Doc. 8754

22 June 2000

Statutory report

Communication on the activities of the
Committee of Ministers

April – June 2000

*       Statutory reports are available on the Committee of Ministers' Website: www.coe.fr/cm

*       The Internet versions include hyperlinks to all related decisions of the Ministers' Deputies.

CONTENTS

1       Political Developments

1.1       106th Session of the Committee of Ministers       5

1.2       South-East Europe (including Kosovo)       5

1.3       Contribution of the Council of Europe towards restoration of the rule of law,
respect for human rights and democracy in Chechnya (Russian Federation)       6

1.4       Relations with member States

      1.4.1       Croatia       6

      1.4.2       Georgia       6

      1.4.3       Moldova       7

      1.4.4       “The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”71       .

1.5       Relations with applicant countries

      1.5.1       Armenia       7

      1.5.2       Belarus       7

      1.5.3       Bosnia and Herzegovina       7

1.6       Relations with other international bodies

      1.6.1       European Union       7

      1.6.2       OSCE       8

      1.6.3       United Nations       8

1.7       Compliance with commitments accepted by member States (Monitoring)       8

1.8       Information policy       8

1.9       Institutional reform       8

2       Protection of Human Rights - The Conventions

      2.1       European Convention on Human Rights        9

      2.2       European Social Charter        10

      2.3       European Convention for the Prevention of Torture

      and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment       11

      2.4       Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities       11

      2.5       European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages       12

3       Implementation of the Intergovernmental Programme of Activities

3.1       Democratic cohesion

      3.1.1       Pluralist democracy

      Equality       13

      Media       13

      Local and regional democracy       14

      3.1.2       Human rights       14

      3.1.3       Rule of Law       15

3.2       Social cohesion and quality of life

      3.2.1       Social policies       21

      3.2.2       Health       21

      3.2.3       Sustainable development       22

3.3       Cultural cohesion and cultural pluralism

      3.3.1       Education, higher education, culture and heritage

      Education       25

      Higher education       29

      Culture       30

      Heritage       32

      3.3.2       Sport       34

      3.3.3       Youth       35

4       Multilateral activities for the consolidation and development of democratic stability

      4.1       Human rights       38

      4.2       Legal co-operation       42

      4.3       Social policy and health       45

      4.4       Transfrontier cooperation       46

5       Partial Agreements

      5.1       Council of Europe Development Bank        47

      5.2       Partial Agreement in the Social and Public Health Field        50

      5.3       European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines        51

      5.4       Pompidou Group       53

      5.5       EURIMAGES       54

      5.6       North-South Centre       54

      5.7       European Commission for Democracy through Law        56

      5.8       Partial Agreement on the Youth card       57

      5.9       European Audiovisual Observatory        57

      5.10       European Centre for Modern Languages        57

      5.11       GRECO       59

6       Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE)        60

7       Conferences of specialised ministers       62

Appendix 1       Action taken on texts adopted by the Assembly       65

Appendix 2       Texts adopted by the Committee of Ministers       66

Appendix 3       Signatures and ratifications of European Treaties
(30 March – 21 June 2000)       76

1       Political Developments

1.1       106th Session of the Committee of Ministers (10-11 May)

At the 106th Session, Ministers, under the Chairmanship of Mr Brian Cowen, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ireland, discussed the enhancement of co-operation between the Council of Europe and the Russian Federation, the situation in the Chechen Republic, Recommendation 1456 of the Parliamentary Assembly adopted on 6 April 2000, and the contribution of the Russian Federation to the Council of Europe. Other subjects included the Council of Europe contribution to the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe and the adoption of a message from the Committee of Ministers on Social Development to the Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly (Geneva, 26-30 June 2000).

At the Secretary General's invitation, an informal meeting was held on 10 May. At that meeting, the Ministers, including the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Mr Igor Ivanov, discussed the contribution of the Russian Federation to the Council of Europe and the situation in the North Caucasus.

(For text of the Communiqué issued and the Conclusions of the Chair – see Appendix 2).

*

*       *

The incoming Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, Mr Lamberto Dini, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, presented the programme of the new Chairmanship to the Ministers during the informal meeting on 10 May. Furthermore, State Secretary Umberto Ranieri held an exchange of views on this subject with the Ministers' Deputies on 11 May. The programme of the Italian Chairmanship is available in document CM/Inf(2000)29rev.

