THE REVISION OF THE EUROPEAN SOCIAL CHARTER

The member States of the Council of Europe have had a regional instrum ent for the protection of economic and social rights since 1961, namel y the European Social Charter. Following various initiatives to revita lize the protection of human rights under the Council of Europe, this instrument has just been revised. The author examines the outcome of t he revision process in the context of the Charter's development over t he three decades since its entry into force. He draws a number of conc lusions concerning both the development of social policies in Europe a nd the difficulties inherent in the revision of a convention of this n ature.