The European Social Charter (ESC), the most important European international treaty for social human rights, celebrates its 61st birthday on Tue., 18 October 2022. As Austria is a straggler in ratifying the Charter compared to other EU countries, experts are calling for more commitment to guaranteeing social rights.

Our colleagues Karin Lukas and Vincent Perle from the programme line “Social Justice for Disadvantaged Persons” have written a guest commentary about the social constitution of Europe, which was published in the Standard on Tue., 18 October 2022, under the title “Social Rights: Austria needs to catch up”.

In their commentary they describe, among other things, the situation of social rights in Austria: Austria has ratified only 76 of the 98 provisions of the Revised European Social Charter and is the last country in the EU that has not enshrined social rights in its constitution. The right of elderly persons to social protection, the right to protection from poverty and exclusion as well as the right to housing, for example, are not guaranteed in a binding way under international law.

Therefore, our colleagues, as well as the Ombudsman Board and numerous NGOs, demand that social rights should no longer be neglected, but should be given the same status as civil and political rights. The ESC is a comprehensive guarantee of social rights and a basic condition for a strong and inclusive welfare state.