TO THE MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE ON MIGRATION, REFUGEES AND DEMOGRAPHY

SECRETARIAT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY

 

Synopsis No. 2000/177

12 December 2000

 

The Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography, meeting in Paris on 8 December 2000, first  with Mr Díaz de Mera (Spain, EPP/CD), then Mrs Aguiar (Portugal, EPP/CD) in the Chair :

–          Situation of refugees and IDPs from Chechnya (Rapporteur: Mr Iwinski, Poland, SOC):

-          heard a report by the Rapporteur on the visit by a Committee delegation to Moscow and the North Caucasus (20-24 November 2000), approved the text submitted by the Rapporteur and instructed the Chairman to request the Bureau that the Committee could present a report, rather than an opinion, on this subject to be debated at the first part-session 2001 of the Assembly (22-26 January 2001);

- held an exchange of views with Mr Vladimir Kalamanov, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation on Observation of Human Rights and Freedoms in the Chechen Republic;

–          Transit migration in central and eastern Europe (Rapporteur: Mr Iwinski, Poland, SOC): approved a draft report and adopted a draft recommendation;

–         Participation of immigrants and foreign residents in political life in the Council of Europe member States (Rapporteur: Mr Luís, Portugal, SOC): approved a draft report as amended and adopted a draft recommendation;

–         Emergency humanitarian aid for the displaced Kurdish population of Turkey (Rapporteur: Mr Connor, Ireland, EPP/CD): considered an outline for a report and appointed an ad hoc sub-committee, headed by Mr Díaz de Mera (Spain, EPP/CD), Chairman of the Committee, and composed of MM. Connor (Ireland, EPP/CD), Mutman (Turkey, SOC), Strizhko (Ukraine, UEL) and Mrs Zwerver (Netherlands, SOC), to carry out a fact-finding visit to Turkey (subject to the authorisation by the Bureau);

–          Rights of national minorities (Rapporteur for opinion: Mr Tabajdi, Hungary, SOC): held an exchange of views;

–          Humanitarian situation of returnees to Kosovo (Rapporteur: Mr Connor, Ireland, EPP/CD) held an exchange of views;

–          The "propiska system" applied to migrants and refugees in Council of Europe member states: effects and remedies (Rapporteur: Mr Cilevics, Latvia, SOC): heard a statement by the Rapporteur and agreed, on his suggestion, to change the title of the report and to send a questionnaire to the countries concerned;

–          Federal Republic of Yugoslavia – recent developments: appointed Mr Iwinski (Poland, SOC) Rapporteur for opinion;

–         Meeting of the European Population Committee (CAHP), Strasbourg, 5-7 February 2001: appointed Mr Tkác (Slovakia, EDG) as its representative;

–            confirmed to hold its next meetings as follows:

-            Strasbourg, during the first part-session 2001 (22-26 January 2001)

-            Paris, 23 February 2001.

Vladimir DRONOV, Agnieszka NACHILO, Markus ADELSBACH