14 April 1993

Doc. 6812

1403-13/4/93-2-E

REPORT

on the Council of Europe's North-South Centre:

role and achievements

(Rapporteur: Mr HELLSTRÖM,

Sweden, Social Democrat)

Summary:

      The Council of Europe's European Centre for Global Interdependence and Solidarity in Lisbon - generally known as the "North-South Centre" - was created in 1989 as a "pilot project for an initial period of three years", at the end of which the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe should "review the mandate of the Centre, and decide on its future". The Assembly, on whose initiative the Centre was set up (see Recommendation 1095 (1989) on North-South interdependence and solidarity) should contribute to the evaluation of the Centre's role and achievements at the end of the three year trial period.

      To a large extent, the North-South Centre has realised the tasks given to it. For this reason, it merits continued existence. Indeed, it may be considered even more necessary now than at its creation, considering Europe's current rise in xenophobia and other tensions. The Assembly welcomes the fact that fifteen member states of the Council of Europe have so far joined the Centre, and expresses the strong wish that all those remaining will follow suit. However, the Centre's decision-making structure is in need of revision.

I. Draft resolution

1.       Acting on the Assembly's Resolution 1095 (1989) on North-South interdependence and solidarity, in 1989 the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe created, in the form of a Partial Agreement, a European Centre for Global Interdependence and Solidarity, generally known as the "North-South Centre".

2.       The purpose of the Centre is, in the words of its Statute, to "provide a framework for European co-operation for the purpose of increasing public awareness of global interdependence issues, and to promote policies of solidarity in conformity with the aims and principles of the Council of Europe", notably human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Statute also declares that "the Centre shall be set up as a pilot project for an initial period of three years, at the end of which the Committee of Ministers shall be presented with a report on its achievements and its specific contribution. On the basis of this report, the Committee of Ministers shall review the mandate of the Centre, and decide on its future".

3.       The Assembly - in its capacity as a partner in the Centre's quadripartite decision-making structure of parliaments, governments, non-governmental organisations and local and regional authorities - has participated in the evaluation of the Centre's first three years of existence, and has reached the conclusions given below.

4.       To a large extent, the North-South Centre has realised the tasks given to it, particularly in the fields of public information and media relations, education and training for global interdependence, and dialogue for global partnership. For this reason the North-South Centre merits continued existence. Indeed, it may be considered even more necessary now than at its creation, considering Europe's current rise in xenophobia and other tensions. In spite of initial difficulties and shortcomings, also referred to in Assembly Resolution 982 (1992) on the follow-up to the 1988 European Public Campaign on North-South Interdependence and Solidarity, it has made and continues to make a positive contribution to North-South understanding in Europe.

5.       This notwithstanding, the Centre should pay continued attention to the proposals contained in Resolution 982. In particular, it should heed the resolution's call for it to "focus on its central and unique mission of promoting public awareness in Europe of North-South issues and of counteracting 'Euro-egoism' ... [and to] build on human rights and democracy, the pillars of the Council of Europe - strengthening the trend toward democracy in the developing world and working toward greater tolerance in Europe". Furthermore, it should strengthen the partnership of the South in the Centre's life, and ensure that its national committees reach a satisfactory level of activity.

6.       The Assembly welcomes the fact that fifteen member states of the Council of Europe, as well as the European Community, have so far joined the Centre: Cyprus, France, Finland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey. Furthermore, several Council of Europe member states provide voluntary contributions. The Assembly expresses the strong wish that all remaining Council of Europe member states will soon join the Centre.

7.        The Centre's decision-making structure is in need of revision. In particular, the Consultative Committee should be restructured with a view to its becoming more efficient, and perhaps transformed into a consultative assembly. Furthermore, the size of the Executive Council should be considerably reduced in the interest of working efficiency.

8.       Although the Centre's quadripartite structure deserves to be maintained, ways should be sought to improve its functioning. Care should be taken not to have meetings of the Centre's organs take place so often as to overburden the Centre's staff and keep it from concentrating on operational activities.

