Van der Linden roept Europese regeringen op tot medewerking aan onderzoek Raad van Europa naar CIA detentiekampen (en)

Strasbourg, 17.11.2005 - Speaking at today's session of the Council of Europe's executive body, the Committee of Ministers, the President of the 46-nation Organisation's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) called on all member governments, along with the European Commission, to co-operate fully with the recently designated Assembly rapporteur in charge of examining alleged secret CIA detention centres. "This issue goes to the very heart of the Council of Europe's human rights mandate," he said.

With regard to the recent widespread outbreaks of violence in France, the President underlined that "the fact that these outbreaks have been echoed in neighbouring countries underlines the European nature of the problem. Many of our countries have culturally and socially alienated communities. While supporting the firm line being taken against troublemakers and criminals, I think it is at the same time essential to start a dialogue with the local communities affected, in order to address the root causes of these problems. Already in 2001, the Assembly recommended that the Council of Europe establish a European observatory on urban security. I hope it will now receive the follow-up it deserves."

He underlined that whilst he was convinced the unrest in France does not arise from religious differences, he strongly believed that the Council of Europe must play a central role in the initiative taken by Turkey and Spain - both member states - for an Alliance of Civilisations, as well as in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership.

Stressing the unique role of the Council of Europe in human rights protection in Europe, the PACE President recalled that "the proposed EU Agency for Fundamental Rights is a matter of vital importance for us all and it must have a clearly defined mandate. In order to maintain a coherent and credible set of human rights standards for the whole of Europe, the Agency's scope must be limited to the territory of the EU, where it would act like a national human rights institution. The Agency should not monitor human rights in Council of Europe member states that are not members of the EU."

Stressing the importance of Mr Juncker's future report on relations between the Council of Europe and the European Union, the President repeated his proposal that the EU's unspent resources in the fields of democracy and human rights should be pooled into a common EU-Council of Europe fund to finance joint programmes in those fields.

With regard to the recent parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, the Assembly President recalled that the preliminary findings of the Assembly delegation to the International Election Observation Mission are that the Council of Europe's democratic principles were not fully respected. "In the run-up to the elections I stressed that they would be a test-case for Azerbaijan's democratic development, and I stand by that statement."

Contact:

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