The White Paper on Foreign Policy dealt in some detail with human rights issues which come under the responsibility of my Department, including the European Convention on Human Rights. It recognised that the greatest achievement of the Council of Europe has been its success in human rights standard setting. The role of the Council of Europe in seeking solutions to social problems and standard setting in areas other than human rights is also mentioned. The European Social Charter, which is a very important standard-setting instrument comes within the area of responsibility of the Minister for Enterprise and Employment.
The Government is committed to enhancing the effectiveness of the work of the Council of Europe. In this context, it will consider in the near future the question of signature of the 1991 Protocol amending the European Social Charter. This Protocol is intended to improve the efficiency of the Council's machinery for supervising compliance by state parties with their obligations under the Social Charter. In addition, a detailed study is being carried out on the implications of signing the revised European Social Charter which incorporates the rights guaranteed in the 1988 additional Protocol mentioned by the Deputy. The question of signing the 1995 Protocol providing for a system of collective complaints will also be examined as part of this study.