Also, in accordance with the Italian Chairmanship programme, Secretary of State Ranieri visited Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia (14 – 15 June), where he was received at the highest level and was accompanied by the Director General of Political Affairs, on behalf of the Secretary General, and a member and the Secretary of the Venice Commission.

1.2       South-East Europe (including Kosovo)

The Deputies, on 9 February (698/2.1) invited the Secretary General to propose, on behalf of the Council of Europe, the candidature of Mr Panayotis Roumeliotis (Greece), with a view to the nomination of the Chair of Stability Pact Working Table No. 1 (on democratisation and human rights); on 22 March (703/2.1) they held an exchange of views with Mr Roumeliotis.

In April (706/2.1 and 707/2.1) the Deputies took note of the information provided by the Secretariat on the results of the Stability Pact Funding Conference (Brussels, 29–30 March). They authorised the Secretariat to pursue preparations and to implement a set of co-operation activities with Montenegro, to be financed by internal reallocation of resources.

In May (710/2.1) the Deputies took note of the intention of the Secretary General to appoint, as his Special Representative, Ms Eva TOMIC, who will act as Council of Europe expert (based) in the OSCE Office for Democratic institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Office in Podgoriça. They also took note of the Memorandum of understanding between the Secretary General and the Director of the ODIHR concerning the modalities of co-operation in the Podgoriça Office.

Observation of elections

The Deputies (711/2.1a) authorised the Secretary General to respond positively to the request of the leadership of the OSCE and UNMIK to entrust the Council of Europe with an observation mission with regard to the civil registration and local elections in Kosovo and to co-ordinate this action of the relevant bodies involved in this observation process. The mandate of this mission was approved by the Deputies on 14 June (714/2.1a).

1.3       Contribution of the Council of Europe towards restoration of the rule of law, respect for human rights and democracy in Chechnya (Russian Federation)

This subject was discussed in depth at the 106th session of the Committee of Ministers (see section 1.1 and appendix 2). It was on the agenda of every weekly meeting of the Deputies in the period April to June.

A seminar on "Democracy, rule of law and human rights" was held in Vladikavkaz (30-31 May) within the 2000 ADACS programme of activities with the Russian Federation. Following the exchange of views between the Secretary General and Mr Kalamanov on 30 March and 4 April, three Council of Europe lawyers have been providing consultative expertise in Mr Kalamanov’s office in Znamenskoye, since 19 June.

In May (710/3.1) the Deputies set up a drafting group to prepare a reply to Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1456 (2000). This reply will be presented to the Parliamentary Assembly plenary session by the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, Mr Lamberto Dini, on 27 June, following his visit to Moscow on 23-24 June with the Secretary General. The latter also visited Chechnya on 22-23 June, together with the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of Italy, Mr Ranieri.

1.4       Relations with member States

1.4.1       Croatia

On 12 April the Deputies had an exchange of views, in the framework of their Rapporteur Group GR-EDS, with Ambassador Bernard Poncet, Head of the OSCE Mission to Croatia.

In May (710/2.1), the Ministers' Deputies took note of the Secretariat proposals for a priority programme of activities with Croatia and instructed the Secretariat to pursue its contacts with the Croatian authorities and possible funders and with the European Commission concerning the preparation of a joint programme on the administration of justice, including the training of judges and prosecutors, with a view to the full implementation of this programme.

1.4.2       Georgia

In June (714/2.1a), the Ministers' Deputies authorised the Secretary General to conclude an agreement with the Government of Georgia with a view to the creation and functioning of a Council of Europe Information Office in Tbilisi.

1.4.3       Moldova

At their 106th session, the Ministers took note of the co-operation between the Council of Europe and Moldova and looked forward to its enhancement. They also took note of the request by the Foreign Minister of Moldova for the Council of Europe to assist, in its field of competence, in achieving progress towards a sustainable solution of the Transnistrian problem in complementarity with the role of the OSCE as confirmed at the Istanbul Summit. They agreed to keep the issue of co-operation with Moldova on their agenda.

1.4.4       “The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”In

In June (714/2.1a), the Ministers' Deputies adopted a reply to Recommendation 1453 (2000) on honouring of obligations and commitments by "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia".

