a. Fight against intolerance and discrimination: The task of the Parliamentary Assembly is not limited to supporting individual member states facing specific challenges. We must also react to challenges that all our societies have to face.

Lecture by Mr. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu,

President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

to the Students at the event organised by

the Chair of the Contemporary Turkish Studies

in the London School of Economics

(18 February 2011, Friday, at 16.30 hours, London)

Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,
It is a real pleasure for me to take the floor as President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe before a distinguished audience of students and professors. I find it very enriching and stimulating to meet younger generations, in particular students. I warmly greet every one of you on behalf of more than 600 members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe which I have the honour to chair. And, I extend my thanks to Prof. Şevket Pamuk, Chair of Contemporary Turkish Studies at the European Institute in LSE, who made possible our today’s event.

It is even more exciting for me to be talking to you here in the LSE where I did my post-graduate studies some years ago. I expect an interesting session of questions and answers at the end of my contribution.

Dear friends,
At the outset, let me briefly remind you how, when and on which principles the Council of Europe was founded.

As you probably know well, the Council of Europe was founded in the wake of the Second World War, by political leaders who shared the firm will to prevent similar tragic conflicts from happening again. Their brilliant idea was to unite friends and foes around a set of common values and principles, which are universal and apply to every human being. The Organisation is therefore based on three pillars: democracy, human rights and the rule of law. These are the fundamental values and principles of the Council of Europe and these fundamental values that we support and promote are not the aim in itself, but a means to ensure long-lasting peace and prosperity on our Continent and all over the world. These are not just abstract principles – their respect creates a general framework for all human activity.

The headquarters of the Organization were placed in Strasbourg, historically one of the most disputed European borders, to underline that reconciliation is the "raison d’être” of the Council of Europe.

The Council of Europe is a permanent political forum for dialogue - the only pan-European one. Forty-seven member states - all European countries with the exception of Belarus – are now under the same roof and the same flag within the Council of Europe.

Time has shown that besides “hard security” based on national defense and collective defense organizations, “soft security” has an important role to play in building long lasting peace. And, this soft security is largely based on sharing, defending and promoting our common standards of human rights, the rule of law and democracy.

After 1989 and the fall of the Berlin wall, our Organization played a major role in European affairs, supporting the countries in Central and Eastern Europe in building their democratic institutions and stabilising Europe following the biggest upheaval since 1945. In fact, it is in 1989 when the importance of “soft security” in Europe took over the “hard security” arrangements which were decisive during the Cold War. This is why the Council of Europe, amongst others, is often referred to as a “school of democracy” and as the ante-chamber of the European Union.

Yet, the Council of Europe is far more than that. The Council of Europe is a standard-setting body which contributed substantially to creating a corpus of common values and principles now shared by virtually all European countries. The foundations of this process were laid 60 years ago with the signing of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Convention provides a comprehensive and Europe-wide corpus of legal norms protecting the human rights and fundamental freedoms of 800 million Europeans coming from 47 different states.

The European Court of Human Rights is an essential element in the convention protection system. Open to individuals from all over Europe, the Court effectively enforces rights guaranteed by the Convention and its additional Protocols through its legally-binding decisions whose execution is supervised by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. In its case-law, the Court has constantly interpreted the Convention in the light of new realities, thus making it a living instrument adapted to the current challenges.

I should also mention here that the European Union is currently in the process of joining the European Convention on Human Rights. This will guarantee a coherent, Europe-wide system of human rights protection and we should do all we can to speed up this accession in the months to come. I will come back to this issue later on.

In addition to the European Convention on Human Rights, the Council of Europe has developed a wealth of legal instruments, standards, monitoring mechanisms, good practices and means of international cooperation. Up to now, more than 200 European treaties in all areas of the Council of Europe’s competence have been concluded, thus creating a unique pan-European legal area.

Besides conventions, we use other “soft” instruments to encourage legal harmonisation around our principles. One of the most important Council of Europe institutions is the European Commission for Democracy through Law, also known as the Venice Commission, a partial agreement which is part of the institutional framework of the Council of Europe. The Venice Commission has provided legal advice and assistance to countries, notably in Central and Eastern Europe but also outside the European continent (for example, Kirghizstan, South-Africa), to help them rebuild and reshape their democratic institutions and legislation in many fields, from judicial reforms to election laws.

Dear friends,
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which I have the honor to chair, is the political tribune of the Organisation. It covers a broad spectrum of political ideologies and hosts an immense variety and diversity of languages, cultures, traditions and religions represented on the European continent. The Assembly contributes to the aims of the Council of Europe by adopting resolutions, and recommendations to the Committee of Ministers as well as with its specific instruments and mechanisms. One of the most efficient is the so-called Assembly’s monitoring procedure.

The Monitoring Committee of the Assembly is responsible for verifying the fulfillment of the obligations and commitments accepted by the authorities of member states upon their accession to our organization.

