER | 
HU | IT | POL | RO | RU | SPA | TUR | UKR

Department of Social Rights

Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law
Council of Europe
1, quai Jacoutot
F – 67075 Strasbourg Cedex

Tél. +33 (0)3 90 21 49 61

www.coe.int/socialcharter

@CoESocialRights

 

Contact us