[Documents/Docheader.htm]Rights of national minorities
Recommendation 1623 (2003)Doc. 10382 rev.
21 December 2004Reply from the Committee of Ministers
adopted at the 909th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (15 December 2004)
1. The Committee of Ministers welcomes the Parliamentary Assembly
Recommendation 1623 (2003) on the rights of national minorities, which concerns an important area of work for the Committee of Ministers and for the Council of Europe in general. In transmitting the present reply, the Committee of Ministers recalls the reply it gave in June 2002 to Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1492 (2001).2. The Advisory Committee, set up under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, has examined the Recommendation and the report upon which it was based. Its comments have been communicated orally via the Secretariat and taken into account in the draft reply presented by the Secretariat. The Committee of Ministers also invited the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages to give an opinion on the Recommendation. This opinion is appended to this reply.
3. The Committee of Ministers shares the Assembly’s view that the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities as well as the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages have played an important role in improving minority protection in Europe, and it encourages further states to sign and ratify these treaties. It notes the Assembly's reference to the position of the Advisory Committee, stated in several country-specific opinions, that although States Parties have a margin of appreciation in respect of the scope of application of the Framework Convention, this must be exercised in accordance with the fundamental principles set out in Article 3 of the Convention; in no case can the interpretation given by the States Parties be a source of arbitrary or unjustified distinctions. The Committee of Ministers agrees that the monitoring mechanisms have been an important factor in the success of both the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages.
4. The Committee of Ministers agrees with the Assembly that the smooth functioning of the monitoring mechanism requires increasingly timely submission of state reports. In order to address lengthy delays that have occurred in some cases, the Committee of Ministers introduced in 2003 a procedure enabling the commencements of monitoring under the Framework Convention without a state report in cases of persistent delays, and it hopes that this will help speed up the monitoring process.
5. The Committee of Ministers shares the Assembly’s concern for the protection of minority languages and agrees that no undue restrictions should be imposed on their use, for example, in the media. This issue has been regularly addressed in the process of monitoring under the Framework Convention and the Language Charter and should be pursued in full accordance with Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
6. With regard to paragraph 11.v of the Recommendation, the Committee underlines the obligation set out in Article 10, paragraph 2 of the Framework Convention, "in areas inhabited by persons belonging to national minorities traditionally or in substantial numbers, if those persons so request and where such a request corresponds to a real need" to "endeavour to ensure, as far as possible, the conditions which would make it possible to use the minority language in relations between those persons and the administrative authorities".
7. The importance of the possibility of the participation of persons belonging to national minorities in decision-making processes has been repeatedly stressed by the Committee of Ministers and the Advisory Committee in their findings on the implementation of the Framework Convention in State Parties. In this context, the Committee takes note of paragraph 11.v of the Assembly’s Recommendation concerning the parliamentary representation of national minorities.
8. As to the protection of Roma, another issue highlighted by the Assembly, the Committee of Ministers recalls that discrimination and other problems faced by Roma have been a central issue of concerns in several Opinions of the Advisory Committee and in the corresponding Resolutions of the Committee of Ministers. The Committee of Ministers is convinced that these issues will remain high on the agenda in the forthcoming stages of monitoring and that they will give rise to constructive contributions from the European Roma and Travellers’ Forum which has just been created.
9. The Committee of Ministers fully shares the Assembly’s views concerning the need to coordinate the work of Council of Europe bodies responsible for protecting the rights of persons belonging to national minorities as well as promoting synergies between the Organisation’s activities and those of other competent intergovernmental organisations, taking into account their specificities.
10. As regards the recommendation to draft an additional protocol to the Framework Convention conferring on the European Court of Human Rights the power to give advisory opinions on the interpretation of the Framework Convention (paragraph 12 (i)), the Committee of Ministers reiterates its view that it would not be advisable to give the Court such competences under the Framework Convention, bearing in mind inter alia the programmatic nature of most of the provisions of the Framework Convention. The monitoring should rather be strengthened through a further consolidation of the current mechanism, in the framework of the procedures set out in the Framework Convention and in Resolution (97) 10 of the Committee of Ministers.
11. As to the Assembly’s recommendation to re-establish the Committee of Experts on Issues Relating to the Protection of National Minorities (paragraph 12 (ii), the Committee of Ministers informs the Assembly that it has now adopted terms of reference for the DH-MIN, which will accordingly resume its activities as from the beginning of 2005 and whose membership will be open inter alia to the European Commission, the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights and the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities.
12. In reply to the recommendation to enhance efforts aimed at speedy ratification of Protocol 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights (paragraph 12(iii)), the Committee of Ministers notes that the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) held, in November 2004, a tour de table on the ratification of Protocol 12, which showed that the ratification process is underway in a number of states. CDDH intends to continue to follow progress in this field. In any event, the Committee of Ministers notes that, following the tenth ratification, the Protocol will enter into force on 1 April 2005.
13. The Committee of Ministers notes with interest the Assembly’s proposal (paragraph 12 (iv)) that tours de table be organised also on the signatures and ratifications of the Framework Convention.
14. The Committee of Ministers is aware of the fact that the Secretariat resources provided for the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention and the Committee of Experts of the Language Charter are limited and that follow-up activities and the commencement of the second monitoring cycle of the Framework Convention involve additional challenges in this respect. The Committee of Ministers stresses, however, that the possible reinforcement of these sectors of the Secretariat (proposed by the Assembly in paragraph 12 (v)) needs to be considered in the context of the overall needs of the Council of Europe.
