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Report | Doc. 11919 | 25 May 2009
History teaching in conflict and post-conflict areas
(Former) Committee on Culture, Science and Education
Summary
History teaching can be a tool to support peace and reconciliation in conflict and post-conflict areas as well as tolerance and understanding when dealing with such phenomena as migration, immigration and changing demographics. A multiple perspective approach, instead of a single interpretation of events, will encourage students to respect diversity and cultural difference.
The Parliamentary Assembly points out several measures to be taken by countries signatory to the European Cultural Convention, related to “what”, “how” and “when” to teach controversial historical issues. It recommends that the Committee of Ministers continue to support the work of the Council of Europe in conflict and post-conflict areas on textbooks, manuals and teacher training.
A. Draft recommendation
(open)1. The Parliamentary Assembly recalls its Recommendation 1283 (1996) on history and the learning of history in Europe and
reaffirms that “history also has a key political role to play in
today’s Europe. It can contribute to greater understanding, tolerance
and confidence between individuals and between the peoples of Europe
or it can become a force for division, violence and intolerance.”
Therefore history teaching can be a tool to support peace and reconciliation
in conflict and post-conflict areas as well as tolerance and understanding
when dealing with such phenomena as migration, immigration and changing
demographics.
2. Conflict Resolution is a process at a political level, from
peace keeping, to peace making and finally onto peace building.
History teaching is a process too in terms of teachers being consulted,
trained, retrained, supported, resourced, encouraged and protected
in the delivery of new approaches to controversial and sensitive
issues. Both elements must be addressed if the political process
is to attain long-term success with the new generations growing
up. The Assembly therefore welcomes the work being done by the Council
of Europe and other agencies in locations such as Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Cyprus and the Black Sea and supports those and other governments
as they strive towards mutual understanding and tolerance.
3. “What” is taught; “how” it is taught and “when” controversial
issues can be addressed rely on a process of building new skills
and confidence within both the teaching and student cohort. These
need to be underlined by new political attitudes and policies towards
history in its role of reconciling difference and developing tolerance.
4. Conventional history teaching stressed a single interpretation
of events as being “the Truth”, which was politically expedient.
It is now internationally accepted that there can be many views
and interpretations, which are based on evidence. There is validity
in a multiple perspective approach that assists and encourages students
to respect diversity and cultural difference, in this increasingly
globalised world, rather than teaching, which can reinforce the
more negative aspects of nationalism.
5. The Assembly values the work of the Council of Europe in countries
evolving from conflict to support a change in how “the other” is
presented in the history class. This involves interventions relating
to both what is taught and how it is taught. Considerable investment
in skill building within the teaching cohort, both existing and
emerging, to support them to move to a new style of curriculum and
curriculum delivery, must continue. This process is evolutionary
and therefore has ongoing teacher training and in-service implications.
6. Recent reviews in some post-conflict countries have led to
a reduction in course content. While this allows better skill development
and helps student motivation to further evaluate and explore topics
themselves, it must enhance, not reduce, the cross-community and
cross-regional focus of the curriculum.
7. Teachers, student teachers and students are essential resources
when they want to support the process of change. Teachers should
be at the core of curriculum development and resource designing
to assist in those materials being age appropriate as well as interesting
for the students.
8. Multiple perspective teaching relies on primary and secondary
material availability and involves interactive teaching. Project-based
research and work, class debates, visits to museums, more utilisation
of primary sources and also the use of guest speakers to make modern
history more relevant, works best with small classes. Education
policies must reflect this change of teaching style.
9. Easy communication between both students and teachers from
different backgrounds and cultures opens up new potentials for history
projects with multiple country involvement. Students “solving” each
other’s problems opens up new insights as “outsiders” will often
see situations differently to those closest to the problem.
10. Cross-border and cross-community activity is happening in
some locations. Assembly Recommendation 1283
(1996) called on governments to provide adequate and ongoing
finance for history research, particularly on multilateral and bilateral
commissions on contemporary history. There is a political onus to
strengthen these opportunities and encourage those who could gain
most from teaming with each other, to move in that direction without
fear of reprisal from any quarter. This activity should be for both
teachers and students. It should have a capacity to be a long-term
process, working towards tangible results, as trust is only built
over time.
11. History teaching must reflect and relate topics to the international
situation of the time period that is being taught. Events explored
in isolation do not depict the full context and so do not always
give a true or full picture. However, the use of local history can
hold particular relevance for young students, thereby capturing
their interest and many things at local level can then be related
to bigger events and topics.
12. Both “Education for Mutual Understanding” and “Cultural Heritage”
should be central in education policies, as is the case in the North
of Ireland. History support services should help teachers co-ordinate
cross curricular themes during staff planning days. Internationally
such support services should have a mechanism to share concepts
and practices.
13. Exploring the medium of gentle humour for engaging student
interest in elements of history is an inroad to capturing student
attention equal to the use of films and other technologies. When
we can laugh at humour directed at “us” as well as “them” we will
have achieved some success in peace and reconciliation.
14. History teaching in a multiple perspective manner will give
students analytical skills (as well as subject knowledge), that
will assist them to have more critical minds. It is therefore a
subject that can assist in a very vital part of a child’s development
in this era of changing dynamics and, if supported, will yield potential employers
and employees for those countries who most need economic development
post conflict.
15. Recommendation
1283 (1996) underscored that people have a right to access their
history whether they then embrace or reject it. The right for students
to be given the opportunity to examine critically, both what they see
and hear around them in the various media available, through schools
sources, has only become more vital with the passage of time and
the development of new technologies. Understanding complexity can
help them appreciate diversity and, in being objective they recognise
the distortions that stereotypes can offer.
16. The Assembly acknowledges that in curricula reviews there
has been recognition of the need for controversial, sensitive and
tragic events to be balanced with more positive and inclusive topics
that are not exclusively political in nature and which extend beyond
national boundaries. The move towards the inclusion of cultural,
philosophical, economic elements and the role of women and minorities
is to be welcomed and encouraged.
17. The Assembly draws the attention of the Committee of Ministers
to recent research which indicates that there needs to be special
prioritisation of schools that have been at the interfaces of conflict,
in terms of confidence-building measures for both teachers and students,
in terms of primary and secondary resources and internet access
and in terms of student exchanges. Coming out of conflict is a slow
and individual challenge faced by every teacher, student, school
and community that the school serves in an interface area.
18. Dissemination of information has increased through the globalisation
of various media forms which are all instantaneous conveyors of
current events or “history”. The education system in each member
state should support students to develop analytical skills which
critically explore media studies and thereby understand that messages
can be contained both overtly and subliminally.
