AA13CR20ADD1

AS (2013) CR 20
Addendum 1

2013 ORDINARY SESSION

________________________

(Third part)

REPORT

Twentieth Sitting

24 June 2013 at 3 p.m.

ADDENDUM 1

Free debate

      The following texts were submitted for inclusion in the official report by members who were present in the Chamber but were prevented by lack of time from delivering them.

Mr MOTA AMARAL (Portugal) – On several previous occasions, I have called the attention of our Assembly to the tremendous problem of unemployment, which is expanding across Europe, threatening the social and political stability of European States. In some member countries of the Council of Europe, employment figures are at record levels. In my country, Portugal, more than 17% of our labour force is jobless. In other countries, the situation is even worse.

The young generation is the main victim of unemployment. The frustration that derives from not finding a job and so acceding to the possibility of starting a family and building one’s own life represents a serious burden to the individuals and to our countries as a whole. For that reason, I feel entitled to congratulate the European institutions on their recent initiatives to promote the creation of jobs for young citizens.

Even though the specific measures contained in the announced programme seem to be a little bit déjà vu, the important fact is the awakening of the European Union to the problem and the need to find solutions. And that deserves to be commended in itself.

It is my strong opinion that the crisis of credibility the European Union is suffering in public opinion and among its citizens, with the consequence of lowering, at least in the polls, public support for the process of European integration, has its origin in the failure of the Union to provide adequate solutions to the disappearance of old jobs and the lack of new jobs. I hope this new commitment of the European Union will give hope to those in need. Our Assembly, concerned as it is with human rights, should welcome any move to grant men and women, especially the young generation, their right to work.

May I take this opportunity to express my deep concern at the deterioration of the situation in Georgia, where high opposition officials have been put in jail in pre-trial detention only months before a very important general election?

      Mr SABELLA (Palestine) – President Hollande, in his visit to Jordan, promised France’s support for Jordan as it copes with the influx of thousands of Syrian refugees. This is laudable and we wish that this action by France would be followed by other countries. Among the thousands of refugees, Palestinian refugees from Syria number over 60,000 at present and that is expected to go up to 80,000 by the end of the year. UNRWA cannot cope with these numbers as its budget is limited by declining contributions. The Palestinian National Authority does the little it can, given its own financial woes and conditions. I wish that the support shown by France could also be extended to UNRWA and the Palestinians.

Our hope remains that Syria will eventually make peace with itself and that our people in Palestine will achieve an independent State where we can exercise our right to self-determination that will benefit all of us, including the Palestinian refugees in Syria.

Mr TOSHEV (Bulgaria) – In my modest opinion, the last significant achievement of western civilisation was the fall of the communist regimes, the enlargement of Europe after 1989 and its transformation into a values-based community without divisions. Consequently, the enlargement of the Council of Europe and the zone of freedom, democracy and respect for human rights was the last great achievement of European civilisation. Before this process, Europe was still divided along lines left over from old hatreds, fuelling conflicts, clashes and mistrust.

It is often given as an example that European integration ended the historic conflict between France and Germany, which had lasted about 400 years. What should we say on the Balkans, where, for example, the conflicts between the Bulgarians and the Greeks had lasted for more than 1 300 years since the 7th century AD?

That particular conflict was ended by two remarkable politicians of the region who believed sincerely in European ideals, Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Philip Dimitrov, and Prime Minister of Greece, Konstantinos Mitsotakis. They signed a treaty of friendship in 1992 that ended the historic conflict and tensions between our two nations. This was a significant act which was and is unappreciated until today due to stormy events going on in Europe at the time of signing. This was the spirit of reconciliation. This spirit is the spirit of Europe.

May I mention herewith the rescue of Bulgarian Jews during the Holocaust when the bishops of the Orthodox Church stood up to defend people who were ethnically and religiously different from them? What a good example for the concept of living together, which we debated in 2011. In order to make this fact widely known, I nominated the Bulgarian Orthodox Church for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2013. The slogan of the Bulgarian Church “Freedom in Order – Unity in Diversity” sounds very contemporary even today. Bulgaria was the first to recognise the independence of the Republic of Macedonia under its constitutional name on 15 January 1992. Bulgarian diplomats and parliamentarians fought actively for its recognition by other States.

That was the Government of Philip Dimitrov. Then we said with the words of the Gospel, “Let us be merry and be glad that this thy brother was dead but he is alive again, was lost and was found!” When the Greek embargo was imposed on the Republic of Macedonia in 1994, we provided them with the opportunity to use our infrastructure and to overcome their economic troubles. Similar was the situation during the crisis in Kosovo in 2000 and the crisis in Macedonia in 2001. It is a public “secret” that a significant part of the people living in this State are our relatives at a family level.