15. The Committee of Ministers is of the opinion that there is no need, at this stage, to amend the rules governing the Advisory Committee’s country-visits and meetings with NGOs, as proposed by the Assembly (paragraph 12 (vi), (vii) and (viii)). The Committee of Ministers has interpreted the current rules in a flexible manner and it has, for example, recently enlarged the mandate of the Advisory Committee to meet with NGOs. This flexibility has enabled the Advisory Committee to conduct constructive dialogue with both governmental and non-governmental sources. Should difficulties arise in the course of the second cycle, the Committee of Ministers is prepared to consider further improvements to the procedure.
16. The Committee of Ministers agrees that certain themes covered by the Framework Convention would merit particular attention so as to promote good practices (cf. Recommendation, paragraph 12 (ix)). The Committee of Ministers has in its country-specific dialogue and other contacts with representatives of the Advisory Committee at times touched upon certain themes, and it looks forward to continuing such dialogue, for example, in connection with the presentation of future activity reports of the Advisory Committee.
17. The Committee of Ministers recognises the need to make the monitoring results public as early as possible and to make them, together with the texts of the Conventions, available in local languages (cf. Recommendation 12 (x) and (xi)). In this respect, the Committee of Ministers would like to inform the Assembly that most States have agreed to early publication of the Opinions of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention. Furthermore, the Council of Europe’s cooperation programmes have supported the production of minority language versions of the Opinions of the Advisory Committee and other relevant texts.
18. The Committee of Ministers agrees with the Assembly on the importance of cooperation with the European Union on issues pertaining to national minorities (cf. Recommendation, paragraph 13). As regards the process of enlargement, the Committee of Ministers is pleased to note that the European Commission has devoted particular attention to the Framework Convention in assessing progress made by the candidate countries with regard to the membership criterion on the protection of minorities and, for example, the Commission's Regular Reports have included several references to the Opinions of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention and the corresponding Resolutions of the Committee of Ministers.
Appendix to the reply
Opinion of the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages on Recommendation 1623 (2003) of the Parliamentary Assembly on Rights of National Minorities
The Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages has taken note of the invitation of the Committee of Ministers to give its opinion on Recommendation 1623 (2003) of the Parliamentary Assembly on Rights of National Minorities.
As a body of independent experts established on the basis of the Charter for the purpose of monitoring the application of the Charter by the Parties, the Committee has restricted its comments to matters having a direct bearing on its own field of competence.
The Committee of Experts wishes to underline that the preservation and the promotion of regional and minority languages in Europe is a fundamental component of mutual tolerance and understanding within a pluralist Europe. It considers that the work of the Council of Europe has demonstrably improved the situation of these languages in several countries. Thus, many European countries adopted new legislation concerning the protection and promotion of their regional or minority languages after the Charter was opened for signature in 1992, in order to be able to ratify the Charter. Since the success of the Charter depends largely on the commitment of European states with regard to its ratification and implementation, the Committee notes with satisfaction the encouragement given to this end by paragraph 3 of the Assembly Recommendation.
The Charter has been signed by 30 member states and ratified by 17 member states. Since the opinion of June 2001 of the Committee of Experts on Recommendation 1492 (2000) of the Assembly on Rights of national minorities, Armenia, Austria, Cyprus and Slovakia have ratified the Charter. The Committee of Experts emphasises the need for other Council of Europe member states to increase the momentum in the preparation of ratification.
The Committee of Experts welcomes the Assembly’s recommendation (paragraph 8) on the respect of the deadlines for the submission of national periodical reports. As the monitoring mechanism set up by the Charter is based on three-year cycles of evaluation, which is a rather tight schedule, scrupulous respect of the deadlines is crucial for the good functioning of the monitoring system.
The Committee of Experts thanks the Assembly for renewing its support for the reinforcement of the financial and human resources at the disposal of the Secretariat of the Committee of Experts (paragraph 12 (v)). In its opinion on Recommendation 1492 (2000), the Committee noted that, by comparison with other convention mechanisms, the resources of the Charter were extremely modest. Since then, the staff of two administrators and one assistant has not increased at all, despite the considerably heavier workload due to the growing number of States Parties and the beginning of the second cycle of monitoring. To maintain the quality of its work, the budget of the Committee of Experts and its Secretariat needs to be urgently adapted to their mission.
With regard to paragraph 12 (x) of Recommendation 1623 (2003), three types of texts relating to the Charter are concerned: the text of the Charter itself, the periodical reports submitted by States Parties and the reports of the Committee of Experts on the application of the Charter by States Parties. The Charter has already been translated into 35 languages, including some regional or minority languages such as Welsh, Basque or S�mi. The periodical state reports are translated into English and French, while the evaluation reports of the Committee of Experts are also issued in both official languages. The Committee of Experts is in favour of a translation of these documents into regional or minority languages but its Secretariat would need additional financial support for such a task. At present, the decision to translate into a regional or minority language is up to each State Party. Finland, for instance, has translated into S�mi the recommendations of the Committee of Ministers following the report of the Committee of Experts on the application of the Charter in Finland. The good practices initiated by some states with regard to the translation of important documents into regional or minority languages could be established as a general model.