This Monday, Spain deposited at the Council of Europe headquarters in Strasbourg the ratification instrument of the Revised European Social Charter, a regulation that extends the rights to be guaranteed in the working environment.
Spain signed this revised Charter in 2000, but the need to adapt some aspects of Spanish legislation led ratification to be postponed.
This ratification will allow the development of new measures to improve the implementation of social rights guaranteed by the Charter, such as the right to dignity at work by promoting the prevention of harassment and violence in the workplace.
The right of workers to protection in the event of dismissal and the right of workers' representatives to effective protection by the company are reaffirmed.
It also includes the right to equal opportunities for workers.
Moreover, it strengthens the participation of trade union, employers' and social organisations, and completes the system of protection of social rights such as protection against poverty. In this sense, it promotes effective access to employment, housing, training, culture and health care. The ratification process of this Charter has been led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation and the Third Vice-Presidency and Ministry of Work and Social Economy.
With the ratification of the Revised European Social Charter, Spain will be able to fully adopt the Social Charter system, with three Additional Protocols. In this way, Spain shows the international community and its citizens "that social rights and people's welfare are areas won for a better democracy in which it is no longer possible to go backwards".
Spain also continues to develop the conventional framework of the Council of Europe, in accordance with its commitment to this benchmark organisation in the field of human rights on our continent.
Non official translation
