ADDRESS BY MR MEVLÜT ÇAVUŞOĞLU, PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE,

FOR THE PARLIAMENTARY MEETING ON THE OCCASION OF THE

THIRD GLOBAL FORUM OF THE ALLIANCE

OF CIVILISATIONS, IN RIO DE JANEIRO

(Rio de Janeiro, 27 May 2010)

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am honoured to greet you on behalf of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. This is the biggest forum for dialogue and deliberation amongst parliamentarians of the European continent. It brings together representatives of the national parliaments of 47 member states of the Council of Europe, with only one exception - Belarus.

We are a parliamentary assembly which not only covers a broad spectrum of political ideologies. Our assembly also hosts an immense variety and diversity of languages, cultures, traditions and religions represented on the European continent.

This diversity is, of course, a source of mutual enrichment. But in the past, it has led to wars and today it is often a source of tension and conflict.

What has then made it possible for so many countries to get together into what we call our common European home?

At the heart of the European integration lies a corpus of common values and principles. They recognise the dignity of every human being, over and above the entitlements enjoyed by individuals as citizens of a particular state and regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender or religion. We are convinced that democracy, human rights and the rule of law are the keys to overcoming political, cultural and religious divides.

In addition to the European Convention on Human Rights which enshrines all these principles, the Council of Europe has developed a wealth of legal instruments, standards, monitoring mechanisms, good practices and means of international cooperation.

Parliaments play a vital role in incorporating these high international standards into the national legislation.

Over the last years, intercultural dialogue has gradually become one of the main challenges to our increasingly diverse societies. Intercultural dialogue is therefore a key challenge to national legislators and to international assemblies that we represent here today.

In this connection, the Bali resolution adopted by the IPU in May 2007 on “ensuring respect for and peaceful co-existence between all religious communities and beliefs in a globalised world” asserts universal principles and provides valuable ideas for action.

I would hence outline how we see these principles and action from the point of view of the Parliamentary Assembly that I have the honour to chair.

First of all, parliaments are the emanation not only of the political, but also of the ethnic, cultural and religious diversity in a society. Their first duty therefore is to ensure that electoral laws permit this diversity at the level of society to be reflected at the level of the elected bodies - local, regional and national.

Second: parliaments, as a reflection of the society, should be the driving force behind the elaboration of national action plans for intercultural and interreligious dialogue. They should contribute to such plans not only through ideas and political impetus, but also through parliamentary control of the executive which has to implement them.

Third: in addition to specific action plans for intercultural and interreligious dialogue, parliaments should also strive to take into account the intercultural and inter-religious dimension in their overall legislative work. In our modern, multicultural societies, it is impossible to design viable national strategies - for instance in the field of social rights and social protection, urban planning, education, employment and every other aspect of everyday life - without making sure that all the citizens and all the communities will be given equal opportunities and that these strategies will not lead to segregation and discrimination.

Fourth - parliaments should be particularly vigilant with regard to law-making in specific fields where cultural and religious miscomprehensions, stereotypes and lack of dialogue can most quickly lead to flagrant distortions and violations of human rights, and therefore to tension and conflict. Here I have in mind everything to do with social cohesion, freedom of expression, rights of minorities, integration of immigrants, or the reconciliation of human rights and the fight against terrorism.

Fifth: as an emanation of society, parliaments need to work with the civil society - seeking to involve them in policy design and not only in policy implementation - and encourage participation. This is particularly important with regard to young people.

Finally, parliaments still have a lot of work on the plate to ratify important international legally binding instruments that can contribute to better understanding between cultures and religions.

I would also like to dwell on the role of the international parliamentary assemblies. On the one hand, by bringing together parliamentarians from member states, these assemblies are the perfect relay between action at national and international level. On the other hand, by their very nature of being international, they offer the perfect ground for dialogue between cultures and religions.

The Council of Europe is strongly committed to ensuring coordination and complementarity of its action with that of other international institutions. It cooperates actively in the field of intercultural dialogue with the European Union, the OSCE and Unesco,the Inter-Partliamentary Union, as well as the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organisation (Alecso), the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Isesco) and the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures. We also have a Memorandum of Understanding with the UN Alliance of Civilisations.

Our Parliamentary Assembly has been providing a pan-European forum for the most prominent religious leaders of the world.

The Parliamentary Assembly has been developing cooperation with other international assemblies; for instance, we have co-operation agreements with interparliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Pan-African Parliament of the African Union and the Latin-American Parliament.

Last but not least, an important vehicle of intercultural and inter-religious dialogue has been the co-operation between the Parliamentary Assembly and neighbouring regions. Such co-operation offers excellent opportunities for political debate on common challenges which transcend European boundaries. Moreover, it is a means of consolidating democratic transformations and promoting stability, good governance, respect for human rights and the rule of law.

Recently the Assembly created a new status, called “partner for democracy”, which would help reinforce institutional co-operation with parliaments of non-member states in neighbouring regions. Parliaments wishing to benefit from this status have to publicly state their aspiration to embrace the values of the Council of Europe: pluralist and gender parity-based democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. ome parliaments such as Morocco, or the Palestine National Council, have already expressed their interest in obtaining such a status with the Assembly and we hope that other parliaments will follow.