Doc. 12803

5 December 2011

Election of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights

Communication

from the Committee of Ministers

Letter from the Chairperson of the Ministers’ Deputies to the President of the Parliamentary Assembly, dated 24 November 2011

Mr President,

Pursuant to Article 9 of Resolution Res(99)50 on the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, I would like to inform you that, out of five candidates submitted, the committee of Ministers, at the 1127th meeting of the Deputies (22-24 November 2011), has drawn up a list of three candidates following a voting procedure, the names being presented in alphabetical order so as to indicate that the Committee of Ministers does not wish to express any preference between candidates included in the list.

I enclose a copy of the decision in both official languages.

Yours sincerely,

Signed: Eleanor FULLER

Chairperson of the Ministers’ Deputies

1127th (Budget) meeting – 22-24 November 2011

Item 4.1

Election of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights
(Resolution Res(99)50, CM/Inf(2011)47, CM(2011)137, CM(2011)154, CM(2011)159, CM(2011)160, CM(2011)161 rev)

Decision

The Deputies decided to transmit to the Parliamentary Assembly, in accordance with Article 9, paragraph 1, of Resolution Res(99)50, the following list of three candidates, in alphabetical order:

– Mr Pierre-Yves MONETTE (Belgium)

– Mr Nils MUIŽNIEKS (Latvia)

– Mr Frans TIMMERMANS (Netherlands)

APPENDIX 1

Strasbourg, 28 October 2011

(English translation)

Dear Secretary General,

With reference to your letter of 22 August 2011 and in accordance with Article 9.2 of Committee of Ministers Resolution (99) 50, I have the honour of forwarding the candidature of Mr Pierre-Yves Monette for the post of Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe.

I am convinced that Mr Monette is an excellent candidate for this important post in view of his qualifications, his personal commitment and his vast experience in the field of human rights, international mediation and strengthening the rule of law.

As a senior expert in the United Nations Department for Political Affairs and a professor at the College of Europe (Bruges), Mr Monette has for several years been making an active contribution to various international organisations (UN, Council of Europe, European Union, Francophonie). In his former capacity as Federal Ombudsman, acting also as National Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Monette was particularly active in the networks of national and regional ombudsmen, assisting with the drafting of the law establishing a national ombudsman in various member states. I have no doubt that his perseverance, multicultural sensitivity and strong sense of dialogue would be valuable assets for carrying out a demanding role where independence, impartiality and developing relationships based on trust with all member states are essential.

A lawyer and philologist by training, and author of numerous publications in the field of human rights and the rule of law, Mr Monette could also put to good use for the benefit of the Council of Europe his detailed knowledge of the “new” human rights.

Please find enclosed his CV, providing detailed information on his qualifications.

Yours faithfully,

Signed:

Marjan Janssens

Chargée d’Affaires a.i.

APPENDIX 2

Letter of Candidacy for the Council of Europe

Human Rights Commissioner

The Human Rights Commissioner’s post requires profound professional expertise in human rights, broad experience, intimate knowledge of the Council of Europe and its place in the European human rights regime, and a well-honed sense of how to get things done. I believe I can bring all of these qualities to the office. I intend to continue the good work done by the Commissioner’s office to lead it successfully in the challenging environment it will face over the next 6 years.

I have worked in human rights for the last 17 years in a wide range of capacities. Since 2005, I have been a member with regard to Latvia of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI). I gained sufficient respect for my knowledge and leadership from my colleagues in ECRI that they elected me chairman as of January 2010. As chairman, I have not only acquired an insider’s perspective on the workings of the Council of Europe, but also a keen sense of its place in the broader European human rights architecture and the imperative of seeking synergies with others. As chairman of ECRI, I have honed my diplomatic skills – skills I developed earlier as a minister with a broad and sensitive portfolio in the Latvian government.

From 2002 through 2004 I was a minister in the Latvian government responsible for social integration, anti-discrimination, minority rights, and civil society development. Here, I learned the politics of human rights from the inside – the constraints governments face and their sensitivities, the coalitions and compromises that must be forged, the importance of relations with the media and civil society, and the opportunities available to people of good will to work together to implement change.

I have also had the privilege of working in an academic setting and in civil society. I have a Ph.D. in political science and have focussed my recent teaching and research on issue of racism, immigrant integration, minorities throughout Europe and the politics of post-communist transformation. In the 1990s I led Latvia’s foremost human rights non-governmental organization engaged in human rights education, monitoring closed institutions, promoting gender equality and minority rights. We received several regional awards for our work. My native languages are English and Latvian, but I have proficient French and Russian.

What would I do as Human Rights Commissioner? It is essential to maintain the independence of the office and take an equal approach to all member states. At the same time, the Commissioner is in a unique position to respond to urgent situations and opportunities on an ad hoc basis. Maintaining independence should be supplemented by a more intense exploration of opportunities for synergies with other Council of Europe monitoring mechanisms, political bodies, and assistance programmes, especially in the context of the ongoing reform of the Council of Europe.

With regard to external partners, establishing more sustained cooperation with the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) and the OSCE is essential. In addition to continuing cooperation with FRA on issues related to discrimination against various vulnerable groups, one possible area of cooperation could be data protection and human rights. A possible area of cooperation with the OSCE could be on combating racism in and exploiting the human rights potential of social networking sites, an issue not really addressed to date.

The core partners of the Commissioner in member states are national human rights institutions/ombudsmen. Here, in addition to working together to exchange good practices in keeping these organizations strong, independent, and effective, I would like to explore ways in which cooperation can be intensified between these bodies and academic institutions promoting human rights education and ministries of education. These bodies also have a key role in promoting human rights in closed institutions – police detention cells, prisons, and psychiatric institutions.

The Commissioner should play an active role in following up on the Council of Europe report by the Group of Eminent Persons “Living Together in Europe” and its focus on Roma, migrants and asylum-seekers and the human rights aspects of integration policies.

The Commissioner should also continue to promote the human rights of vulnerable children – especially disabled children, unaccompanied minor migrants and asylum-seekers, victims of trafficking, those who are institutionalized, as well as those who are stateless. Gender equality issues will also remain high on my agenda, including issues of non-discrimination, domestic violence and trafficking. Here, the Commissioner should explore more intense cooperation with new Council of Europe monitoring mechanisms. Social and economic rights more broadly will continue to demand the attention of the Commissioner, particularly in the context of the ongoing global economic crisis.

I think it is high time for someone from the Eastern half of Europe to assume a prominent European human rights post such as that of the Commissioner. Those who helped to build freedom in a post-communist context have a special contribution to make to European human rights culture. As a candidate from Latvia with broad experience all over the continent and a long-term commitment to human rights, I believe I am well-suited to meet the challenges of the office.

Sincerely,

Nils Muiznieks

Candidate for the post of Human Rights Commissioner

Republic of Latvia

CURRICULUM VITAE

Name, Surname:               NILS MUIZNIEKS

Sex:        Male

Date of birth:        31.01.1964.

Nationality:       Latvia

December 2005-present

Director, Advanced Social and Political Research Institute (ASPRI), Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia.

Direct research and manage staff of 19; Deputy director State research programme “National Identity”; Teach “International Organisations and Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe”, “Racism and Intolerance in Contemporary Europe”, “Russia’s Policy in the CIS and the Baltic States”; Chair graduate seminar “Analysing political, social and economic processes in the post-Soviet space”;

November 2002 - December 2004

Special Assignments Minister for Social Integration Affairs, Government of the Republic of Latvia.

Full Cabinet Minister responsible for social integration policy, rights of persons belonging to national minorities, combating racial/ethnic discrimination, civil society development; Responsible for legislation in anti-discrimination, social integration, legal framework for NGOs; Coordinated inter-ministerial working groups for National Programme on Tolerance, policy framework for strengthening civil society, cooperation with Latvians abroad; Advised local governments on integration policy; represented Latvia before EU, OSCE, UN.

June 1994 - November 2002

Director, Latvian Centre for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies (now Latvian Human Rights Centre), Riga, Latvia.

Led award-winning human rights NGO (EU-USA Democracy and Civil Society Award 1998, 1st OSCE Max van der Stoel prize 2003); Organisational focus – human rights education/promotion, closed institutions, gender equality, rights of persons belonging to national minorities; Supervised human rights monitoring, research, advocacy, education, legal aid, staff of 10.

Part-time programme director, Human Rights and Tolerance Programme, Soros Foundation – Latvia, Riga, Latvia.

Developed strategy on supporting civil society human right activism; Developed projects: citizenship awareness campaign, creation of regional human rights centres, etc.; Administered grants competitions on ethnic dialogue, human rights coalitions.

Council of Europe

Member with regard to Latvia (since 4/2005) and Chair (since 1/2010) of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI).

Selected activities: Chair ECRI plenary sessions, represent ECRI before CM, PACE, other CoE mechanisms, international partners (EU, OSCE, UN); Rapporteur for country reports on Poland, the Netherlands, Slovakia; Member of working groups for Ireland, Iceland, Norway; Chaired working group on GPR No. 11 on combating racism in policing; Lead member in national roundtables in Germany, France.

International human rights evaluation work

March-April 2011, evaluator of a Western donor’s democracy promotion in Belarus;

January 2007, expert on conflict resolution/social cohesion, Joint EU assessment mission to Georgia (Abkhazia and South Ossetia), organized by the EU Special Representative to the South Caucasus and the European Commission;

Spring 2008, Evaluator, European Commission, 7th Framework Research Programme, Citizenship and Democratic Ownership, Brussels, Belgium, Spring 2008.

International human rights training work

May 2009, trainer, minority integration and Europe, Institute for Security and Development Policy, Stockholm/Georgian Institute for International and Strategic Studies, Tbilisi, Georgia;

April 2008, trainer, minority integration and Europe, Latvian Institute for International Affairs/Moldovan Institute for Development and Social Initiatives, Chisinau, Moldova.

Other academic human rights work

Member, academic advisory board, European Centre on Minority Issues (ECMI), Flensburg, Germany, since 2010;

Member, European Council on Foreign Relations (London), steering group, European Foreign Policy Scorecard 2010, esp. EU human rights policy, since 2009.

1993       Ph.D., political science, University of California at Berkeley, USA

1988       M.A., political science, University of California at Berkeley, USA

1986        B.A., politics, Princeton University, summa cum laude, USA

1985        Intensive summer Russian, Monterey Institute of International Studies, USA

1984        Semester abroad at the University of Grenoble, France (during study at Princeton University)

2 books, 33 book chapters or articles, 14 edited volumes, 12 policy papers, 6 reviews, >100 press articles.

2011 „Latvian-Russian Memory Battles before the European Court of Human Rights“. In The Geopolitics of History in Latvian-Russian Relations, ed. Nils Muiznieks. Riga: University of Latvia Press, pp. 219-238.

2010 „Social Integration: A Brief Intellectual History“. In How Integrated is Latvian Society? An Audit of Achievements, Failures and Challenges, ed. Nils Muiznieks. Riga: University of Latvia Press, pp. 7-32.

2008 “Latvia: managing post-imperial minorities” (with David J. Galbreath). In Minority Rights in Central and Eastern Europe, ed. Bernd Rechel. London: Routledge, pp. 135-150.

2007 Editor, The National Minorities Convention – the Prevention of Discrimination and the Preservation of Identity in Latvia. Riga: University of Latvia (in Latvian).

2006 Editor, The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities: Europe’s Experience for Latvia. Riga: CoE Information Bureau (in Latvian).

2005 “Preface”, “Latvia”. In Racist Extremism in Central and Eastern Europe, ed. Cas Mudde. London: Routledge, pp. X-XII, 101-128.

2003 “The European Union, democratization, and minorities in Latvia” (with Ilze Brands Kehris). In The European Union and Democratization, ed. Paul J. Kubicek. London: Routledge, pp. 30-55.

2002 “Private & Public Prejudice”, Social Research (69, No. 1, Spring), pp. 195-200.

2002 “Human Development and Human Rights”, “Non-Citizens”. In Human Development, ed. Evita Lune. Riga: UNDP (in Latvian), pp. 31-38 and 216-223.

2001 “Extremist Threats to Democracy in Europe in 2000 and 2001”. Background Paper for the Political Affairs Committee of the PACE, November 2001.

2001 “Expert Review Mission on Latvian National Human Rights Office and Ombudsman Functions in Latvia”. With John Hucker, Janis Mazeiks, Lauri Lahtimaja. Riga: UNDP/OSCE Mission to Latvia. 19 June 2001.

2000 “The Struggle Against Racism and Xenophobia in Central and Eastern Europe: Trends, Obstacles and Prospects”. Paper for the Regional Seminar ‘The Protection of Minorities and Other Vulnerable Groups and Strengthening Human Rights Capacity at National Level”, UN document HR/WSW/SEM.2/2000/BP.1, 30 June 2000.

a. Mother tongues: Latvian and English

b. Official languages:

c. Other languages: Russian: fluent reading, proficient speaking, basic writing

Cross of St. Mary, Third Class, Republic of Estonia, 2005

Social Unity Award, Social Integration Foundation, Latvia, October 2002

APPENDIX 3