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Reply to Recommendation | Doc. 14120 | 13 July 2016
Introduction of sanctions against parliamentarians
1. The Committee of
Ministers has carefully studied Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 2083 (2016)
– “Introduction of sanctions against parliamentarians” and has communicated
it to the member States’ governments as well as to the Committee
of Legal Advisers on Public International Law (CAHDI), for information
and comments and to the Venice Commission for information.
2. The Committee of Ministers notes that the legal situation
of members of the Assembly travelling in an official capacity to
and in Council of Europe member States is governed by Article 40
of the Statute of the Council of Europe, as further elaborated in
the General Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the Council of
Europe (GAPI) and its Protocol. The rights of Assembly members when
seeking to attend an official meeting in a member State, in particular
in relation to the freedom of movement, are defined in Article 13
of the GAPI. The immunities enjoyed by them are defined in particular
in Articles 14 and 15 of the GAPI. Moreover, Article 3 of its Protocol
extends the immunities defined in Article 15 of the GAPI to Assembly
representatives and their substitutes attending or travelling to
or from meetings of the Assembly’s committees or sub-committees.
3. The Committee of Ministers recalls that it has on several
occasions invited the governments of member States to adopt specific
measures in order to fully implement the above-mentioned privileges
and immunities. For instance, in its reply to Parliamentary Assembly
Recommendation 1373 (1998) on “Freedom of movement and the issue
of visas to members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe”, it invited the governments of member States to consider
taking a series of measures, in conformity with their national legislation,
to ensure that members of the Parliamentary Assembly on official
journeys benefit from full entry facilities on the territory of
member States. The Committee reiterates its invitation to member
States to honour their commitments.
4. Furthermore, the Committee of Ministers observes that in its
supplementary reply to Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1602
(2003) on “Immunities of members of the Parliamentary Assembly”,
it informed the Parliamentary Assembly that it had instructed the
Secretary General to invite member States, where national legislation
permits, to acknowledge unilaterally as an official document the
laissez-passer issued by the competent Council of Europe authorities
to the members of the Parliamentary Assembly. In this respect, the
Committee of Ministers notes that in 2016, the Council of Europe
Protocol will be issuing a Council of Europe laissez-passer to members
of Council of Europe institutions (Parliamentary Assembly and Congress of
Local and Regional Authorities); to judges of the European Court
of Human Rights and the Administrative Tribunal; to members of monitoring
bodies, including the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT)
and the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR); and to staff
members of the Council of Europe. The Committee notes that this
document will replace the so-called “blue passport” issued by Council
of Europe Protocol since the 1970s which will be discontinued.
5. The Committee of Ministers further invites member States to
consider granting immunities and privileges as suggested by the
Parliamentary Assembly in paragraphs 4.2.1 and 4.2.2 of its recommendation.
6. Concerning the reference made in paragraph 4.3 of the recommendation
to the “current work by the United Nations International Law Commission”
(ILC), the Committee of Ministers notes that the ILC is currently examining
the subject of “Immunity of State officials from foreign criminal
jurisdiction” and that it has excluded “persons connected with (…)
international organizations” from the scope of the “draft articles”
(see draft Article 1.2). Furthermore, the ILC is only dealing with
immunity from foreign criminal jurisdiction.
7. On the subject of further standard-setting work at the Council
of Europe, the Committee of Ministers notes that many political
and legal issues are raised by the privileges and immunities of
parliamentarians and their corresponding rights and obligations,
which are governed by the applicable Council of Europe treaties.
It is of the opinion that an efficient implementation of these rules
would solve most of the issues highlighted by the Parliamentary
Assembly. Consequently, at present, the Committee of Ministers will
not launch any further standard-setting work in this field, but
insists on the already existing obligations of member States.