9.       The Assembly welcomes the Centre's current and planned activities and recommends that those on trans-Mediterranean co-operation and xenophobia be considered as priority areas.

II. Explanatory memorandum

by Mr HELLSTRÖM

Contents

Page

I.       Introduction        5

II.       Some achievements of the Centre        6

III.       The Centre's budget and structure        7

APPENDIX 1:       Provisional list of proposed activities in 1993 of the

Council of Europe's European Centre for Global

Interdependence and Solidarity ("North-South Centre")        12

APPENDIX 2:       Resolution (89) 14 on the creation of a European Centre

for Global Interdependence and Solidarity (adopted by

the Committee of Ministers on 16 November 1989

at its 85th session)        13

I.       Introduction

1.       Acting on a proposal of the Parliamentary Assembly (see Recommendation 1095 (1989)), the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe decided in 1989, through Resolution (89) 14 (set out in Appendix 2 to this report), to create a European Centre for Global Interdependence and Solidarity in Lisbon. The Centre started its work in May 1990.

2.       Resolution (89) 14 stipulates that the Centre should "provide a framework for European co-operation for the purpose of increasing public awareness of global interdependence issues, and to promote policies of solidarity in conformity with the aims and principles of the Council of Europe".

3.       It goes on to specify, in its Article 4, that the "Centre shall be set up as a pilot project for an initial period of three years, at the end of which the Committee of Ministers shall be presented with a report on its achievements and its specific contribution. On the basis of this report, the Committee of Ministers shall review the mandate of the Centre, and decide on its future."

4.       The present report has been drawn up in pursuance of that provision. It follows a proposal by the North-South Centre's Executive Council. Following the procedure of the review of the pilot phase of the Centre as agreed on by the Executive Council and specified by its Bureau, personalities related to the four quadrilogue partners (governments, parliaments, NGOs and local and regional authorities) have been invited to comment on the draft report of the Centre's first three years of activities. Having been asked to fulfil this task on behalf of the representatives of parliaments within the quadrilogue partners, your Rapporteur felt it more appropriate to prepare and to present such a comment as a report on behalf of the Parliamentary Assembly and its Committee on Economic Affairs and Development. It was the Assembly's Resolution 1095 on North-South Interdependence and Solidarity which suggested the creation of the Centre.

5.       The impressions contained in this explanatory memorandum result from interviews with members of the Centre's Executive Council, Consultative Committee and staff, and above all a meeting which the sub-committee held in Lisbon in January 1993. (A previous meeting of the sub-committee at the Centre took place in November 1991, giving rise to the proposals regarding the Centre contained in the Assembly's Resolution 982 (1992) on the follow-up to the 1988 European Public Campaign on North-South Interdependence and Solidarity.)

6.       Furthermore, the committee was represented on the Centre's Consultative Committee and Executive Council in Strasbourg in February 1993. The discussions at these organs' meetings, together with the Executive Director's draft report on the Centre's three-year pilot phase, have also provided important inputs to the present draft report. Finally, the draft resolution gave rise to a detailed discussion when it was adopted at the meeting of the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development in Valletta, Malta, on 24 March 1993. The Rapporteur thanks his colleagues on the committee for all their valuable comments given during the elaboration of the report.

II.       Some achievements of the Centre

7.       It would serve no useful purpose to examine in a report of this kind each and every activity of the Centre during its three years of existence. Rather, it will concentrate on certain areas where it feels that the Centre's functioning can be improved, or its activities more sharply focused, or brought more into line with what should be its proper mission. As any human endeavour the Centre has learned from experience, and the Assembly has not refrained from providing its sometimes critical comments on the one or the other activity.

8.       Looking at the Centre's main activities between 1990 and the present time, they can be grouped under three different headings, or "windows" (see also Appendix 1): public information and media relations; education and training for global interdependence; and dialogue for global partnership.

