Ivan Yates
Question:70 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the progress made by Ireland during its recent chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. [12829/00]
Written Answers. - Committee of Ministers.
Ireland today concludes its chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which it assumed for a six month period in November 1999. The Committee of Ministers is the decision making body of the Council and the Government has regarded a successful term in office as a foreign policy priority.
The political agenda of the Council has been dominated by the ongoing crisis in Chechnya. In my capacity as chairman in office of the Committee of Ministers, I have met the Russian Foreign Minister, Mr. Ivanov, on a number of occasions recently and have taken the opportunity to express the concern of the Council and of the wider international community at the ongoing sit uation in Chechnya. In particular, I urged Mr. Ivanov to respond positively to the concerns expressed by the Parliamentary Assembly in its recommendation 1456 of 6 April in relation to the setting up of an independent inquiry to investigate alleged human rights violations and war crimes in Chechnya, and the initiation of a political dialogue with representatives of the Chechen people.
In Strasbourg, Ireland has worked to secure a consensus decision amongst the 41 states of the Council to instruct the Secretary General, in co-operation with Russia, to develop proposals for the Council of Europe contribution to resolving the crisis, in part on the basis of ideas advanced by the Commissioner for Human Rights following his visit in November. As a result, the Council of Europe is in the process of seconding personnel to the Kalamanov human rights mission in the region and is planning to hold a number of seminars on the development of democratic structures in the Caucasus region. For its part, Ireland has contributed £25,000 towards funding the Council of Europe involvement in this mission. These steps are intended as a response to the Parliamentary Assembly's Recommendation 1444 of 25 January, which called upon the Committee of Ministers to,inter alia, take steps in close co-operation with the Russian authorities to ensure a Council of Europe presence in the region and provide appropriate support to the Russian authorities for the implementation of peaceful policies in conformity with the norms and principles of the Council of Europe.
Another important issue during our term in office has been the development of the contribution of the Council of Europe to the stability pact for south-eastern Europe. The Council of Europe has an important role in the stability pact as a leading international organisation in the area of human rights and good governance. The Council has submitted a number of programmes and Ireland has indicated its interest in funding a project on the development of democratic citizenship and intercultural dialogue at local level. Ireland has pledged £500,000 over two years to this project.
The Council of Europe, with 41 member states, is, along with the European Union and the OSCE, one of the pre-eminent multilateral institutions in Europe. Within such a framework, it is important that there exist inter-institutional cohesion and co-operation in order that each organisation is in a position to fully discharge those responsibilities that it bears within a pan-European framework. It was with this in mind that we set out, prior to the beginning of our presidency, our desire for closer co-operation between the various organisations. In this regard, a ministerial level meeting between the Council of Europe, represented by the chairmanship and the Secretary General, and the EU, represented by Commissioner Patten and the Portuguese Presidency, was held on 14 March. In addition, Ireland, as chairman in office of the Committee of Ministers, met with the Austrian chairman in office of the OSCE on 11 April, thus fulfilling its commitment that two such meetings should take place annually.
Ireland has also achieved progress in our undertaking to develop relations between the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council. The President of the Assembly visited Dublin on 24-26 November and held meetings with my predecessor and the Taoiseach and addressed the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs. The Irish Chair also addressed the Political Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly in Paris on 16 December. In addition, the spring meetings of the Parliamentary Assembly will take place in Dublin Castle next week. I am grateful to the Ceann Comhairle, and to the members of the Irish delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly, in particular the leader of the delegation, Deputy Brendan Daly, for their initiative. Ireland's chairmanship has been greatly assisted by the efforts and support of the Oireachtas, many Members of which have participated in the work of the Council of Europe and, in particular, that of the Parliamentary Assembly.
Our Presidency programme involved a series of commitments regarding other areas of the Council's activities, including our bilateral involvement. The budget for 2000 was successfully adopted under the Irish chairmanship on 10 December. Despite zero growth in resources, we were able to provide, through re-allocations and reductions, the necessary additional funding for priority areas: the Court of Human Rights, the new Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights, the democratisation programmes and the assembly's monitoring activities.
Bilateral efforts on Ireland's part include the dissemination of information about the role of Ireland within the Council of Europe through the distribution of an information booklet, Ireland and the Council of Europe; the publication of an academic text dealing with Ireland's early involvement with the Council, From Isolation towards Integration, which will be officially launched during the Parliamentary Assembly spring meetings in Dublin next week; Ireland's accession to the North-South Centre for Global Interdependence and Solidarity on 1 January 2000; the very successful European Conference on Social Development, hosted by my colleague the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, which took place in Dublin Castle on 17-18 January – work has since begun on a political communication from the Council of Europe addressed to the UN Special Session on Social Development in June 2000; the staging of an international human rights conference in Dublin on 3-4 March; and the ratification by Ireland of the European Convention on Cinematographic Co-production.