“Particularly undermined” by the pandemic are a number of rights protected by the European Social Charter: the right to workers’ employment and protection, welfare, social and medical care, the right to be protected from poverty and social exclusion, the right to housing and education. Children, especially families and women, old people and disabled people are some of the social groups that have been most damaged by the pandemic. This has been said by the European Committee of Social Rights, which, in a statement published today, urges the member states to mainly consider the “more vulnerable groups and people” in their recovery plans and above all to “make sure the supportive measures they take to fight the crisis, including economic and social measures, involve no direct or indirect discriminations in the enjoyment of social rights”. And there’s more: according to the Committee, “investing in social rights” will be an effective way to “mitigate the negative impact of the crisis and speed up social and economic recovery after the pandemic”. An effective way will be, the statement says, involving “trade unions and civil representatives in the planning, implementation and assessment” of recovery efforts. “Crises, regardless of the causes, should not lead to a reduced protection or enjoyment of the rights acknowledged by the Charter”, stated Karin Lukas, president of the Committee. “Governments instead are bound to take all the measures required to make sure social rights are actually protected at a time in which their citizens are most in need of protection”.