9.       Under the heading public information and media relations, one above all notes the One World project, involving not only television stations all around Europe, coordinated broadcasting programmes on North-South themes ("One World in the Air"), but also numerous parallel activities meant to supplement such programmes in the form of seminars, publications and "education packs" ("One World on the Ground"). The television broadcasters in question have now created a permanent secretariat in London, and plan a series of similarly co-ordinated programmes for the period 1993-95, on such themes as "Population, People and Migration". In the Rapporteur's view, such an initiative as the "One World Project", which makes millions of European television viewers better aware of development issues, would not have come about without the Centre's existence. And it is fully in line with the previously mentioned Assembly Resolution 982 (1992), when it calls on the Centre to "focus on its central and unique mission of promoting public awareness in Europe of North-South issues and of counteracting 'Euro-egoism' ... [and to] build on human rights and democracy, the pillars of the Council of Europe - strengthening the trend toward democracy in the developing world and working toward greater tolerance in Europe".

10.       Also the Centre's newsletter "The Interdependent" published since May 1992, which is circulated among all the Centre's interlocutors and persons with responsibility in North-South matters, is a highly useful tool of information, reporting not only on the Centre's own activities, but equally on those of other North-South institutions.

11.       Under the first "window", the Centre is also heeding another advice given in Resolution 982, namely that it should "facilitate contacts between non-governmental organisations active in the North-South field, for example by establishing a catalogue of organisations concerned with development education, and by increasing awareness of global interdependence, and by building up a document base on these issues". The Centre is at present establishing a comprehensive, computerised documentation and activities reference system in the field of North-South education throughout Europe. Once it has been built up, it is essential that NGOs and others learn about its existence and consult it, in order to draw on each other's experiences and avoid duplication of effort. This will no doubt require a major information effort on the Centre's part.

12.       The Centre's second main type of activities is grouped under the heading Education and Training for Global Interdependence. They involve such things as education and training workshops (held in places like Cartigny, Uppsala, Bruges and Barcelona). The placement of "tutors" or "educationalists" serving with the Centre (the Sub-Committee "North-South: Europe's Role" has had occasion to meet several of them during its visits to Lisbon), and a so-called Youth Programme. The latter includes a "Youth Links North-South" initiative of workshops among youth leaders and, in future, seminars on subjects like xenophobia and intolerance. The latter subject is of particular importance to the Assembly, and the sub-committee saw a need for the Centre to become more actively involved in it during the coming years. As one member put it, "the South is now also in the North".

13.       The Centre's third "window" is "Dialogue for Global Partnership". It has given rise to a series of conferences, or "Encounters". Thus, an "Africa-Europe Encounter" was held in 1989 (that is before the official start of the Centre); an "East-West-South Encounter" was organised in Budapest in 1990 on the theme "The effects of Europe's transformation on North-South Co-operation"; and a "Latin-America/Caribbean-Europe Encounter" took place in Santiago de Chile in 1991. The Rapporteur is heartened by the objective evaluation by the Centre's Executive Director of this last event, and by his determination to learn from certain shortcomings observed in its organisation. All in all, then, the Rapporteur finds that the North-South Centre is becoming increasingly focused on its central, and unique, mission, and that it is making a valuable contribution to North-South understanding in Europe, an awareness that otherwise might have been less pronounced.

14.       In line with the Council of Europe's increasing importance as a proponent of human rights and democracy also outside Europe, the Centre organised a very useful international Colloquy on Democracy and Human Rights in Lisbon in April 1992 (in co-operation with the Portuguese Government) with a view to fostering the process of democratisation in the Third World1. This is in line with the Council's own "expanded" role of promoting human rights and democracy, also outside its present membership. One only has to think of the Parliamentary Assembly series of "Strasbourg Conferences on Parliamentary Democracy" (the last one held in September 1991), which continuously stress these principles.

III.       The Centre's budget and structure

15.       When the North-South Centre was created in November 1989, it had ten member states. These were: Cyprus, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, San Marino and Spain. Finland, Liechtenstein, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey subsequently joined the Centre as full members, resulting in the total current membership of fifteen. Several other states have communicated a desire to join the Centre in the near future. The Centre works in close co-operation with the European Community, which participates in its management structure and supports its activities through a direct budget contribution.

16.       In the Centre's founding year 1990, its ordinary budget voted by the representatives of participating states, amounted to 2 million French francs for the eight-month period from May to December 1990. In 1991, the Centre ordinary budget increased to a total of 4 million French francs. In 1992, it reached a total of 4 705 000 French francs. The ordinary budget for 1993 amounts to 5 250 000 French francs. In addition to the ordinary budget, the European Community provides annual grants to the Centre's programme of activities. The amount of these grants has remained stable at the level of 250 000 ecus, or approximately 1 750 000 French francs. Furthermore, several member states, including Germany which is not yet a member of the Centre, have provided voluntary contributions, both in terms of cash support for individual projects and practical assistance.

17.       The Executive Director's report mentions "particular problems related to the financial management of the Lisbon-based Centre and its complex and operational programme of intergovernmental activities, by Strasbourg-based divisions of the general Council of Europe Administration". Several instances of criticism by the Council of Europe's Board of Auditors are referred to, and it is the hope of the Rapporteur that any grounds for such criticism now no longer exist.

18.       Although the Centre has member states, it is run on the basis of the concept of "co-management" by parliamentarians, governments, non-governmental organisations and local authorities. This is meant to permit the Centre to fulfil its task of increasing public awareness of global interdependence with direct support and active involvement of a four-way partnership which has been termed the "quadrilogue" (a term which may be replaced by "quadripartite structure"). The four partners participate in the planning and implementation of all programmes at European level, but also through national quadrilogue committees, which exist or are being built up in member countries, and which have their mandated representatives on the organs of the Centre.

19.       Certain members of the Sub-Committee "North-South: Europe's Role" believe that the Centre's long-term planning is hampered by a situation where a large part of the budget is financed through voluntary contributions instead of through the ordinary budget. They would thus prefer the Centre to be financed directly from the Council of Europe's general budget (even though that would require that the Centre abandon its status as a Partial Agreement (see paragraphs 30-31)).

20.       The inner functioning of the Centre, in particular its quadripartite structure and organs, has formed a central part of the sub-committee's deliberations.

21.       It is in particular felt that the decision-making procedure of the Centre is too cumbersome. At present the Centre's organs are (see also Appendix 2):

      .       the Consultative Committee (about one hundred members), whose specific role is to discuss the Centre's priorities and programme perspectives. It meets annually at the Council of Europe's headquarters in Strasbourg;

      .       the Executive Council (twenty-seven members), which is the Centre's decision-making body. (However, the Centre's annual budgetary ceiling is decided by a meeting of representatives of the member states). It meets at least twice a year and is meanwhile represented by;

      .       its seven-member Bureau which meets on a regular basis to discuss the work programme.

22.       The Sub-Committee "North-South: Europe's Role", which dealt with the subject before it was taken up by the parent Committee on Economic Affairs and Development, felt that the decision-making structure should be alleviated and made more flexible and efficient. In particular the composition and functioning of the Consultative Committee, it was felt, needed to be reconsidered. This committee produces a multitude of opinions from representatives of the four sides (governments, parliaments, NGOs, and local and regional authorities), but the latters' "representativeness" vis-à-vis their constituencies is not always clear. And the Consultative Committee's conclusions are often so vague as to leave most practical influence to the Executive Council.

23.       Among the interesting proposals as regards the Consultative Committee raised within the sub-committee were:

-       to transform it into a number of specialised committees, advising the Executive Council on such issues as media relations, North-South education or the Centre's role as an information "clearing house";

-       have it meet as a "conference" only once every second year instead of once a year, in particular in order to elect most of the members of the Executive Council;

-       to make it smaller or, alternatively, turn it into a kind of "open convention", so that anybody involved in the Centre's mandate area could attend;

-       to abolish it.

