Statement by Mr Claude Frey, Chairman of the Executive Council
of the North-South Centre, before the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe, on 24 January 200524/01 2005
North-South Centre of the Council of Europe
Mr President,
The tragedy of recent events reminds us that we are all on board the same ark. Yes, we all live on the same planet, exposed to a multitude of natural but also social, economic and political hazards. And today these hazards place our world in a permanent state of emergency.
The fate of Europe is clearly closely linked to that of the peoples and countries of other continents. We will never manage to build a better world if we are not aware of that fundamental truth.
Our Europe, which has settled the differences and pulled down the walls that divided it, now has a duty to share what it has accomplished. Fifteen years ago the members of your Assembly, aware of this need, proposed setting up the European Centre for Global Independence and Solidarity, better known as the North-South Centre. Following that proposal, the Committee of Ministers established the Centre in 1989. With the support and hospitality of the Portuguese Government, it was opened in Lisbon, a city at the crossroads between North and South.
To foster public awareness in Europe of the stakes involved in North-South interdependence and to facilitate North-South dialogue on human rights and democracy - that was the twofold mission assigned to the Centre at the time.
In order to accomplish it, three main areas of action beckoned:
1. The Mediterranean. Our destinies are linked by history and geography, but also by all the difficult problems we have to solve together, such as migration and religious extremists, as a result of which the Mediterranean, on Europe’s doorstep, often becomes a zone of instability.
2. Beyond the Mediterranean lies Africa, a continent with which we must renew our historical ties. We could do nothing worse than to leave this vast land, so full of energy and talent, to fend for itself alone and in poverty. We must do more than just maintain or increase our economic aid: Africa also needs us to stand by all those people living there who have made the brave choice to stand up for human rights and democracy. It is a moral duty and an ethical requirement, and in the long term it is in our own interest.
3. There can be no lasting dialogue without education. Education in respect for human rights, tolerance and intercultural dialogue.
With your Assembly, Mr President, we worked to encourage the birth of the Pan-African Parliament and accompany it in its first steps. The same year we launched a new co-operation programme with four central European countries in the field of education for world citizenship. In the Mediterranean region the Centre has continued to support all those places, players and networks which are striving to strengthen democracy in the region.
The North-South Centre can also serve, as it has done in recent years, as a tool for helping to forge peace between the peoples of the Middle East, particularly Israelis and Palestinians.
Our joint programme with the European Union to train and educate young people on both shores in intercultural dialogue has been particularly successful.
For its different programmes the Centre also co-operates actively with the United Nations, the European Union, the OECD, the African Union and other international and regional organisations.
I should also like to stress the importance we attach to our working ties with civil society organisations and with local and regional authorities, particularly through the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.
The Centre’s work is based on the idea that globalisation must be used in the interests of all, fairly and in a spirit of solidarity. This can only be achieved, however, if people in general understand that the complexity of the relations of interdependence between countries and peoples requires constructive approaches to international politics.
Since I took up office in March 2004, we have implemented a number of reforms designed to improve the Centre’s efficacy and ability to fulfil the mission originally assigned to it. Over the past year, we have successfully strengthened our ties with your Assembly.
That is why I particularly welcome the co-operation agreement that was recently signed between the North-South Centre and the Parliamentary Assembly, on 18 January, at a solemn ceremony in the office of the President of the Assembly.
This agreement defines the framework and practical arrangements for our co-operation and encourages Assembly members to help spread the influence of the North-South Centre and to take part in its programme of activities, especially in the field of trans-Mediterranean co-operation and dialogue between Europe and Africa.
Let me take this opportunity to extend my warmest thanks to your former President, Peter Schieder, for the precious support he gave the Centre throughout his term of office.
Mr President,
It is thanks to the support of our twenty member states and the European Union that we have been able to fulfil our task so far. Now we must go a step further and encourage all those Council of Europe member states which have not yet done so to join the North-South Centre. It is in this spirit that the agreement which has just been signed augurs well for the future, as it strengthens the synergies between the Parliamentary Assembly and our Centre.
Allow me to congratulate you on your election. I look forward to continuing to work with you in the same constructive spirit.
Thank you, Mr President, for giving me this opportunity to say here and now that we need all the countries represented here. We need you all, more than ever.