ENNHRI ESCR Working Group met in Strasbourg and elected New Chair and co-Chair

ENNHRI members working on economic, social and cultural rights met in Strasbourg on 27th November to discuss main ENNHRI activities in the field of economic and social rights (ESR) for 2019. ESR will be ENNHRI’s special focus next year and Working Group members agreed to contribute substantially to the planned activities next year which will also include poverty measurement.

Participating NHRI representatives shared information and practices on their ESR activities at the national level and discussed ways to further cooperate among themselves. They identified common work on ESR and drafted a concrete workplan for the ESR WG on 2019, which includes enhanced engagement with international and regional mechanisms (e.g. UN Committee on ESCR, the European Social Charter and the European Pillar of Social Rights). There was a particular focus on certain thematic priorities, including: communicating ESR, poverty, the right to housing and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Congratulations to Anete Ilves from Latvian NHRI for being elected as a new Working Group Chair and to Kavita Chatty from the Scottish NHRI for being elected as a co-Chair.

CoE-FRA-ENNHRI-EQUINET Collaborative Platform on social and economic rights

On 28th November, at the 7th meeting of the collaborative Platform on ESR in Strasbourg, ENNHRI members and partners from the Council of Europe, Equinet (the European Network of Equality Bodies), the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights and NGOs discussed synergies between the European Social Charter and the European Pillar of Social Rights with a view for how these frameworks can support work of NHRIs and equality bodies. The Council of Europe commissioned a study on the synergies between two instruments which will be available online soon.

Photo: CoE-FRA-ENNHRI-EQUINET Collaborative Platform on social and economic rights / 28 November / Strasbourg, France