19. In moving towards peace, or out of conflict, there may be
a role within communities to be played by religious leaders to create
the atmosphere to support or undermine the process. Positive direction
on a cross religious basis provides an important signal to those
who look to embrace “the image of the other” for the first time
in education. The Assembly encourages the positive role religious
leaders have played in some countries and call on all religious
leaders to embrace new initiatives that aspire to a peaceful co-existence
of citizens now and in the future, thus supporting new initiatives
in the classroom.
20. The Assembly calls on all states signatories to the European
Cultural Convention to:
20.1. ensure
that necessary technologies and opportunities to support both teacher
and student interactions within and between states are put in place,
including access to written resources and sources in their own language
for minority communities;
20.2. provide adequate and ongoing finance for history research,
particularly on multilateral and bilateral commissions on contemporary
history;
20.3. as a subject, focus history more on socio-economic, cultural,
artistic and heritage elements and less on politics;
20.4. pursue a ten-year project that would encourage primary
school children to keep a diary which would track their own reaction
to contemporary events that could be examined and exchanged with
other member states at the end of the project;
20.5. ensure that teacher-training programmes have a balance
of two distinct elements: the development of the expertise within
the subject area (the “what” to teach) and the skill building for motivating
students to engage with the subject (the “how” to teach);
20.6. address resistance to a new curriculum or curriculum delivery
change where it exists as a result of deeper political issues;
20.7. research, on a regular basis, teachers’ and students’
views on new concepts in, challenges of and approaches to history,
pertaining to curriculum size, content, relevance, delivery and
how it is examined;
20.8. facilitate teachers in curriculum timing terms to allow
them to disseminate new ideas outside the classroom and to encourage
them to try out new practices;
20.9. reduce the size of classes whenever possible;
20.10. support teachers joining associations of History Teachers
and attending events such as those run by EUROCLIO (European Standing
Conference of History Teachers Associations) in order to help develop
confidence, experience and expertise;
20.11. support teachers in the use of personal development opportunities
to keep updated on practices and priorities abroad and vice versa;
20.12. consider a reward system within the pay scale structure
to encourage the commitment, in a meaningful manner, of all history
teaching sectors to keep filtering both up and down the system,
fresh pedagogical approaches;
20.13. give all schools the capacity to access primary and secondary
source information, including broadband for internet accessibility.
21. The Assembly calls for the full implementation of the White
Paper on Intercultural Dialogue “Living together as Equals in Dignity”
(launched May 2008), to assist the development of guidelines for
teachers on issues concerning tolerance and intercultural dialogue.
22. The Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers:
22.1. continue to support the work
of the Council of Europe, in co-operation with other institutions,
such as the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research,
in conflict and post-conflict areas on text book revision, text
book development, teacher manuals, teacher seminars and source material identification;
22.2. research on best practices and share them between countries
that experienced conflict in the past and to assist all those engaged
in such processes, whatever stage they are at currently themselves;
22.3. continue to provide support for the implementation of
the Council of Europe Project “The Image of the Other in History
Teaching”.
B. Explanatory Memorandum by Ms Keaveney, rapporteur
(open)1. Introduction
History is like a knife – It can kill or cut meat (Marc Bloch)
1. At its meeting on 1 October 2007 the Assembly Bureau
decided to consult the Committee on Culture, Science and Education
on a motion for a recommendation on “a study of history teaching
in Bosnia and Herzegovina”. The committee held a thorough exchange
of views at its meeting on 14 November and agreed that the issue
of multiple perspectives in teaching history in areas of recent
conflict in general was topical and worth of an Assembly debate.
Following this advice the Bureau referred the motion to the committee
on 21 January 2008. I was appointed rapporteur on 22 January 2008.
2. In order to prepare this report I took part in the Sarajevo
Council of Europe seminar on “Training of history teachers and pedagogical
advisors/mentors on the new methodologies in history teaching” relating
to the new teaching manual (March 2008); the Mitchell Conference
in Belfast on the Irish peace process (2008); the visit with the
UK Parliament delegation to Hazelwood College, Belfast, concerning
integrated education (May 2008); the Bristol conference of the European
Association of History Educators (EUROCLIO) (2008); the 8th European
Conference of Ministers responsible for Youth on “The future of
the Council of Europe youth policy: Agenda 2020” (Kyiv, Ukraine,
October 2008); and the Council of Europe conference in Istanbul
on the “Globalisation and images of the other: challenges and new
perspectives for history teaching in Europe” (November/December
2008).
3. I also met with the Education Committee of the Northern Ireland
Assembly’s Executive, in Stormont (May 2008), and took part in the
following activities of the Committee on Culture, Science and Education: member
of the delegation to meet the Committee on Culture and Education
of the European Parliament, where the subject of this report was
discussed (Brussels, September 2008); the visit to the Warsaw Uprising
Museum (September 2008); and the ad hoc sub-committee meeting in
Cape Verde (October/November 2008). At Assembly plenary sessions
in Strasbourg I was able to question the presidents of Bosnia and
Herzegovina and Cyprus on this matter, as well as the leader of
the Turkish Cypriot community.
4. I wish to thank the experts Louisa Black and Alan McCully,
and staff members Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, Christopher Grayson,
João Ary, Jean-Pierre Titz, Tatiana Minkina-Milko and Emir Adzovic,
from the Council of Europe Sarajevo Office.
2. Executive summary
5. Throughout the world there are changing dynamics
with migration, emigration and immigration. This challenges our
sense of identity as nations. There are also religious or territorial
disputes that contribute to long-standing conflicts in a number
of specific countries. To assist in minimising the impact of these
factors in the future and to maximise the potential for peace, there
are major roles for everyone, be they politicians, community groups,
educationalists or individual students. There are lessons to learn
and lessons to exchange. The fundamental message at the core of
education and community work is the need to develop a sense of understanding
of oneself, which will assist, through the development of self-confidence,
having respect both for oneself and for difference.
6. The Council of Europe has been central to reaching that aim
in that it has been accumulating the experience of various countries.
It has then sought to disseminate best practice within and between
member states. They provide the continuity so badly needed when
undertaking such sensitive work: putting all participants on an
equal footing; providing transparency to the co-operation; providing
wide forums for discussion; and helping create the climate of confidence
and trust, so important to the process. This must be recognised
and supported by politicians and their policies, as was underscored
by the Assembly back in 1996. The 3rd Summit of Heads of State and
Government of the Council of Europe in 1997 underlined co-operation at
regional level as being important to European stability and security.
