Workshop 4

Social Exclusion and the Copenhagen Agreements

    The concepts of exclusion and inclusion are very broad and they include a huge number of activities mentioned in the Declaration and the Programme of Action. It is important to find priorities and some practical approaches.

• The workshop made an inventory of important aspects and issues. First, some broad aspects:
  
  • access to fundamental human rights;
    
  • access to public policies;
    
  • the concept of citizenship – to enable everyone in society to contribute and to participate.

• Secondly, some important groups and problems to focus on:
  
  • a fear for a qualitative but not quantitative exclusion of vulnerable groups such as unemployed people, large families and single parents;
    
  • hostility towards ethnic minority groups. (including indigenous minority groups, e.g. travellers);
    
  • children and families in socially vulnerable situations. Two problems were mentioned: the lack of secondary preventive strategies and children in long-term residential care;
    
  • youth and adolescents in non-enabling urban environments and problems related to this, such as violence;
    
  • access to basic supplies for families, such as clean drinking water;
    
  • access to proper housing and the question of eviction;
    
  • the role of NGOs and how to promote a constructive partnership between governments and NGOs, and inclusion of NGOs in the design and planning of programs and not just delivering services;
    
  • the balance between public and market-run programs. The importance of maintaining a universal approach to social welfare.

Recommendations

• Focus on the situation for children and families in the review of the Copenhagen Agreements. This would include issues like the support of health, housing, and education.
  
• Explore the role of NGOs with special attention to involvement in the follow-up process but also involvement in national welfare programs.
  
• Review the implementation of the European Social Charter and to encourage its use in non-EU countries.
  
• Review how employment of good quality is promoted.
  
• Encourage universal social welfare approaches.

Priorities for future action

• Encourage the European region of ICSW to coordinate the European review of issues related to exclusion and integration.
  
• Encourage the European region of ICSW to create a format for basic national reports using the conceptual framework used in the Copenhagen documents.