Parliamentary Assembly

Doc. 8908

14 December 2000

UNESCO

Recommendation 1420 (2000)

Reply from the Committee of Ministers

adopted at the 733^rd meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (7 December 2000)

The Committee of Ministers has examined with interest the Parliamentary Assembly’s Recommendation 1420 (2000) on UNESCO.

The Committee of Ministers wishes to point out that co-operation between the Council of Europe and UNESCO, based on the 1952 exchange of letters, has, over the years, undergone fruitful and tangible development often going beyond the formal framework originally laid down.

UNESCO attends as an observer the meetings of many Council of Europe project groups and expert committees in such varied fields as culture, higher education, education, heritage and the media, making a valuable contribution to their work. The two secretariats also co-operate, often informally through the exchange of information or attendance at each other’s meetings or symposia on subjects of common interest. Close co-operation has developed between the Council of Europe’s Youth sector and UNESCO’s Youth Unit.

An important successful joint project was the drafting of the Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region (Lisbon Recognition Convention), which is implemented through a jointly piloted work programme.

Another example of this co-operation is the fact that since the enlargement of the Council of Europe and the advent of the Council of Europe’s Standing Conference of European Ministers of Education as a genuinely pan-European forum, UNESCO no longer convenes its own ministerial meetings for the “Europe” region, but continues to be involved in preparations for the Standing Conference.

On the ground, the Council of Europe works closely with UNESCO on school and higher education reform in Bosnia-and-Herzegovina and could take greater advantage of UNESCO help in other areas, such as cultural heritage in the framework of its activities in South East Europe. In Kosovo joint activities are either under way (in the library and archives field) or at an advanced planning stage in the educational field.

The Committee of Ministers fully appreciates the value of co-operation between the Council of Europe and UNESCO, in that it represents for the Council of Europe an important channel to work carried out elsewhere in the world, whilst the Council of Europe’s experience can be helpful to UNESCO in its work in other regions.

With this in mind, valuable co-operation might be established between the two organisations in connection with the events “2001 - United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilisations” and “2001-2010 - International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World” to which the Council of Europe will endeavour to contribute in particular through the new project of the Higher Education and Research Committee (CC-HER) on the University as a Site of Citizenship. Furthermore, UNESCO is also contributing to the European Year of Languages 2001, which the Council of Europe is organising jointly with the European Union.

Globalisation and technological developments affect, in a profound manner, many areas of competence of the Council of Europe and UNESCO in the cultural arena. When developing their respective responses to those developments, appropriate co-operation between the two Organisations can create important synergy. In this context also, the Committee of Ministers especially welcomes the on-going co-operation concerning the promotion of cultural diversity.

In the field of Cultural Policy both competent departments co-operate very closely and UNESCO takes advantage of the experience of the Council of Europe national reviews programme in the development of its own plan to be implemented in non-European countries. Co-operation is also foreseen in the New Technologies area, notably in the framework of the project “Teaching and learning in the communication society.”

The Committee of Ministers notes that the 1952 exchange of letters which forms the basis for co-operation between the Council of Europe and UNESCO has enabled positive and fruitful co-operation to be developed between the two organisations on the basis of the priorities of each. However, it has no objection to a revision of this agreement being envisaged if either side considers it desirable.

The Committee of Ministers will inform the Assembly of the outcome of the exploratory contacts and seek its assistance, should it envisage the establishment of a body for dialogue with UNESCO and instructed the Chair of its Rapporteur Group on Education, Culture, Sport and Youth to prepare a report on relations between the Council of Europe and UNESCO.