7. Countries are at various stages of conflict. Some are still
in the active violence phase while others have moved to begin peace
negotiations or conclude peace processes. Conflict resolution is
a process. Each country and sections of the societies within any
country will be prepared to progress at various speeds. At times the
communities are ahead of the political sphere, sometimes behind.
The first decision within any country is that there is a wish to
see peace. It is through looking at a variety of these countries
and their particular point on the conflict index that we can reaffirm
the need for measures that will build peace, mutual respect and understanding.
By dealing with bigotry and sectarianism rather than ignoring it,
the potential for renewing hostilities in future generations is
minimised. It is to the education of these newer generations that
this report relates: “If we are to have real peace in the world
we will have to begin with the children” (Mahatma Gandhi).
8. The “what can be taught” also evolves through a process. Experience
internationally shows that bringing politicians together involves
confidence building and this must begin at a very “safe” point and
evolve with time. This is no different for teachers. They need to
be allowed by the political system that guides educational policy to
“think” in a different manner. They need the support, training,
resources and protection at the political level to evolve into new
roles with confidence.
9. Once a peace process begins at the political level it must
filter down to educational policy level, to facilitate teachers
and those whom they teach. Existing political and teaching spheres
may not have the expertise to drive the seismic change needed from
the current to a new dispensation. Therefore the ability to reach
out to work with international organisations and gain from their
experience is vital.
10. The first lesson is the acceptance that there is no “single
truth” – that there is validity in seeing things from many perspectives.
This challenges the preconceived notions that we have built up from
our family and community roots, whether consciously or sub-consciously.
If given the opportunity, students can gain respect for difference
through seeing a variety of historically significant events from
more than one source and perspective. Learning through interactive
teaching methods that espouse evidence-based multiple perspectives,
helps develop critical thinking. The student cohort emerges from
the education system with independent, creative and inquiring minds
which is an important added by-product they learn from “examining the
evidence”. The ability to analyse sensitive issues is a core future
need for employers in many fields.
11. The report Making Peace with the
Past 
states that : “…it is precisely the
capacity to distinguish between the truth and the lies of the past
that is required to build the trust required for a stable political
future”. This is a “win/win” situation for politician and general
public alike, and should therefore be embraced.
states that : “…it is precisely the
capacity to distinguish between the truth and the lies of the past
that is required to build the trust required for a stable political
future”. This is a “win/win” situation for politician and general
public alike, and should therefore be embraced. 12. There must be a conscious decision to pursue that agenda,
however, and the lead must be seen to come from political policies
and from willing teachers. To put oneself in another’s shoes is
not to “sell out” one’s own beliefs, to rewrite history or belittle
the traumas experienced by any one community. This is a fundamental blockage
that some people have demonstrated through the course of the investigation
of this report and reflects the need for discussion of multi-perspectivity
and for this report to be both written and acted upon.
13. As words painted on the wall of the Garrick Bar in Belfast
state: “A nation that keeps one eye on the past is wise; a nation
that keeps both eyes on the past is blind”.
14. Political leaders must therefore look to history as having
a positive societal role and facilitate that change in attitude
at all levels.
3. Previous Assembly work on the issue
15. In its Recommendation
1283 (1996) on history and the learning of history in Europe, the
Assembly pointed out that “history has a key political role to play
in Europe; it can contribute to greater understanding, tolerance
and confidence between individuals and between the peoples of Europe
or it can become a force for division, violence and intolerance.
Therefore history teaching can be a tool to support peace and reconciliation in
conflict and post-conflict areas as well as tolerance and understanding
when dealing with such phenomena as migration, immigration and changing
demographics.”
16. “Historical awareness should be an essential part in the education
of young people. The teaching of history should enable pupils to
acquire critical thinking skills to analyse and interpret information
effectively and responsibly, to recognise the complexity of issues
and to appreciate cultural diversity.”
17. “Schools should recognise the different ways in which the
same subjects are handled in different countries and this could
be developed as a basis for interschool exchanges.”
18. In its information report on education in Bosnia and Herzegovina
(see Doc. 8385 (1999)), the Assembly notes that “the most acute problems
relate to the recent conflict but all history teaching concerning
the Balkans raises issues. The most difficult areas concern the
competing versions of the ‘truth’ and of the responsibility for historic
events, with the obvious danger that history teaching will be used
as a tool of nationalist propaganda.” It recommended “a five year
moratorium on how the recent conflict is taught”.
19. One year later, in its Recommendation
1454 (2000), the Assembly regretted the lack of progress. Despite
noting the negative from the different communities concerned it
continued to press for the “acceptance of a moratorium on teaching
about the most recent conflict so as to enable historians from all
the communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the help of international
experts, to develop a common approach”.
4. History teaching
20. History offers a key subject that, if resourced and
supported, can start to address the challenge of “who we are”, and
indeed who “the others” are. “What” to teach and “how” to teach
it are separate but inter-related questions. Indeed, the definition
of history is a study in itself. The thirty-year rule in relation
to the release of government records ensures that the full picture
is not possible in many countries for many events until this time
has passed and it can be argued that the raw emotion of some events
can be militated against with the passage of time. Through looking
to our collective pasts, using a number of narratives, we can examine
how that past has influenced what we have become. It can also help
us appreciate our interdependence in this increasingly globalised
world. In short it can prove that we have more in common than that
which divides us.
21. Understanding of, and respect for diversity, relates strongly
to the teaching of history in these countries and both “what” is
taught and “how”. In the course of researching this report I have
found that in many respects there has been an avoidance of dealing
with difficult national historical topics to date (in Cape Verde,
for example, only history from the declaration of the Republic in
1975 is taught, but they realise they will have to deal with the
colonial past soon). It can be argued that this “Irish solution
to an Irish problem” is not necessarily healthy, whichever country
it applies to. For many post-Soviet and other countries, very sectarian
text books have been employed in schools, which do take on sensitive
issues but demonise the “others”, which is even more pronounced
where there is a legacy of conflict. Teachers have colluded in ensuring
that where there is a “single truth” approach to history for political
reasons; they have not helped the students to challenge that precept.
22. Ignoring the past, or focusing on partisan versions of it,
is equally dangerous as can be seen in many conflict zones around
the world. Therefore the concept of a multiple perspective that
is evidence based has gained credence as we struggle to strike a
balance between a past that we cannot change; a present that we exist
in and a future we wish to see for ourselves and others. The use
of more than one source in teaching history aims to get students
to see sensitive issues with a broader, more inquiring mind. It
is a mechanism to drive creative and critical thinking.
23. If multi-perspectivity, meaning employing multiple primary
and secondary sources, is “how” history should be taught, then the
other question remains as to “what” should be taught and when. The
“what history to teach when” question also relates to “who” we are
teaching. As was seen when researching this report, the people who
most need an intervention that bridges the deep divides, are those
closest to the heart of the realities of the conflict. For many
social classes, conflict does not interfere with their daily living;
for others violence and fear are part of day-to-day life. The latter
group are the ones who are surrounded by family and community interpretations
of the situation that they are in – that is, the most partisan views.
24. Lessons must be drawn from the fact that the genders differ
in what they relate to. When students were asked what events they
saw as significant in history, it was seen that “the extent of death
and hardship involved (regardless of the community affected)” was
a key factor and this was linked to a “need for remembrance”. Girls focused
on themes of “remembrance, co-operation and inequality” while boys
were more aware of “community conflict or the political and demographic
origins of the state”.
25. When schools ignore the world just outside the classroom rather
than taking the community into the classroom they negate the most
vital need of their most vulnerable students, which is to help put
a wider context to the small picture that is painted within individual
communities. While they have created “safe havens” for the children
for the duration of a school day they are also guilty of “…the surrender
of the field to the abusers of history” .
.26. Modern history did not take place in a vacuum, no history
does. Therefore it must be placed in the wider context, so that
the identity issues of here and now relate to life outside the home
country. This approach enables upcoming generations to see events
from another persons’ perspective. In so doing, they begin to chip away
at the remaining bigotry and sectarianism. Being confident about
one’s own identity and developing this from the introspective view
which is the most comfortable location for teacher and student alike,
is a challenge worth taking, but it must be backed by a political
will that is reflected in educational and general government policies.
27. According to recent research, and contrary to teachers’ beliefs,
students are crying out for the “bigger picture” to be drawn for
them in class. By reaching into the community where the child lives
for the point of departure for the history class, the teacher captures
the imagination of students and, perhaps, negative attention from
their families. Gradually moving from the uncontroversial to newer
topics would stretch boundaries that need to be challenged. In too
many cases, however, because it is not a history that we are comfortable
with, we avoid it. In so doing we exhibit a sense of intolerance
or sectarianism that we must question in ourselves.
28. We must challenge ourselves as politicians or teachers to
look to real change, real tolerance and real progress in respecting
diversity and embracing difference. This is the only path to peace
in the generations to come. Indeed, given the statistics in relation
to the age profile of European history teachers (60% will be retiring in
the next decade) this may prove to be a very opportune time to reach
out to new methods of subject delivery with the new cohort of student
teachers, in changing political times.
5. The example of Ireland
29. “The conflict in Northern Ireland from 1969 until
the beginning of the twenty-first century was by far the worst seen
in Western Europe since the Second World War” (3 665 deaths up to
2002).
30. “Many western observers had concluded that the intractable
nature of Northern Irish conflict and the obsession with religion
and seventeenth century history proved it to be a region which had
been left behind in a time warp”.
31. Now Northern Ireland’s two communities, who identify themselves
as British or Irish, exist in a peace process often held up as an
example for other areas of conflict to look to.
32. “The strength of the Agreement is that it provides us with
a truly comprehensive framework that tackles the big issues of identity
and allegiance. It provides us with institutional arrangements that
can support the key relationships on these islands and new institutions
that address the historic legacy of alienation from the State”.
33. Their devolved government is a power-sharing executive based
on the D’Hondt system. This ensures that all parties, no matter
how diverse their background, must work together and agree methods
of moving policy forward.
34. Just how far things have moved on is seen by recent events:
in early 2008, the Unionist Minister for Culture, Edmond Poots,
attended a Gaelic football match in Northern Ireland; Minister Eamon
O Cuiv provided a quarter of a million euros for Orange Halls in
the border areas of the Republic of Ireland; Republican Minister Conor
Murphy did a question-and-answer session in Ballymena Academy (a
Protestant grammar school where the first question asked was: “I’m
very interested in being involved in politics but can you confirm
that I really must be a terrorist first?”); and 200 students from
six schools in Ballymena toured the Irish Parliament on a cross-community
basis. It would have been impossible even to conceive of these actions
and reactions a few years earlier.
35. The ethnic diversity of the communities that make up the island
has also changed but, while the pertinent question in the past was
whether you were Protestant or Catholic, this has evolved with humour
into whether some of our newer citizens are “Catholic Muslims/Hindus/Jews”
or Protestant Muslims/Hindus/Jews”. As political resolutions bed
down we still see that there is a distance to go in relation to
overcoming old and new bigotry and sectarianism. Many people in
the Republic of Ireland think this is confined to the North; however, the
mutual understanding of those with whom we share the island, and
our collective place in the history of Europe and the world, is
not always as good as we would like to think. There is great expertise
in the area of conflict but there are still many lessons for the
island of Ireland to learn before there will be any level of self-congratulating.
36. How we got this far is not straightforward. The fact that
“here” is not a finishing line yet either is still obvious when
we see the continuation of sectarianism and bigotry and the building
of “peace walls” (83 exist now while in the 1990s there were only
18). The key fact is that – like any other move from conflict –
it is a process that has taken and continues to take time. “How
will those who write history be able to make sense of what happened
when we, who lived through it still cannot work it out?” is an important
refrain, as it cuts to the core difference between living through
events and looking at those events once, with the benefit of time,
they have become history.
37. From the “here and now” perspective, it is easy to say that
any one interpretation presented will have to be given by someone
who has been exposed to very many sources and resources with which
to write that text. Those who have lived to see the two “extreme
no” political parties sharing power in an executive while the two opposing
but traditionally “yes to peace” parties are minor players in that
devolved administration, will strongly support the concept of multi-perspectivity
in approaches to history teaching. It enables real analysis and
it enables people to deal with a future together in an even more
diverse society.
38. The work of breaking down the barriers is a political imperative.
In some cases interactions at community level have been stronger
than political ones. European peace and reconciliation monies (largely
focused in the border counties) have facilitated cross-border and
cross-community projects, both capital and non-capital, since the
beginning of the peace process. However, many communities do not
know, and therefore do not trust, each other. Political and religious
leadership to strongly signal that we should be striving towards
tolerance is as vital in the classroom as in the community.
39. This aim of having people from varied backgrounds given the
opportunity to meet each other is gradually involving schools and
students. A recent novel proposal by a group of diverse schools
to share a campus in Omagh may be another rejection of full integration
but the reality of the economic situation has forced a positive move
which would enable students to meet more easily. The Republican
minister visiting the Unionist school may well have been the first
chance for some of these students to meet a Catholic, never mind
a Republican. I trust that such a novel occurrence will become commonplace
and will help to de-demonise the “other side”. It is by talking
to each other that people can explore each others’ beliefs and values.
In tolerating difference we can identify with the bigger percentage
of what we have in common. History lessons need this element of primary
contact that pushes the bounds of what is comfortable.
40. In the North of Ireland, as the political situation has advanced
there have been substantial curriculum changes. The virtually totally
segregated school system was reflected in the history topic choice
that a student pursued. The curriculum followed related heavily
to whether a pupil attended a Catholic or a Protestant school. Not
only have they sought to widen the political topics that segregated
students are exposed to, but there is a move to introduce non-political
topics such as the Nobel poet Seamus Heaney. The fact that topics
that were traditionally not taught are now appearing in “the other”
schools shows progress.
41. Simple things like the significance of Protestant personalities
that were involved in the Irish independence movement is often lost
in the current religiously defined identity of Nationalist/Republican
as Catholic and Unionist/Loyalist as Protestant. Similarly the 1916
Rising is seen by some sections as a small group of Irish being
unpatriotic to Britain at a time when they were busy at war. In
fact the Irish were rebelling against colonialism in a manner that
mirrored events in the rest of the world from 1914 to 1918. In those examples
we have opportunities to link Ireland into the wider European and
world history and challenge the segregated notion of our past history.
These issues of identity and tolerance are a core issue for all
the people of the island to tackle, particularly those upcoming
generations that are currently in the school system, if peace is
to reign.
42. Recent attempts to have records from the War of Independence
(1920/21) internment camp at Ballykinlar, County Down, collated
and displayed has drawn some negative reaction. It displays the
real need for our politicians not to fear getting to grips with
our past. To “live and let live” and propagate a sense of tolerance
we need political leadership not just curriculum change or decrees
to teachers.
43. Research clearly shows that for many students they were turned
off history because of what they saw as an irrelevant focus solely
on political dimensions of our past to the exclusion of culture,
social, economic and other elements. This disengagement is being
tackled by many countries.
44. My report on the Irish context, shows that change is occurring that
is welcomed by teachers. The changes made, and the reaction to those
changes, are to be seen in detail in the specific report I have completed
on this topic. It encompasses responses to the in-service activity
carried out and evaluated by the Department of Education in the
Republic and indicates new efforts even at departmental inspectorate
level, being made to work on common themes across the island of
Ireland and the United Kingdom, which also teaches Irish history
modules.
shows that change is occurring that
is welcomed by teachers. The changes made, and the reaction to those
changes, are to be seen in detail in the specific report I have completed
on this topic. It encompasses responses to the in-service activity
carried out and evaluated by the Department of Education in the
Republic and indicates new efforts even at departmental inspectorate
level, being made to work on common themes across the island of
Ireland and the United Kingdom, which also teaches Irish history
modules. 45. A significant element of the change in the Republic of Ireland
is the reduction in size of the Second Level Senior Cycle syllabus
for history teaching and the introduction of non-political elements
to it. The smaller course will facilitate a deeper exploration of
the topics. Those topics cross the community divide. More change is
sought but there is the beginning of an understanding at Department
of Education level, of the importance of multiple perspective teaching.
46. The recognition that people want peace is an established fact.
The role of history teaching on the island can assist in that long-term
goal but the political process must continue to feed down to the
educational policy process. The style of governing in Northern Ireland
will be a great challenge in this process but it also has great potential.
6. Bosnia and Herzegovina
47. Despite the 1989 Education Reform Act that introduced
integrated education into the North of Ireland, as I have said,
there has been a very low uptake of it. In recent times there has
been a mooted project where a number of schools from a variety of
backgrounds have sought to share a potential campus. Each school would
retain its own identity but share facilities. This has been one
of only a few signals of movement in what has been a largely segregated
society. On the contrary, the segregation in Bosnia and Herzegovina
is much newer. In Ireland some feel that the solution to our conflict
lies in breaking down that segregation that so much of the executives’
budget is spent maintaining. It was interesting to hear President
Silajdzic regret the fact that some people are openly saying that
segregation is the way forward in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He aspires
to the implementation of Annex 4 of the Dayton Agreements and recognises
that more needs to be done to overcome what has become akin to apartheid.
In his response to my question at the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe session in September 2008, he called for assistance:
“I urge institutions such as this one and the bodies within it to
help us to end this practice, which is probably the wish of the
majority of people in Bosnia and Herzegovina”.
48. A process to address the issue of teaching history in Bosnia
and Herzegovina began in 1999. By 2001 the focus was on Recommendation
Rec(2001)15 of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers on
history teaching in 21st century Europe which states that history
teaching “…occupies a vital place in the training of responsible
and active citizens and in the developing of respect for all kinds
of differences, based on an understanding of national identity and
on principles of tolerance” and should “…enable European citizens
to enhance their own individual and collective identity through
knowledge of their common historical heritage in its local, regional,
national, European and global dimension”.
49. In 2002 there was an agreement that 70% of the curricula would
be a common content. The cantons built “national interest materials”
into the remaining 30% but there was not really an attempt at that
time to modernise the curricula. It really was only attempting to
make the curricula more ethnically acceptable. This gap between aspiration
and the reality of achieving a goal is not unique to any one post-conflict
country, either in the political or education process. However,
a process will develop steadily if nurtured. This was the key in
Bosnia and Herzegovina too.
50. By 2006, the common process guidelines, co-ordinated by the
Council of Europe, led to the drafting of new history and geography
textbooks. This led to both the textbooks and the handbook which
began the implementation of the reform. Of the contributions to
the manual, 50% were from local sources. The process involving the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission
to Bosnia and Herzegovina (which assists and encourages the local
authorities to develop a genuinely inclusive education system within its
post-conflict rehabilitation mandate); the Georg Eckert Institute
for International Textbook Research (Germany); the Government of
Canada (Local Initiatives Programme (LIP) funds from the Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA) office in Sarajevo); and above all the
experts in Bosnia and throughout Europe, is seen as an example to
other countries of how progress can be made.
51. By 2007 there were actually new textbooks in use. They are
genuinely supporting an innovative approach to the implementation
of the curriculum. These are beyond the initial “blackening out
of offensive material” and now include new content and methodology.
The regional seminars (the first round of which ended in June 2008)
on the teachers’ manual are now helping teachers to maximise the
potential of the new textbooks. At the seminar I attended (March
2008) there were some 50 teachers from a variety of backgrounds. The
teachers were very positive and engaged in the process of learning
about multi-perspectivity and the seminar was an example in itself
of interactive teaching, as teachers came to grips with a totally
new concept in teaching style compared to what they were used to
(full details of the teachers response to their in-service training
is available).
52. Teachers and teacher associations are becoming more and more
vocal in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The country is fragmented by nature
and, with at least 11 associations, this curtails the strength of
their input to decision making in real terms, for the moment. However,
all the training seminars that have taken place have had the full
and unanimous support of all ministries of education and pedagogical
institutions.
53. In 2007, with the financial help of the Netherlands, EUROCLIO
published a resource book in the local languages for assisting teachers
with sources. The sense at the seminar in Sarajevo was that six
or seven years ago this process would have been impossible – that
teachers would have felt a need to protect their “positions”. Right
up to fairly recently there would have been some level of rebellion
against any “new” approach. In March 2008 there were three groups
in the one room with no visible resistance. This is the same now,
I am told, for the students. There are school exchanges and cross-community
activities that would not have been possible a few years ago.
54. While I would strong concerns that the multiplicity of ministers
of education in the country will be a huge challenge in driving
forward any single vision of the future for history teaching, there
has been very significant work completed to date and this must continue.
The importance of that focus is underlined in the words of Claude
Kieffer, Director of Education, OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina:
In a post-conflict, multi-confessional, multinational state undergoing a difficult political, social and economic transition process, perhaps no issue is more important to the stability, security and reconciliation process than education. Education reform is needed to ensure that the ideological issues that fuelled the war – identity, history, culture, language, sovereignty, self-determination, individual and group rights – give way to a new phase of post-war confidence-building and reconciliation wherein an education system is gradually developed that is accessible, acceptable and effective for all citizens, irrespective of their ethnic origin or status.
7. Black Sea
55. In 1993 the Council of Europe heads of state and
government pledged to strengthen programmes seeking to combat prejudice
in history teaching and to encourage positive mutual attitudes to
religious and cultural differences. The Committee of Ministers 2001
recommendation on teaching history in 21st century Europe recognised
the changes taking place in Europe and focused on ensuring history
was free from political and ideological influences, that politicians
would not manipulate history and that it would be used not only
to give knowledge of national identity but also to reach out to
the richness of the past of other cultures. The recommendation revolved
around the understanding of difference; valuing diversity; respecting
others; developing intercultural dialogue; and building relationships
on the basis of mutual understanding and tolerance.
56. Out of this recommendation, and alongside it, there were projects
initiated in various locations to try to progress this thinking
in practical ways. Events began to be viewed beyond national borders,
beyond neat boundaries, as cultural and social realities were faced.
One project, the “Black Sea Initiative on History” began in 1999.
Romanian authorities initiated it but Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova,
the Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine were all partners in
ensuring a teaching pack could be developed that would give each
country teaching materials on their own and neighbouring countries
which would assist in what is personified in the 2001 recommendation.
Such a pack was published in 2004.
57. History had been confined to nation states and there was no
incentive to reach out beyond that. New strategies, it was recognised,
were needed to help us look to our past and so to determine our
future; to value other peoples’ histories and how varied religions
live together. This project was new and evolutionary rather than
static. It gave the teachers involved in it a unique learning curve
as they had to work with very limited information and stories on
the region. The sources were sparse, difficult to locate and they
encompassed 12 languages. The process itself assisted the evolution
of a very useful educational tool beyond the pack itself. Inter-disciplinary
teams of specialists are now more regularly researching in the area
and the material is now, as a result, much more accessible to all
countries.
58. There is now the genesis of a project involving the Mediterranean
Sea which is hoping to get the support of the European Centre for
Global Interdependence and Solidarity (North-South Centre) but is
very much at an early stage.
8. History education in Europe (ten years of co-operation between the Russian Federation and the Council of Europe, 1996-2006)
59. The Russian Federation has had representatives of
the Council of Europe, UNESCO, the Georg Eckert Institute for International
Textbook Research and EUROCLIO at events since 1996, with the regional
ministers of education also getting involved. The ten years of work
with the federation has enabled a large picture to be built up of
its cultural diversity, which feeds into the Council of Europe “The
Image of the Other in History Teaching” intergovernmental project,
currently underway and involving all 49 states party to the European Cultural
Convention.
60. Andrey Fursenko, Minister of Education and Science of the
Russian Federation saw the role of the ten years’ co-operation with
the Council of Europe as, “a preparation of standards in the area
of history education and the assessment of knowledge and skills
acquired by pupils when learning history”. He welcomed international
programmes which helped countries acquire an unbiased view of the
past and present through a reform of the history education in schools.
The minister had high praise for the teachers, methodologists, scholars,
textbook authors, publishers and national and international experts
who all co-operated together. There were bilateral and multilateral
interactions that included the “Black Sea Initiative on History”,
the “Tbilisi Initiative” and the programme of co-operation with
Japan.
61. The Russian experience covered three periods and topic areas:
- 1996-99 – This concerned the goals of history teaching; the role of standards in the process; how regional national and international elements can be integrated; the role of the textbook; and the role of in-service training.
- 2000-03 – Here there was an in-service focus where workshops embraced all parts of Russia. It informed teachers (for example, from the Chechen Republic, including those from refugee camps) about new methods and gave a platform for the exchange of views between educators from both the Russian Federation and the rest of Europe.
- 2004-06 – This was about intercultural dialogue and how to integrate it into the resource preparation and in-service training process so that diversity is presented as an enriching factor. The activity was pursued after 2006 with the main focus on teaching about cultural diversity through history aiming at strengthening social cohesion and co-operation in present-day society.
9. Cyprus
62. Like other countries mentioned earlier, Cyprus has
been a country where, with the co-operation between the Council
of Europe, many teacher trade unions and especially the Association
for Historical Dialogue and Research (AHDR), the goals of Recommendation
Rec(2001)15 on teaching history in 21st century Europe have been
taken up and driven forward at the level of teachers and teacher
trainers.
63. In 2004 the initial programme of six activities was launched
by the Council of Europe (the first in co-operation with the Cyprus
J.W. Fulbright Commission and the aforementioned AHDR). Six hundred participants
(teacher trainers, non-governmental organisation representatives,
specialists in initial training and history teachers from different
communities) attended seminars, workshops and expert meetings that
took place. The overall goal was to provide a wide forum for looking
at new approaches to teaching history and to work with the overall
multicultural Cypriot teaching community towards building confidence
and trust. It led to the identification of the need for supplementary
teaching materials that could be used in all communities and the
lack of methodological information on new interactive methods. All
activities from the start were led by Cypriot teachers and were
allied to their own teaching needs. Therefore it was practical and
focused and the identified needs drove the subsequent seminar topics.
64. The first result was that in 2004 “Multiperspectivity in teaching
and learning history” was published in English, Greek and Turkish. Teachers throughout Cyprus responded
to it positively. Through co-operation, it brought together innovative
history teaching approaches and dispersed that experience nationally
and internationally.
Teachers throughout Cyprus responded
to it positively. Through co-operation, it brought together innovative
history teaching approaches and dispersed that experience nationally
and internationally. 65. In 2005, the Cypriot teachers sought a similar resource to
that of the “Black Sea Initiative on History” teaching pack. They
saw the potential for having a supplementary teaching tool that
had both source material and guidelines on how to use those materials.
The sources were not to overlap with information in the national history
textbooks and the pack should focus on the cultural, social and
economic history of Cyprus. The goal was to see the multicultural
Cyprus from its rural to urban lifestyles, fashions, customs, housing
conditions and also the foreign visitor’s impression of the island.
66. Throughout 2006 work continued on practical ways of promoting
intercultural dialogue. Teacher training seminars and workshops
were held and history educators from Austria, Germany, Portugal,
Serbia and the UK were present to exchange views and experiences.
67. An important element of this was the evaluation of the activities
as they happened, which showed a strong positive reaction, as what
was being learned directly helped them in the classroom in terms
of identifying sources, developing teaching skills and lesson planning,
amongst other things. This was not specific to any particular community
but crossed the divides. Indeed the need for themes of common interest
drove one workshop in the direction of cross-community source exchange.
This type of practicality shows that the desired trust was certainly
developing and this expanded into workshops that were led by teams
of trainers that were mixed communities of both local and European
educators. The success was also seen in numbers as the December
2006 seminar had 500 applications for places.
68. Students representing the Doves Olympic Movement participated
in the last workshop. Often this direct feedback from the main players
in a classroom is a perspective that is left out and is yet central
to any debate.
69. In January 2009 this work resulted in the second trilingual
(English, Greek and Turkish) publication on “The Use of Sources
in Teaching and Learning History”. As its project manager, Tatiana Minkina-Milko
sums it up: “This publication reflects the main philosophy and structure
which in the future could be used as a basis for a supplementary
pedagogical set of materials”.
As its project manager, Tatiana Minkina-Milko
sums it up: “This publication reflects the main philosophy and structure
which in the future could be used as a basis for a supplementary
pedagogical set of materials”.70. It is important that the political systems recognise the value
of the work already underway. In the more positive climate that
is evolving in Cyprus between the current heads of the communities,
the structures for advancement need not be reinvented but simply
expanded and supported. Indeed the comments by both Mr Christofias
and Mr Talat at the plenary session in September 2008 did acknowledge
the role of history teaching in building on peace and reconciliation,
even if there was a political angle to the “hand of friendship”.
71. “Some people say there are two ‘peoples’ in Cyprus – no, there
is only one unique people consisting of two communities … this year
the government committed itself to implementing education reform.
This reform included the teaching of reconciliation. We won’t keep
silent about external interference and the occupation – these are
matters of fact … we are going step by step to change the books
of history in order to teach the young in an objective way and avoid
any hatred – avoid the teaching of hatred towards the Turkish Cypriots.
To clarify, we don’t hate the Turkish people – the people are always
innocent – only leaderships are guilty of many crimes... but it
is a matter of fact that we are taking concrete measures towards
what you have asked”.
72. “We have spent our childhood and adolescence on a volcano
ready to erupt at any minute. Now, we are concerned with rendering
secure the future of our children. And for this, we regard the establishment
of a lasting peace in Cyprus as an urgent humanitarian issue … Reaching
a comprehensive solution in Cyprus and rendering that solution sustainable
are related to how the young generations on both sides of the island
view one another. I can tell you with pleasure that our Minister
of Education has reviewed the textbooks being used in schools in
accordance with the principles and recommendations of the Council
of Europe. We are expecting the Greek Cypriot side to take action
at once and to eliminate language in their own textbooks that incites enmity
and hatred against the Turkish Cypriots. We expect the Council of
Europe to encourage and embolden the Greek Cypriot side in that
regard.”
73. A point made by Mr Talat that is echoed in most countries
is the need for education and educational resources to be in one’s
own mother tongue: “As the Turkish Cypriot side, we have provided
the Greek Cypriot children living in Northern Cyprus with the opportunity
to receive uninterrupted elementary and secondary school education
in their mother tongues, from Greek Cypriot teachers and in line
with the Greek Cypriot curriculum. You should encourage the Greek
Cypriot side to remain true to its written and oral promises to
the United Nations that it will establish a separate school for
Turkish Cypriot students and provide those children with education
in their mother tongue which is a basic human right”.
74. However, this is yet another process begun both in the political
sphere and at pedagogical level. The work of the Council of Europe
has been and should remain central to history teaching developments.
10. Other initiatives
75. In 1997, the Ministry of Education of Georgia started
a supplementary textbook on “A History of the Caucasus”, supported
by Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation.
76. In 1998, the Russian-Japanese project began, whereby the core
question explored was how Russia teaches about Japan and vice versa.
A supplementary teaching tool on the “History and Culture of Japan
in Documents and in Illustrations” was completed in 2003.
77. In 2006, the “European Dimension in History Teaching” yielded
a CD-ROM of historical sources, which includes recently accessed
archived materials from eastern Europe.
78. In 2007, a three-year Council of Europe project “The Image
of the Other in History Teaching” began. The goals here are to bring
forward a recommendation by the Committee of Ministers; to prepare
a teachers’ manual; and to produce general guidelines for the development
of history teaching in a multicultural context.
79. History teaching should be aimed, first and foremost, at strengthening
the reconciliation process, promoting principles of mutual respect
and opening additional doors for co-operation. History must also
go beyond political history to the cultural, economic, social and
everyday history that will then present the full picture for the
student and open up the idea of peace and engagement with others.
Psychologists confirmed that by concentrating mainly on political
issues, particularly on conflicts, one could provoke hostility and violence
in pupils.
80. The main issue that has been central to debate is that of
standards in history – who should be considered “in” and who is
“out” as a personality, an event or an interpretation. A newer phenomenon
is looking at the teaching requirements that relate to the students
ability to “process information and apply it in the new social environment”.
The standards issue needs to involve both those who set the standards
and the practising teacher and should “determine, above all, the
character and level of reasoning, modelling and creative activity of
students rather than the actual content of history curricula”.
81. There has just been the conclusion of a joint commission (November
2008) between Russia and the Ukraine led by Academician Alexander
Chubarayan. Each country completed a comprehensive history of their country
and each book has been translated into the language of the other
country. There has already been some negative media comment which
is evidence that some in our communities need to be convinced of
the need for movement towards understanding rather than continuing
hostilities.
11. Conclusion
82. Conflict resolution remains a process. Building confidence
at political level is a process to which the importance of patience
is central, as Senator George Mitchell said after the Irish peace
process began. The confidence to deal with sensitive political issues,
be they in a political sphere or at a school level, is a process too.
All of these processes are vital if peace, understanding and tolerance
are to triumph at every level of our society. While the process
cannot be rushed, it also cannot be allowed to remain static. The
various media forms of television, radio, papers, books and magazines
are not static. They are all instantaneous conveyors of current
events or “history”. Peace processes at political level cannot ignore
the need to pass new skills and opportunities to our forthcoming
generations through the education system so that they can critically
view that type of information and understand that there are often
messages contained both overtly and subliminally. The lead in education
must come from the political sphere.
83. As politicians “shadow box” and get to know their political
opponents, teachers and students too must also be helped to get
to know each other in person, as un-demonised people. It is harder
to hate someone you can put a face to than someone you never meet.
We can meet each other through history teaching. History teachers
will teach what is contained in the curriculum. The wider the choice
available the more certain that “sides” will choose their favoured
topics and avoid the difficult ones, as has been proven to date.
Keeping a curriculum to a manageable size will maximise the impact
on the student cohort.
84. What is contained in the curriculum must be decided in collaboration
with teachers as well as other professionals. Who writes history
is also vital in these times as we watch the instant television
reportage of current events. It is essential that historians write
history and students then gain the insights from primary and secondary
sources, including historical novels, films, Internet sites, engagement
through technology with students of other countries, visiting high
quality facilities such as the Warsaw Uprising Museum, and engaging with
the humour of text messages. Indeed I was recently introduced to
the fact that there is a Canadian television programme called “Little
Mosque on the Prairie” which dismantles old prejudices and is humorous. The
role for humour based on knowledge of other cultures, as well as
on mutual respect in “getting to know the other”, is not fully exploited
as yet.
85. It will need more resources and continual evaluation and review,
but when we have a will to progress, it has been seen that there
has been a way to proceed. The goal is a worthy one and, while not
underestimating the significant challenges which remain for everyone
involved, I commend the great work being undertaken to date – volumes
are being written but many experiences are being had in real terms
“on the ground”. There would be no capacity in a study such as this
to define all of those activities but just to indicate a few of
them, as has been done to a small sample of those projects aimed
at assisting in the new challenges of teaching history in conflict
and post-conflict areas. I leave the final words, which echo those
written on the Garrick Bar in Belfast, to Luisa Black who has gained
significant experience in this field: “Looking at the past with
the eyes of the future can lead us to false conclusions unless we
really see when we look”.
Reporting Committee: Committee on Culture, Science and Education
Reference to committee: Doc. 11338, Reference 3400 of 21 January 2008
Draft recommendation unanimously adopted by the committee on 28 April 2009
Members of the committee: Mrs Anne Brasseur, (Chairperson), Mr Detlef Dzembritzki (1st Vice-Chairperson), Mr Mehmet Tekelioğlu (2nd Vice-Chairperson), Mrs Miroslava Němcová, (3rd Vice-Chairperson) Mr Vicenç Alay Ferrer, Mr Florin Serghei Anghel, Mrs Aneliya Atanasova, Mr Lokman Ayva, Mr Walter Bartoš (alternate: Mrs Alena Gajdůšková), Mrs Deborah Bergamini, Mrs Oksana Bilozir (alternate: Mrs Olha Herasym’yuk), Mrs Guðfinna S. Bjarnadóttir, Mrs Rossana Boldi, Mr Ivan Brajović, Mr Petru Călian, Mr Miklós Csapody, Mr Vlad Cubreacov, Mrs Lena Dąbkowska-Cichocka, Mr Joseph Debono Grech, Mr Ferdinand Devínsky, Mr Daniel Ducarme, Ms Åse Gunhild Woie Duesund, Mrs Anke Eymer, Mr Gianni Farina, Mr Relu Fenechiu, Mrs Blanca Fernández-Capel Baños, Mr Axel Fischer, Mr Gvozden Srećko Flego, Mr Dario Franceschini, Mr José Freire Antunes (alternate: Mr José Luis Arnaut), Mrs Gisèle Gautier, Mr Ioannis Giannellis-Theodosiadis, Mr Martin Graf, Mr Oliver Heald, Mr Rafael Huseynov, Mr Fazail İbrahimli, Mr Mogens Jensen, Mr Morgan Johansson, Mrs Francine John-Calame, Ms Flora Kadriu, Mrs Liana Kanelli, Mr Jan Kaźmierczak, Miss Cecilia Keaveney, Mrs Svetlana Khorkina (alternate: Mr Igor Chernyshenko), Mr Serhii Kivalov, Mr Anatoliy Korobeynikov, Ms Elvira Kovács, Mr József Kozma, Mr Jean-Pierre Kucheida, Mr Ertuğrul Kumcuoğlu, Ms Dalia Kuodytė, Mr Markku Laukkanen, Mr René van der Linden, Mrs Milica Marković, Mrs Muriel Marland-Militello, Mr Andrew McIntosh, Mrs Maria Manuela de Melo, Mrs Assunta Meloni (alternate: Mr Pier Marino Mularoni), Mr Paskal Milo, Ms Christine Muttonen (alternate: Mr Albrecht Konecny), Mr Tomislav Nikolić, Mr Edward O’Hara, Mr Kent Olsson, Mr Andrey Pantev, Mrs Antigoni Papadopoulos, Mrs Zatuhi Postanjyan, Mrs Adoración Quesada Bravo, Mr Frédéric Reiss, Mrs Mailis Reps, Mrs Andreja Rihter, Mr Nicolae Robu, Mr Paul Rowen, Mrs Anta Rugāte, Mrs Ana Sánchez Hernández, Mr Leander Schädler, Mr Yury Solonin, Mr Christophe Steiner, Mrs Doris Stump, Mr Valeriy Sudarenkov, Mr Petro Symonenko, Mr Guiorgui Targamadzé, Mr Hugo Vandenberghe, Mr Klaas De Vries, Mr Piotr Wach, Mr Wolfgang Wodarg.
NB: The names of the members who took part in the meeting are printed in bold
Secretariat of the committee: Mr Ary, Mr Dossow