FOR THE ATTENTION OF THE MEMBERS OF THE BUREAU OF THE ASSEMBLY
Secretariat of the Assembly
Synopsis No. 2000 / 146
2 October 2000
The Bureau of the Assembly, meeting on 29 September 2000 in Strasbourg with Lord Russell-Johnston, and then Mrs Ragnarsdóttir, in the Chair,
- considered the follow-up to Resolution 1478 (2000) and Recommendation 1227 (2000) on the conflict in the Chechen Republic, agreed to the mission by a delegation of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography to the region and encouraged the delegation to go there as soon as possible, invited President to ask the Chairman-in-office of the Committee of Ministers to give an interim, oral reply to Recommendation 1227 at the meeting of the Standing Committee on 9 November 2000 and a written reply at the latest one week before the January 2001 Part-Session, and agreed to resume consideration of this question at its next meetings in the light of the assessments to be made by the relevant committees and the information provided by the Russian delegation and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe;
- following the current affairs debate on the elections in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), agreed to refer the subject to the Political Affairs Committee for report;
- adopted the draft Agenda of the Standing Committee on 9 November 2000 in Strasbourg, and agreed to add to the draft Agenda the option of holding an urgent debate possibly on the elections in the FRY, and a report by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights on the election of a new judge to the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of Italy in derogation of Rule 33.2 (see reference below);
- agreed to hold the meeting of the Standing Committee from 21-23 May 2001 in Istanbul (Turkey) and, in addition, to hold meetings of the Bureau, Political Affairs Committee and Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men on that occasion;
- agreed to the enlargement of the ad hoc committee of the Bureau to observe the elections in Azerbaijan (5 November 2000) from 20 to 30 members;
- agreed to the modification of the composition of the Monitoring Committee with Mr Brunetti replacing Mr Myrvoll and Mrs Kanelli replacing Mr Shaklein;
- took note of the statement by the Secretary General of the Assembly concerning the communication policy of the Assembly;
- agreed to modify the criteria for drawing up the list of speakers so that members may not enter the list more than five times and may not speak for more than three times;
- approved, subject to ratification by the Assembly, the following reference:
Motion for a resolution on the election of a new judge to the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of Italy (Doc. 8845): to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, for report to the Standing Committee;
- approved the following meetings outside Strasbourg and Paris:
. Ad hoc sub-Committee (of the Committee on Culture and Education) in Cracow (Poland) on 15-17 October 2000;
. Monitoring Committee in Tallinn (Estonia) on 24 October 2000;
. Political Affairs Committee in Brussels (Belgium) on 21-22 November 2000;
- appointed the following Assembly representatives for official activities:
. Mr Cherribi (Netherlands, LDR) for the Conference on “Human rights, Cultural Identities and Social Cohesion in the Mediterranean Region” organised by the North-South Centre in Rabat on 20-21 October 2000, left it to the President to decide whether other representatives should attend;
. took note that Mrs Busic (Crotia, EPP/CD) would, together with Mr Gjellerod who is already appointed, represent the Assembly at the IPU Conference in Jakarta on 15-21 October 2000, and that Mrs Stepová had been appointed by the Committee on Culture and Education to go on a fact-finding mission to Cyprus in mid-November 2000 in her capacity as Rapporteur on the cultural heritage;
- confirmed its next meetings as follows:
. Strasbourg, Wednesday 8 November 2000 at 2.30 pm.
. Paris, Thursday 14 December 2000 at 3 pm.
. Paris, Monday 8 January 2001 at 9.30 am.
Horst Schade/Agnès Nollinger