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Reply to Recommendation | Doc. 13819 | 20 June 2015
Terrorist attacks in Paris: together for a democratic response
1. The Committee of Ministers entirely shares
the views expressed by the Parliamentary Assembly in its Recommendation
2061 (2015). On 21 January 2015, only two weeks after the terrorist
attacks in Paris referred to in the Assembly’s recommendation, it
took a first series of decisions intended to enhance Council of
Europe action against radicalisation leading to terrorism. These
decisions resulted in the adoption, at the 125th Session of the
Committee of Ministers in Brussels on 19 May 2015, of an Additional
Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of
Terrorism. The Committee of Ministers takes this opportunity to
thank the Parliamentary Assembly for the opinion on the draft Protocol
which it prepared, within a very short timeframe, at its last part-session
in April.
2. On 19 May, the Committee of Ministers also adopted a Declaration
and an Action Plan on the fight against violent extremism and radicalisation
leading to terrorism, which was one of the main items on the agenda
of the Ministerial Session. Like the Parliamentary Assembly in its
Recommendation 2061 (2015), the Committee of Ministers stated in
its Declaration that the terrorist attacks perpetrated in recent
months in Europe and elsewhere in the world were unacceptable infringements
of the principles of tolerance, freedom of expression and media
freedom which underpinned our democratic societies. It strongly
condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, committed
by whomever, wherever and for whatever purposes, and expressed full
solidarity with the individuals and communities whose lives had
been blighted by these attacks. It expressed its determination to
react firmly and for human rights to remain the unquestionable basis
for its actions.
3. The aim of the Action Plan adopted to complement the Declaration,
which will run until 2017, is to take a series of practical steps
to reinforce the legal framework against terrorism and violent extremism
and to prevent and fight radicalisation through concrete measures
in the public sector, in particular in schools and prisons, and
on the Internet.
4. On the subject of the specific requests to it made by the
Assembly in its Recommendation 2061 (2015), the Committee of Ministers
notes firstly that several of the recommendations made in Resolution
2031 (2015), which it will draw to the attention of member States’
governments, are consistent with the recommendations and measures
outlined in the Declaration and Action Plan cited above. As to the
question of means and resources, subject to future discussions in
the Committee of Ministers on the Council of Europe Programme and
Budget 2016-2017, funding for the Action Plan will be provided from
the Council of Europe’s Ordinary Budget, as well as from voluntary
contributions from member States, international organisations and
partner institutions.