Drawing inspiration from the Council of Europe strategy for social cohesion, this publication focuses on new forms of economic solidarity and ethical responsibility which are developing in European societies, in relation to issues of ethical consumerism and investment, fair trade, environmental protection and conservation. Some of the papers included were produced for a Council of Europe seminar held in Namur, Belgium in December 2003.

This, the second volume on labour flexibility, deals with how it can be reconciled with social cohesion. Following the Council of Europe's Forum 2005: Reconciling labour flexibility with social cohesion, it aims to present ideas useful for political action for integration with the European social model. It is divided into three parts. The first looks at the framework of reconciliation and describes the complexity of uncertainty and changes in the structure of labour markets. The second part is entitled the space for reconciliation and covers mobility, social protection, the quality of transitions and the quality of family life. The final part covers the methodology of reconciliation, including the model proposed by the Council of Europe.

This volume on labour flexibility invites readers to question the effects of labour market institutional and organisational reforms on social cohesion. The Council of Europe suggests reconciling social cohesion with the inevitable changes wrought by globalisation, namely the reorganisation of the parameters governing competition. This reconciliation should take into account the essential political value of democratic security, to be found firstly in employment; the high social and societal cost of precariousness attests to this. However, security should not imply rigidity. It should rather translate into societal recognition of a "right to transition" which calls for co-responsibility on the part of all social actors and stakeholders. Reconciliation is more than a political duty, it is a prerequisite for the stability necessary for social sustainability. It should therefore raise awareness of the need to find new ways of fairly sharing the costs and benefits such transitions create. -- Council of Europe.

This volume of the Yearbook of the European Convention on Human Rights, prepared by the Directorate of Human Rights of the Council of Europe, relates to 2004. Part one contains information on the Convention. Part two deals with the control mechanism of the European Convention on Human Rights: selected judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and human rights (DH) resolutions of the Committee of Ministers; part three groups together the other work of the Council of Europe in the field of human rights, and includes the work of the Committee of Ministers, the Parliamentary Assembly and the Directorate General of Human Rights; part four is devoted to information on national legislation and extracts from national judicial decisions concerning rights protected by the Convention. Appendix A contains a bibliography on the Convention, and Appendix B the biographies of the new judges elected to the European Court of Human Rights.

This book contains the papers discussed at the 2004 Forum on Socially Responsible Consumption and Finance Systems, Public Authorities and Citizens Commitment for Social Cohesion and supplements volume 12 in the series. Published by the Social Cohesion Development Division with the support of the Integrated Project "Responses to violence in everyday life in a democratic society"

Alors que le précédent volume de la collection était plus spécifiquement centré sur les nouveaux rôles de l'Etat dans le contexte de la mondialisation, cet ouvrage examine quelques unes des nombreuses initiatives qui s'inscrivent dans le mouvement citoyen que la société civile développe afin de donner aux décisions économiques un caractère éthique.

Far from considering the integration problems faced by migrants to be the result of alleged «cultural incompatibility, the articles and conversations in this volume reflect on the combined effects of exclusion stemming from social policy and policy on immigration, employment and nationality. Furthermore, as «intercultural competencies developed in certain hospitals and schools have clearly shown, there are other, much more effective strategies for treating differences in a favourable light which make social rights more accessible to all. These alternative approaches can effectively help to foster social cohesion only if migrants themselves are committed to them, in particular as recognised political players in the European public arena.