24.       The Rapporteur would, in fact, have been in favour of the latter, in line with the proposal of the Executive Director in his report. The Executive Director for his part suggests the creation in its stead of an annual Consultative Assembly on Global Interdependence and Solidarity (a "North-South Assembly") with a rather wide composition, and with delegations to be designated, as in the past, by the four partners of the Centre. Your Rapporteur, however, would have been more in favour of replacing the Consultative Committee with rather small specialised committees reporting to the Executive Council, perhaps corresponding to the three "windows" of activities. The Committee on Economic Affairs and Development at its meeting in Malta, however, decided to leave the exact modalities open, and to talk only of the need for it to be restructured, and perhaps to transform it into a consultative assembly.

25.       Similarly, several members of the sub-committee thought that the Executive Council should undergo reform, whether it be a revision of its size (twenty-seven members were thought to be too many), or its frequency of meetings.

26.       The Rapporteur for his part believes, and this was supported by the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development in Malta, that the size of the Executive Council should be considerably reduced from its present twenty-seven members (or the twenty-nine actually suggested by the Centre's Executive Director). At present (see Appendix 2), there are eight representatives of governments of member states of the Partial Agreement comprising the Centre; eight designated by the Consultative Committee; three from the Parliamentary Assembly (at present Mr Aarts, Mr Pinto and the Rapporteur, with Mrs von Teichman, Mr Konecny and Mr Valleix as their substitutes); the Secretary General of the Council of Europe or his/her representative; one member designated by the Standing Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe; a representative of the Commission of the European Community, and two from the European Parliament; finally, three persons from the South are invited by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

27.       As regards the more general question as to whether the Centre's quadripartite structure ought to be maintained or not, the committee, after careful reflection, believes it should. The "quadrilogue" - that is, a co-management of the Centre by parliamentarians, governments, non-governmental organisations, and local and regional authorities - has as its basic idea that joint efforts by these four partners could create a synergy effect. The "four way alliance" is meant to add vigour to the Centre's capacity for reaching out to the European public, and contribute to a greater awareness of global interdependence and solidarity.

28.       Of course, there are on occasion divergencies of view among the "quadrilogue" participants. This is part of the game, the kind of "constructive friction" that enriches all partners, gradually causes them to get to know each other better, and eventually creates "synergy". Therefore, the quadripartite structure should not be abandoned without careful reflection, even though improvements in its functioning are no doubt possible.

29.       The Committee on Economic Affairs and Development at its March 1993 meeting in Malta also called for a stronger partnership of the South in the Centre's life. And one member, who had recently visited southern Africa, felt this all the more necessary as there is often a considerable difference between declarations in the North about assistance or about conditions in the South, and the actual conditions there. Finally, the committee drew attention to the need to ensure that national committees meant to supplement the Centre in participating countries reach a satisfactory level of activity.

30.       Should the Centre, as some have suggested, become a fully integrated part of the Council of Europe, in the sense that all member states would automatically come to belong to it? Or should it retain its present Partial Agreement status, with only countries participating that wish to do so?

31.       The Rapporteur's fear is that what was the situation in 1989 will also be that in 1993. That is to say, without the Partial Agreement solution then, the Centre may very well not have come about at all, on account of the reluctance by certain Council of Europe member states to join. And would the Centre survive today, if an attempt were made to have all Council of Europe member states join? This seems, to your Rapporteur's regret, rather unrealistic. Consequently he prefers the present solution of a Partial Agreement, which on the basis of its record can induce Council of Europe member states still outside to join.

32.       The basic desire of Assembly members is that the organs of the Centre should become more flexible, efficient and geared to tackle operational matters. They may also meet less often (but as a counterpart take weightier decisions), thus allowing more time and resources of the Centre to be devoted to its operational activities. Needless to say, this should, however, not be carried to extremes, since the Centre's staff will always be in need of regularly issued guidelines from its statutory bodies.

33.       It behoves us parliamentarians to reflect on whether we have done everything in our power to help the Centre along. It is important that we carry out our designations conscientiously, making the parliamentary voice in the Centre loud and clear. This was the mandate we gave ourselves through the 1988 "North-South Campaign", which helped create the Centre. We are still bound by it. The North-South Centre is a valuable creation, there to serve the more than ever important North-South understanding in Europe, and there essentially because of an Assembly initiative. Our involvement has been close, and so it must remain.

APPENDIX 1

Provisional listing of proposed activities in 1993 of the

Council of Europe's European Centre for Global Interdependence

and Solidarity ("North-South Centre")

(extracts from the Programme of Activities for 1993; Doc. EC/NS (93) 2)

1. PUBLIC INFORMATION AND MEDIA RELATIONS 1.1 Media relations project (including action by media, NGOs, Governments, Parliamentarians and local authorities through the "One World" programme; collaboration with electronic media and written press). 1.2 Documentation reference system (development of a comprehensive reference system and data bank to provide rapid information on activities and publications related to global education throughout Europe). 1.3 Publications of the Centre (regular newsletter to serve inter-networking needs; publishing of project and activity reports; incidental publications).

2. EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR GLOBAL INTERDEPENDENCE 2.1 Tutors/educationalists placement project (short term placements at the Lisbon Centre of professional tutors/educationalists with experience in global interdependence education). 2.2 Training workshops (different themes and target groups). 2.3 Youth programme (including Youth Links: North-South). 2.4 Regional project on transmediterranean interdependence (Rome symposium; action programme). 2.5 Project for Central and Eastern Europe (including workshops in Prague, Budapest, Warsaw).

3. DIALOGUE 3.1 Encounter on: "Democracy, human rights, women in an interdependent world" (Cabo Verde) 3.2 Human rights project (comprehensive project to advance pluralist democracy and respect for human rights in co-operation with quadrilogue partners in the South; participation preparations for the United Nations Human Rights Conference). 3.3 North-South partnership workshops (series of small-scale dialogues between partners in South and North on subjects of global concern).

APPENDIX 2

Reporting committee: Committee on Economic Affairs and Development.

Budgetary implications for the Assembly: None.

Reference to committee: Recommendation 1095 (1989), and Resolution 982 (1992).

Draft resolution: Adopted by the committee on 24 March 1993.

Members of the committee: Mr Holtz (Chairman), Dame Peggy Fenner, Mr Lotz (Vice-Chairmen), MM. Aarts, Auken, Becker (Alternate: Meszaros), Gudmundur Bjarnason, Bloetzer, Bonnici, Brach, Brennan, Colombo (Alternate: Liberatori), Davis, Demiralp, Mrs Durrieu, MM. Efraimoglou, Fabra, Flückiger, Garcia Sanchez, Gasperoni, Gassner, Goerens (Alternate: Regenwetter), Mrs Haglund (Alternate: Tarschys), MM. Hellström, Kempinaire, Kiliç, Kittelmann, Albrecht Konecny, Koritzinsky (Alternate: Thoresen), Le Grand, Lewandowski (Alternate: Wielowieyski), Mesoraca, Paire, Pinto, Pirinski, Rehn (Alternate: Särkijärvi), Rodrigues, Rokofyllos, Schwimmer, Mrs von Teichman, MM. Townend (Alternate: Lord Newall), Valleix (Alternate: Baumel), Mrs Verspaget (Alternate: Tummers), Mr Wintgens.

N.B. The names of those members who were present at the meeting are printed in italics.

Secretaries to the committee: MM. Torbiörn and Mezei.

1 ¹ 1. The colloquy report, including recommendations, can be obtained from the Centre.