It is not very European behaviour to be divided by common history, common origin, culture and traditions as well as by the language which we, on both sides of the border, could speak fluently without learning it. These objectives could be accepted as advantages for further development of our relations in United Europe rather than dividing lines. Therefore, I conclude, that in order to overcome our problems in Europe, we should first look again to the importance of European values. When European values speak louder than the other arguments, the other problems could be easily solved.

Mr HUSEYNOV (Azerbaijan) – As usual, celebrations and jubilees mark the occasion of joyous events. Nevertheless, history does not comprise solely joyous events and, regardless of our wishes, the calendar brings the celebration of sorrowful events as well.

Exactly 25 years ago, the final deportation from Armenia in the 20th century of the people who had been residing in those territories, thus giving the geography names in their mother tongue, was started. The calm life of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis was taken from its orbit. The ongoing tragedy of them and their little children destined to be born several years later as refugees unaware of the cruelties of the world, commenced.

I am still powerless to get free from the impressions of the words of one of the first refugees, spoken while weeping before the sudden camera of the journalist. This refugee had fled from the mountains and arrived barefoot and bare-headed in Baku from one of the historic Azerbaijani villages in Armenia having left behind his house, the graves of his close relatives and his memories. That person had barely escaped from death and all property belonging to him and his fellow refugees had been abandoned in the totally devastated villages. However, it was not his lost property that made that refugee suffer. He felt very sad that he had forgotten to release from his chain his loyal dog when he was escaping. Yes, when such social and political earthquakes happen, not only humans but also nature as well as all other creatures have to live through suffering.

Twenty-five years have passed and what is the result? What did these deportations and the occupation give to Armenia and its people? Did it make them happy? Absolutely not. If that deportation and occupation turned nearly 1 million Azerbaijanis into refugees and IDPs, then it also caused the migration of Armenian people from their country with an increasingly regressing economy and social and moral conditions, thus making its living conditions intolerable. This migration is still continuing. The number of citizens who abandoned Armenia within this period reaches 2 million and this is 20 times as much as the world average.

Twenty-five years ago, the USSR, which was called the evil empire, still existed. That superpower started to collapse due to the various ethnic conflicts, territorial claims among different republics and gradual liquidation of the frames defined by the official ideology which was generated by human self-expression. So many countries that had been tolerating semi-independence for 70 years as a result of these processes, gained independence and the union called the socialist bloc disappeared.

A quarter of the century has passed since the break-up. The political panorama of the world has completely changed and now the majority of the countries that gained independence in the course of those developments are members of the Council of Europe and thus constitute one family. It is true that Belarus is still unaccepted in the Council of Europe and has broken off our common space in Europe. There is also Kazakhstan, which also broke off from that common space and does not belong to Europe but displays interest in it. There are also Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan and others with similar problems and we carry responsibility with respect to their destinies as well, because those countries are related through many links with post-Soviet countries that have been already for many years members of the Council of Europe.

We need a report to comparatively investigate the path covered within the last two decades by those countries. Such an analytical report on one hand enables us to see the problems and prospects, and on the other hand enables us to find keys for the solution of certain complicated issues due to observing in the panorama the common problems of those countries.

Mr KHADER (Palestine) – The sudden flare-up of violence in the Gaza Strip yesterday could and should be condemned and strict respect by the parties of the cease fire arrangements, agreed upon through the mediation of Egypt last October, is a rightful and legitimate demand. But the fact remains that this resumption of violence is a signal pointing out the dangers inherent in the continuation of the long-standing impasse in the Middle East peace process.

This impasse is mainly the result of the policies and actions of the Israeli Government which prioritises building settlements rather than making peace. In fact, senior ministers and leaders of the coalition parties make no secret of their rejection of the two-State solution and their avowed intention to obstruct any peace effort based on this principle.

Due to this Israeli intransigence, the mission of the United States Secretary of State John Kerry has almost been rendered sterile. All confidence building measures suggested by the American envoy were refused by the Israeli Government which makes a point of insisting on so called “negotiations without preconditions”, a term used to evade abiding by its international commitments.

The recognition by the United Nations General Assembly of Palestine as a non-member observer State indicates the new line of action that the international community needs to pursue to the end. Tangible measures must be taken in order to ensure respect for the obligations stipulated in international resolutions including the Quartet road map endorsed by SCR 1515.

The General Assembly’s resolution of 29 November 2012 provides the legal basis for the activation of instruments of international law to ensure that the party that disregards these commitments, which in this case is Israel, should be held accountable for its violations which amount to war crimes. Collective action by the international community in this direction has become the only way out of the ongoing stalemate.