Currently the Assembly is assisting ten countries under monitoring procedure (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Russian Federation, Serbia and Ukraine) and four countries are engaged in the post-monitoring dialogue (Bulgaria, Monaco, the “former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” and Turkey).

Dear friends,
I now would like to discuss with you the Assembly’s key priorities on which we currently focus our efforts.

First is the “parliamentary diplomacy”. As a permanent forum for dialogue, one of the key functions of the Assembly is to promote parliamentary diplomacy. This does not replace “traditional” diplomacy and parliamentarians do not aim at “stealing the job” of career diplomats, but they can give a remarkable contribution, particularly in the field of conflict prevention and conflict peaceful solution.

During 2010, I made 45 official and working visits focusing my attention, first of all, on member states presenting delicate political and institutional situations or facing consequences of armed conflicts. In this connection, I have paid visits, in particular, to Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Russian Federation and Ukraine. I held various talks at highest political level to facilitate dialogue among key political players and contribute to finding solutions. My work in these areas has been complementary to the work of our Committees and rapporteurs who are dealing with these issues on a permanent basis.

Second key priority is relations with non-member states. The Assembly is constantly pursuing a strategy of bringing non-member states closer to the Council of Europe and to our standards. In this respect, a new special status, called “Partnership for Democracy”, for the Parliaments of neighbouring non-member states was established by the Assembly in 2009. This status gives the possibility to MPs from non-member states to participate in Assembly debates as well as in the work of the Committees. The key conditions for granting this status are: a strong political will to bring legislation in line with Council of Europe standards as well as a firm commitment to work towards the introduction of a moratorium on death penalty.

We have received official requests for this status from the Parliaments of Morocco and Palestine and the Parliament of Kazakhstan is currently considering to make a request. At the end of December 2010, I paid an official visit to Morocco in order to encourage the authorities to further pursue the ambitious objective to obtain the status of Partner for Democracy, by giving concrete substance to the political commitments taken by the Moroccan Parliament.

In the beginning of January 2011, I also paid an official visit to Tunisia to explore possibilities of strengthening the Council of Europe’s co-operation with this country. My visit took place at a delicate moment when current tensions degenerated into violent clashes. During the visit, I expressed profound concern over the situation in Tunisia and urged the authorities to manage the crisis in a responsible manner, in accordance with the Council of Europe standards and principles. Of course, there remains a considerable way ahead to meet the requirements of the status of Partner for Democracy. The Assembly stands ready to support democratic transformations further in Tunisia, as exemplified by the holding of an urgent debate during the Assembly 2011 January part-session. In the debate, we adopted Resolution 1791(2011), which contains concrete guidelines for the authorities to follow in order to overcome the crisis and come closer to the Council of Europe standards and principles.

Dear friends,
The task of the Parliamentary Assembly is not limited to supporting individual member states facing specific challenges. We must also react to challenges that all our societies have to face.

During the last couple of months, the issue of the Roma population in Europe has raised serious questions about discrimination. I am proud to say that the Council of Europe was among the first international institutions to condemn the outrages against Roma in Europe.

During the September 2010 part-session, our Assembly held an urgent debate on the recent rise of national security discourse in Europe: the case of Roma. In this debate, the Assembly strongly condemned as racist and xenophobic, and therefore unacceptable in a democracy, the use of language stigmatising Roma or any other minority or migrant group. While the Assembly attaches the utmost importance to freedom of expression, especially in political debates on immigration, it unequivocally rejects all forms of racial or ethnic discrimination as unacceptable.

On 20 October 2010, I participated in the high-level meeting on Roma convened in Strasbourg at the initiative of the Council of Europe Secretary General, Mr Jagland. The meeting agreed policy guidelines, so-called “Strasbourg declaration”, which all member states have to respect in designing their domestic policies regarding Roma.

But we must also do our part of the job in our capacity of members of national parliaments. In Resolution 1740 on the situation of Roma, adopted last June, the Assembly recommended including Roma representatives in the national delegations to the Assembly. Moreover, we are to conclude an agreement on co-operation with the European Roma and Travellers Forum in order to involve them more closely in Assembly’s activities.

The issue of discrimination against Roma is just the tip of the iceberg. The recent general rise of extremist, racist and xenophobic rhetoric in many of our member states requires a comprehensive response. Recently, we have seen political support growing to parties inspired by racist ideas in a number of national elections in our member states as well as in the elections to the European Parliament. These extremist populist parties are capitalising on security concerns by simply equating immigration with crime and insecurity.

Nowadays, in an attempt to regain the support of the electorate, mainstream political parties are tempted to pick up some of the radical, xenophobic and discriminatory language of extremist parties. This is an extremely worrying trend.