1.5       Relations with applicant countries

see also Section 1.1 – 106th session

In May (708/2.1), the Deputies instructed the Secretariat to consult non-member States parties to the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons (ETS No.112) on the request of Armenia to accede to this Convention.

On 26 May the Deputies held an exchange of views with Mr Vartan Oskanian, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Armenia.

1.5.2       Belarus

On 5 April there was an informal meeting of the Deputies to exchange views with the Chairman of the Political Affairs Committee, Mr T. Davies and the Committee’s rapporteur on Belarus, Mr W. Behrendt.

On 26 April the Deputies had an exchange of views, in the framework of their Rapporteur Group GR-EDS, with members of the “Parliamentary Troika”, set up to support efforts within Belarus to restore functioning and credible democratic institutions by peaceful means.

1.5.3       Bosnia and Herzegovina

On 5 April the Bureau of the Ministers’ Deputies had an exchange of views with Ambassador Wolfgang Petritsch, High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

1.6       Relations with other international bodies

1.6.1       Relations with the European Union

In May (711/2.3a and b) the Deputies adopted a reply to Recommendation 1439 (2000) on the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

1.6.2       Relations with the OSCE

In April (706/2.3) the Deputies took note of the reports of their Chairman and of the Secretary General on the 8th high-level "2+2" meeting (Vienna, 12 April) and of the press release (no.273) issued at its close. They welcomed the signature of the Common Catalogue of Co-operation Modalities in Vienna by the two Secretaries General.

1.6.3       Relations with the United Nations

In June (713/2.4a) the Deputies invited the Chairman-in-Office, on their behalf, to seek the inclusion on the agenda of the 55th Regular Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations of an item "Cooperation between the United Nations and the Council of Europe".

At their 715th meeting (715/2.4) the Deputies adopted a reply to Recommendation 1411 (1999) of the Parliamentary Assembly on relations with the United Nations.

1.7       Monitoring of Compliance with commitments accepted by member States

In May (708/2.3), in the context of their stock-taking of the monitoring procedure, the Deputies took note of the amended, revised and updated vade-mecum on its monitoring procedures (document Monitor/Inf(2000)4 revised) and decided to declassify a further three monitoring documents.

On 5 and 6 June (712th in camera meeting), the Deputies continued their examination of the themes selected for monitoring, namely:

-       Freedom of expression and information;

-       Capital punishment;

-       Police and security forces.

In the light of their discussion on freedom of expression and information, and in accordance with Paragraph 4, first indent, of the Declaration on compliance with commitments adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 10 November 1994, the Deputies (712/2.1):

1.8       Information policy

In April (706/1.7) the Deputies adopted Resolution (2000) 2 on the Council of Europe’s information strategy and declassified several key documents on information policy.

1.9       Institutional reform

In May (710/1.5) the Deputies decided to create an ad hoc open-ended working party with a view to studying in depth the proposals on institutional reforms contained in the priorities presented by the Italian Chair of the Committee of Ministers (document CM/Inf(2000)29 revised).

2        Protection of Human Rights - The Conventions

2.1       European Convention on Human Rights

The Convention and its Protocols

(ETS 5, 9 ,44, 45, 46, 55, 114, 117, 118, 140, 146, 155)

Protocol no. 4

Protocol no. 6

Protocol no. 7

European Agreement relating to persons participating in proceedings of the Court (1996) - ETS.161

Protocol no. 6 to the General Agreement on Privileges and Immunities (1996) - ETS.162

2.2       European Social Charter

Revised European Social Charter (1996)- ETS.163

Activities of the supervisory bodies

At its 169th (22 – 26 May) session, the Committee continued the examination of the national reports on the application of the hard-core articles of the Charter (Articles 1, 5, 6, 12, 13 16 and 19). It examined reports submitted late by 5 states. The conclusions regarding these states are scheduled to be included in an Addendum to the XV-1 Conclusions.

During its 94th session (25 – 28 April 2000), the Governmental Committee made final amendments to the draft Form for the submission of reports in pursuance of the revised European Social Charter. It also began examination of the ECSR’s XV-1 Conclusions.

Conferences, seminars, workshops, training courses

The conference was organised by the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts and the Society for International and Social Co-operation (SISC) in collaboration with the Council of Europe, the European Union and the International Labour Organisation, presenting a wide selection of views and experience concerning the Charter and its future role.