ZAÅ TITA PRAVA U BOSNI I HERCEGOVINI - Solidar

Socio – economic rights study in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Socio – economic rights study in
Bosnia and Herzegovina
It is important to emphasize that the European Social Charter in the Article 12 on the
right to social protection, item 2, makes it obligatory for the undertaking countries to
maintain a system of social protection at a satisfactory level, guaranteeing the minimum
defi ned by the European Code on Social Security. This document of the Council of
Europe was signed in 1964 in Strasbourg and is an instrument of the Council of
Europe intended for harmonization of social security legislation. European Code on
Social Security was done with the technical support of the International Labor Office.
It was drafted according to the model of Convention 102 on minimum social security
standards, which, at the time, was the only conventional instrument of harmonization of
legislation pertaining to the entire social security.
Although they are trying to get protected, social rights are not fundamental human rights
so the mechanisms of protection are weaker, less defi ned, especially in the sense there
is no fi rm court mechanism such as the European Court of Human Rights. Despite this
fact, the widening of the list of these rights in the 1990s was followed by an attempt to
more clearly defi ne the control mechanism. Originally is rests on three pillars:
- The states alone send reports on the respect of these rights which is then evaluated
by the Board of independent experts. The board then brings its positive and negative
conclusions on the respect of certain articles of the Charter.
- The states’ reports and conclusions of the Board of independent experts are then sent
to the Board of governments, which is consisted of representatives of certain states and
observers (international organization of trade unions and employers). This Board then
creates its report for the Board of ministers.
- The Board of Ministers then brings a fi nal general resolution on the respect of the
Charter along with a set of individual recommendations to the contracting parties.
The Additional Protocol on the System of Collective Complaints has reduced the relative
importance of the governmental reports since social partners are encouraged to fi le
complaints directly to the Board of independent expert on their own. There are three
groups of organizations fi ling complaints:
1. international organizations of employers and employees which have advisory
status at the Council of Europe;
2. international non-governmental organizations which have advisory status at the
Council of Europe and are on the special list of the Board of governments;
3. Representative national organizations of employers and employees.
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