Parliamentarians, who uphold the values of justice and the rule of law, are called upon to step up pressure on their governments to initiate and enhance such action. This applies, particularly, to the nations of Europe who could take the lead in guiding the rest of the world in this direction.

Mr V. HOVHANNISYAN (Armenia) – The world economy is facing hard times, new challenges and new difficulties. As a rule, the ordinary people are those who suffer most. Along with the very real problems of the world economy, some governments create additional, artificial difficulties for their own countries and their neighbours. A great number of important roads and railways remain closed in the South Caucasus region and some inter-State borders also remain closed. The newly constructed, modern Stepanakert airport is not functioning either. This is a well-known reality for all of us in this chamber. What can the European Community and European structures do to improve the situation ?

The so-called Abkhazian railway that links Russia, Georgia and Armenia, remains closed for no logical reason. The new Georgian authorities seem to show a quite constructive approach and have already declared their readiness to work in this direction. Days ago, the Russian President officially stated Russia’s willingness to re-establish broad co-operation with Georgia. It seems that after these important moves in Russian-Georgian relations, the problem of rail communication can be settled really quickly. The task of the European structures is keeping this important point active on the political agenda. Millions of people living in Armenia, Georgia, Abkhazia and Russia will benefit from the reopening of this railroad.

The next issue is also in the transportation sector. The new airport in Stepanakert is ready to be operated. It is to be used exclusively for civil flights and will be an important tool for easing the everyday burden of the local civilians. There is no logical reason for not starting the operation of the airport. Still, there is the threat from the neighbour country to target civil aircraft. Europe and European structures must make their choice between the rights of civilians and military blackmail.

Let me also remind you that only a couple of days ago the Presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Countries stated again that the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan should prepare their people for peace, not war. I do not believe that closed communications make a good ground for peace in the region. What I know for sure is that we must show a tougher attitude towards any closed borders and any steps that endanger the welfare and the safety of people.

Mr ZOURABIAN (Armenia) – In May, Armenia assumed the chairmanship of the Council of Europe for six months and declared promotion of democracy, human rights and rule of law its key priorities. The declaration however, is in contrast with the Armenian authorities’ own record in this field, which is marked by numerous and systematic violations of democratic norms and human rights.

Armenian elections are systematically falsified: inflated voter lists and official numbers for participation harshly contradict the demographic indicators of the country and the elections result in state-organised bribery of voters and illegal multiple voting. Trust in State institutions and elections has been undermined. Having been left with no other choice, the Armenian people rose en masse against the falsified elections and took to the streets of the capital of Armenia, Yerevan, for weeks of protests after all the last three presidential elections in 2003, 2008 and 2013.

In 2008, the government’s security forces violently attacked peaceful protesters and used lethal force to quell demonstrations. Ten people were killed, hundreds wounded and dozens of political leaders and activists were held for years in jail. Numerous Assembly resolutions and statements by the Secretary General of the Assembly demanded that we properly investigate the killings, find and hold responsible those who killed protesters and perpetrated the crime, and reveal the chain of command for the illegal order to use lethal force against protesters. However, the Armenian authorities have ignored all the calls of the international community to conduct a transparent, objective and efficient investigation. Today, five years later, nobody has been charged with the killings, and the crime remains unpunished.

Instead, the prosecutors’ office and other law enforcement bodies have not conducted investigative actions required by the law, and have falsified evidence, and engaged in other systematic activities to cover the crime. The opposition continued its efforts to make the State authorities properly investigate the killings and punish officials in the investigative bodies responsible for the severe violations of the criminal proceedings law while investigating the 1 March crime.

During the Autumn 2012 plenary session of the Armenian Parliament, the Armenian National Congress reached an agreement with the ruling Republican majority on the creation of an ad hoc commission to investigate whether the prosecutor’s office and law enforcement bodies have properly investigated the killings. The agreement has been endorsed through a public statement by the Speaker of the National Assembly, who gave proper assurances during a plenary session by the Armenian Parliament. The proposed legislation was unanimously adopted by the Legal Standing Committee of the parliament in March this year. In May, the ruling majority reversed its decision and unilaterally broke its agreement during the spring 2013 session by voting down the draft.

Such actions of the Armenian authorities show that they continue to ignore the calls of the Armenian public and the international community to investigate the 1 March killings and to hold responsible those who committed and perpetrated the crime. No reconciliation is possible in Armenian society until the 1 March murderers are punished. It is once again time for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to put under scrutiny whether the Armenian authorities comply with the decisions reflected in numerous resolutions of the Parliamentary Assembly.