In this context, I want to stress that politicians bear a special responsibility for eliminating from the political discourse the negative stereotyping or stigmatising of any minority or migrant group. On the contrary - they must promote a message of non-discrimination, tolerance and respect for people from different backgrounds.

Dear friends,
Here, I must say a few words about one of the most topical sectors of activity of the Assembly as well as one of the key political priorities of my mandate. This is inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue.

The foundation of our common European home must be built on an open society based on respect for diversity and not on exclusion, not on discrimination, not on fear and not on hatred.

All forms of intolerance towards those considered “different” are on the rise again. However, when human hatred and the concept that “might is right” start setting the rules of the game, nobody is really safe.

If we want to make the strongest political progress in Europe, the safeguards that we have put in place, should not only be in legal texts; first and foremost they should be in our minds. The starting-point for building such safeguards is education.

I am proud to say that the Council of Europe has produced a White Paper on inter-cultural dialogue which can be an important guidance in this respect.

All world religions are based on tolerance, compassion and respect for human dignity and, therefore, they can bring an important contribution to inter-cultural dialogue and understanding among people of different origins.

That is why the Assembly will hold in April 2011 a debate on religious dimension of inter-cultural dialogue with the participation of representatives of different religions - Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Muslim and Jewish.

In view of preparing this debate, I have met a number of religious leaders of key confessions in Europe: the Pope, the Chief Mufti of the Russian Federation, the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Grand Rabbi of Russia and the CIS Region, the Patriarch of Romania.

I am confident that our debate in April will offer us an opportunity to have a fresh look at the problems we are facing and come up with concrete initiatives which will help make our societies more tolerant, respectful of differences and, ultimately, more democratic.

Dear friends,
The world is constantly evolving. And in our changing world, we need to enhance the Council of Europe’s action and its practical and political impact. This can only be done through the necessary reform of our Organisation as a whole, which has been going on at all levels for more than one year now. We are not changing our main objectives, but aiming at becoming more pro-active, and enhancing the political relevance, impact and effectiveness of the Organisation.

The European Court of Human Rights is also undergoing a reform process after the entry into force of Protocol 14 to ensure its viability and effectiveness in the future. We call it Interlaken process, after the Swiss town where a Conference organised by the Swiss Chairmanship of our Committee of Ministers on this matter took place early 2010. A follow-up conference will be held in April this year in Izmir, under the Turkish Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers.

Within the Parliamentary Assembly we have started to discuss how to reform our own working methods, procedures and structures to increase the relevance of our work. The report which was prepared by the reform Ad Hoc Committee is now being considered by the political groups, national parliamentary delegations and our committees, and we intend to adopt the reforms in the forthcoming June Part-Session, which will then enter into force as of next year.

Dear friends,
As I mentioned earlier on, one of the most important challenges that lie ahead of us is the accession of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 6 of the Lisbon Treaty provides a clear legal mandate for rapid accession.

As the powers of the European Union continue to extend to fields which traditionally belong to the 27 member states of the EU, it is essential to ensure direct access for individual citizens to the Strasbourg Court if they consider that their rights are violated by the EU institutions.

Therefore, accession of the EU to the European Convention on Human Rights is our top priority. Official talks on the accession started on 7 July last year between the Council of Europe and the European Commission and the Assembly is making its contribution to ensure that this process is smooth and quick.

At the same time, in the process of creating a common European legal space, it would be important that the EU accedes to other relevant key Council of Europe conventions, in particular, those on the Prevention of Terrorism; on the Prevention of Torture; on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings; on the Protection of Children against Sexual Abuse, as well as to the revised Social Charter. I hope this will happen once the negotiations on the accession to the European Convention on Human Rights are completed.

Dear friends,
We have many reasons to be proud of belonging to an international institution that has greatly contributed to what Europe represents today – one of the most prosperous and democratically stable areas in the world. Yet the world is constantly evolving and facing new, massive challenges. None of our institutions has unfortunately been able to prevent the cataclysms that our societies are going through: economic crisis, erosion of the social protection mechanisms, growing intolerance and violence. We have not been able to effectively counter international terrorism and organised crime, nor make a significant progress in stopping further climate change.

We therefore need international cooperation and integration more than ever. New powers are emerging in a global world and the balance of power is shifting - yet the political models of these new global players are not necessarily the same as ours, nor are their values. Europe has therefore to reassert itself in this new environment, without making concessions on the democratic acquis that it has granted to European citizens over the years.

In this context, the role of the young generation is crucial. Nobody is able to predict the future, but we all know that the world in which we are living is moving fast and changing fast. We need, on the one hand, your energy, enthusiasm and imagination in order to move forward and, on the other hand, the principles, standards and values that Europe has hard-earned over the last 61 years in order to serve as a solid basis for our actions.

I wish you success in your studies, good luck with your future and some of the faith and courageous vision that helped the founding fathers of the European institutions to build Europe of today.

Thank you for your attention.