18 February 1994

Doc. 7026

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS

Reply to Recommendation 1208 (1993)

on the health effects of the Chernobyl nuclear accident

and the need for stronger international action

(adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 14 January 1994

at the 508th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies)

1.       The Committee of Ministers has considered very carefully Assembly Recommendation 1208 (1993) on the health effects of the Chernobyl nuclear accident and the need for stronger international action. The Committee of Ministers agrees with the Assembly that the state of health today and in the coming years of children and adults in the areas of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine contaminated by Chernobyl radiation is a cause for very great concern. It has decided to bring Recommendation 1208 (1993) to the attention of the governments of member states, the Commission of the European Communities and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

2.       This question was tackled in the Council of Europe in the framework of the Partial Agreement on the "Co-operation Group for the Prevention of, Protection against and Organisation of Relief in Major Natural and Technological Disasters",1 after the former USSR joined the Partial Agreement on 13 April 1990. It was in fact on 26 July 1990 that the Council of Europe received a request for assistance and co-operation concerning the health effects of the Chernobyl disaster. In the light of studies by experts, the Ministers of the Partial Agreement, meeting in Ankara on 10 July 1991, approved the SIEAD/APO/CHERNOBYL Project. This project, which took into account the bilateral and multilateral initiatives already under way or planned, had been prepared in close consultation with the authorities of and experts from the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus and Turkey. A report on the implementation of the project's pilot phase was submitted to the Committee of Permanent Correspondents of the Partial Agreement. The pilot phase was designed to test the programme's feasibility in a number of regions and included the launching of an epidemiological survey, medical monitoring of the populations of the regions concerned and assistance in medical decision-making for treating the persons concerned in those regions.

      The pilot phase of the programme was not, however, given financial backing by the States Parties to the Partial Agreement which are members of the Council of Europe and concerned in the project.

3.       Following these initial steps, the Ministers of the EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement expressed the wish at their 5th meeting (Moscow, 1-2 October 1993) for the possible extension of the programme to follow up the Chernobyl nuclear accident and to prepare a review of existing and planned bilateral and multilateral projects in the context of co-operation between the Commission of the European Communities, the World Health Organisation and the Partial Agreement, so as to avoid any duplication.

4.       The Committee of Ministers wishes to inform the Assembly that the States Parties to the Partial Agreement which are members of the Council of Europe and concerned in this programme, meeting in December 1993, were unable to provide the requisite support for this review and accordingly decided to abandon it, bearing in mind that various programmes, which include studies of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident for the populations of the regions concerned, are being carried out under the auspices of the European Union and WHO and on a bilateral basis.

1 1       Member states of the Partial Agreement: