Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe: migration and refugees, women belonging to minorities, the implementation of judgments and monitoring of states

The autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe took place from 28 September until 2 October. Among the topics discussed were the refugee crisis, the situation of women belonging to minorities, the implementation of judgments and the monitoring of states in regard to the obligations in regard to human rights and democratic standards.

The Assembly consists of 324 elected members of the parliaments of the Council of Europe's 47 member states. They reflect the political opinion across the continent and their mission is to uphold the shared values of human rights, democracy and the rule of law that are the "common heritage" of the peoples of Europe. 

Assembly wants a holistic and rights-based approach to migration
EU countries should avoid a narrow emphasis on border control and security in dealing with the migration crisis, and instead embrace a holistic, rights-based and effective approach involving countries of transit and origin. The Assembly said the EU’s existing policy of “externalisation” of border control left migrants and refugees at risk of exploitation, abuse and violence.

The Parliamentary Assembly also took issue with the EU’s Dublin system, which determines which country is responsible for treating asylum applications. The system is dysfunctional and ineffective and should be urgently reformed to ensure “equitable burden sharing” among member States, according to the Assembly.

ECMI Director Tove Malloy on “The situation of women belonging to minorities”
Prof Dr Tove Malloy, the director of the European Centre for Minority Issues in Flensburg, was invited to present at a hearing on “The situation of women belonging to minorities”, organised by the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination. The hearing aimed to raise awareness and stimulate discussion about some of the specific issues that women belonging to national minorities face in accessing their rights.

Prof Malloy’s speech outlined various dimensions of discrimination that women belonging to minorities face: discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity, education, employment, or poverty. She also highlighted a political dilemma for many women with minority background: “are they claiming human rights as women or as a member of a minority? And second, how do they make sure they have representation in all aspects of life, if they are marginalised and lack information as uneducated and illiterate?” In her address, Prof. Malloy tackled the issue in the light of international human rights law as well as in practice.

Call for firmer measures against States ignoring Strasbourg Court judgments
The Parliamentary Assembly deplored “the lack of political will” of certain States to fully and rapidly implement judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, and has urged the Council of Europe’s ministerial body – which oversees implementation – to “take firmer measures” with States that do not comply. In a recommendation based on a report by Klaas de Vries (Netherlands), the Assembly urged the ministers to make use of a new infringement procedure introduced in 2010, which allows the Court to rule on whether a State has breached its obligation to abide by the Convention.

The Assembly also expressed deep concern at the high number of Court judgments that have still not been implemented by the States concerned – a figure that it says remains stable at nearly 11,000 cases. Almost 80 per cent of the backlog came from only nine countries – Italy, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Greece, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria.

For Greece the Assembly stated that the passive attitude towards the issue of the freedom of association of the Turkish minority reveals a lack of political will in this respect. In Bulgaria there are the still outstanding issues of unjustified refusals to register an association aiming at achieving the recognition of the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria and the eviction of persons of Roma origin. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Sejdić and Finci judgment (concerning discrimination of persons belonging to ethnic minorities due to legal restrictions to stand for parliamentary and presidential elections) remains non-executed, despite three interim resolutions of the Committee of Ministers.

Monitoring: new periodic reviews
The Assembly has begun a series of “periodic reviews” which will assess how far Council of Europe member States are fulfilling their obligation to uphold the Council of Europe human rights and democratic standards – beginning with reports on Andorra, Belgium, Croatia and Cyprus. Another 13 member States are already subject to either a full monitoring procedure or “post-monitoring dialogue”, which involves more frequent assessments in greater depth.

The report shows several shortcomings, but also some positive developments. In Georgia, there is an increase in intolerant discourse against minorities and although not addressed by the Assembly, there is still the outstanding issue of the repatriation of the Meshketian Turks. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the continuing ethnic divide and persistent lack of any credible efforts to reform the Constitution creates problems of exclusion of some minorities. In Ukraine, human rights abuses and violations of international human rights and humanitarian law are committed by all sides in the conflict in the east of the country. In Turkey, the Assembly deplores the recent suspension of the peace process with regard to the Kurdish question.

On the other hand, the Assembly welcomes the efforts to build a political consensus on a more efficient federal State and greater autonomy for the federated entities In Belgium. For Croatia it encourages the authorities to further promote the rights of national minorities and to pay particular attention to the situation of the Serb and Roma minorities, which face specific discrimination. The Assembly strongly welcomes the recent renewed impetus to the peace talks in Cyprus and encourages President Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Akıncı to continue their efforts to bring lasting peace to the country. 

More information:

Prof. Malloy presents at PACE hearing in Strasbourg

Autumn Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe