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18 April 1997 Doc. 7802
ADOC7802
WRITTEN QUESTION No. 372
by Mrs Josephine VERSPAGET
on behalf of the Committee on Culture and Education
on the appointment of a mediator for Roma/Gypsies _____
Mrs VERSPAGET,
1. Recalling Assembly Recommendation 1203 (1993) on Gypsies in Europe and in particular its paragraph 11.xxii where the Assembly recommended a mediator for Gypsies to be appointed by the Council of Europe after consultation with representative organisations of Gypsies;
2. Noting the reply adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 11 January 1994 which stated that the proposal for the appointment of a mediator for Gypsies "could be examined in the light of work done in other bodies so as to avoid duplication of work, in particular with the activities of the CSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities";
3. Noting also the supplementary reply adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 17 October 1995 which stated that the designation by the Secretary General of a Co-ordinator of activities on Roma/Gypsies "should make it possible to attain, at least to some extent, the objective advocated by the Assembly in paragraph xxii of the Recommendation" and that the Committee of Ministers had "not seen fit to act on the proposal concerning the appointment of a mediator for Roma/Gypsies";
4. Welcoming the setting up of an expert group on Roma in the Council of Europe, which started its work on 1996;
5. Considering that four years have elapsed since Recommendation 1203 (1993) was adopted and one and half years since the Committee of Ministers adopted its supplementary reply and that it is even more clear that a mediator for Gypsies is necessary,
6. To ask the Committee of Ministers whether it would now consider to act on the recommendation to appoint a mediator for Roma/Gypsies with the tasks listed in paragraph 11.xxii of Assembly Recommendation 1203 (1993) and to inform the Assembly about the implementation of the other elements of such Recommendation.
Signed:
Verspaget