Supplementary reply to Recommendation 1188 (1992) on migratory flows in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland

20 September 1993

Doc. 6922

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS

Supplementary Reply to Recommendation 1188 (1992)

on migratory flows in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland

(adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 7 September 1993

at the 497th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies)

The Committee of Ministers recalls its interim reply to Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1188 (1992), adopted in October 1992, which provided detailed information on the actions already being implemented or envisaged by the Committee of Ministers in the five fields mentioned in Recommendation 1188.

The Committee of Ministers wishes to provide the Assembly with additional information, notably in the light of the opinions it has received from the European Committee on Migration and the Governing Board of the Social Development Fund. The European Committee on Migration (CDMG), for its part, has stated that, in as far as they relate to its terms of reference, it is in broad agreement with the Assembly's analysis of the situation in the four countries concerned (Czechoslovakia having ceased to exist, and two new States, the Czech Republic and Slovakia having come into being on 1 January 1993). Moreover, the CDMG has been informed by the delegations from the countries concerned that they are actively engaged in developing migration policies and legislation as well as bilateral agreements along the lines recommended by the Assembly.

Recent developments can be again grouped under five headings.

1. With regard to the work of the "Vienna Group" (the group of Senior Officials set up to be responsible for the follow-up for the January 1991 Conference of Ministers on the Movement of Persons from Central and Eastern European Countries), the attention of the Assembly is drawn to the information document (Doc 53 rev) prepared by the Secretariat on the Achievements of the Vienna Group as from January 1991.

2. With regard to an early warning and emergency relief system in case of mass influx of persons fleeing their country, work set in motion by the Vienna Group with a view to informing potential migrants about the possibilities and conditions for migration has produced a valuable exploratory study on the profile of potential migrants in four countries of Central and Eastern Europe, on the basis of which further information activities are being developed for the Vienna Group by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). The Assembly is also referred to the supplementary reply, adopted by the Committee of Ministers, at the 497th meeting of the Deputies (September 1993) to Recommendation 1205 (1993) on the situation of refugees and displaced persons in several countries of former Yugoslavia.

3. With regard to utilisation of the Social Development Fund for promoting job creation in the disadvantaged regions, it must be recalled that in principle the Fund lends money only to States participating in this Partial Agreement which do not, for the time being, include Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia or indeed any other country of Central and Eastern Europe. However projects can be carried out in a country which is not a member of the Fund, if a country which is a member presents a project and gives its guarantee.

The European Committee on Migration (CDMG) has expressed the hope that the Social Development Fund will be able to step up its efforts to promote social and economic development in the regions of origin of potential migrants, considering this a way of tackling the root causes of migration.

4. With regard to participation in conflict prevention and resolution in regions affected by inter-ethnic strife, the Committee of Ministers continues to take a close interest in co-operation between the Council of Europe and the CSCE which has appointed a Special Representative for National Minorities. The Chair of the CSCE ministerial Council has been invited to participate in the Council of Europe Summit of Heads of State and Government (Vienna, 8-9 October 1993). Where the situation in the former Yugoslavia is concerned, the Committee of Ministers, following an informal exchange of views on this subject at their 92nd Session (14 May 1993), adopted a Final Communiqué in which the Ministers, inter alia, "took note of the concrete contributions made by the Council of Europe in the fields of human rights and the media and reaffirmed the availability of the Organisation for all assistance in the fields of its competence, with a view to the search for a lasting solution, in liaison with the European Community, the CSCE and the United Nations".

Details of the concrete contributions concerned are to be found in the above-mentioned supplementary reply of the Committee of Ministers to Assembly Recommendation 1205 (1993) on the situation of refugees and displaced persons in several countries of former Yugoslavia.

5. With regard to the protection, development and recognition of minority rights, the Committee of Ministers recalls that the protection of minorities is a proposed sub-theme under the agenda item "Action relating to the strengthening of democracy, respect for Human Rights and the Rule of Law", agreed for the Summit of Heads of State and Government (Vienna, 8-9 October 1993) and set out in the Final Communiqué of the 92nd Session (14 May 1993). In this same Final Communiqué, the Ministers "in the perspective of the Vienna Summit, reiterated their interest in the work under way in the Council of Europe relating to the protection of national minorities. They urged that progress be made with this work in order to permit the Heads of State and Government meeting in Vienna to take a decision of principle of the responsibilities of the Council in the field of protection of national minorities including by means of international legal instruments.