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Reply to Recommendation | Doc. 14794 | 11 January 2019
Humanitarian needs and rights of internally displaced persons in Europe
1. The Committee of Ministers has examined
Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation
2126 (2018) on “Humanitarian needs and rights of internally
displaced persons in Europe” and has brought it to the attention of
the member States. It has also transmitted it to the Steering Committee
for Human Rights (CDDH) and to the Committee of Legal Advisers on
Public International Law (CAHDI), for information and possible comments.
2. The Committee of Ministers recalls that notwithstanding the
rights and obligations of other States or appropriate international
organisations under international law, the primary responsibility
for protecting internally displaced persons and their rights, as
well as for providing them with humanitarian assistance, lies with
the State concerned, as stated in its Recommendation Rec(2006)6 on
internally displaced persons. The same Recommendation also provides,
inter alia, that internally displaced persons have the right to
return voluntarily, in safety and in dignity, to their homes or
places of habitual residence, or to resettle in another part of
the country in accordance with the European Convention on Human
Rights. In addition, internally displaced persons are entitled to
the enjoyment of their property and possessions in accordance with
human rights law.
3. The Committee of Ministers underlines the need to apply all
relevant obligations under international humanitarian law in situations
of armed conflict as well as international human rights law, including
the European Convention on Human Rights (“the Convention”) as interpreted
by the European Court of Human Rights (“the Court”), to internally
displaced persons in the member States. Moreover, it recalls that
the Court has recognised that the arbitrary displacement of persons
from their habitual place of residence is in breach of the Convention,
and that it is crucial to guarantee their human rights and to execute
judgments regarding them.
4. The Committee of Ministers fully recognises the importance
of ensuring the execution of the Court’s judgments on internally
displaced persons as a matter of priority and urgency. There are
a number of pending cases concerning internally displaced persons,
revealing important and complex structural problems, many of them
related to protracted conflicts and situations in post-conflict
regions. The Committee of Ministers will continue to use all the
tools at its disposal, including the procedures under Article 46
paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Convention, when performing the important
task of supervising the execution of judgments. The Committee of Ministers
also recognises the importance of providing support to States in
addressing complex execution processes, in particular in situations
relating to unresolved conflict zones.
5. In the light of these considerations, the Committee of Ministers
does not consider it opportune to follow up on the measures proposed
in paragraph 3 of the Recommendation.