Contribution of the Assembly to the promulgation and launching of the Water Charter

Recommendation 493 (1967)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly Debate on 28th April 1967 (7th Sitting) (see Doc. 2211, report of the Cultural and Scientific Committee). Text adopted by the Assembly on 28th April 1967 (7th Sitting).

The Assembly,

1. Recalling its Recommendation 436 in which it recommended the Committee of Ministers and member Governments to initiate joint action to control fresh water pollution and to undertake a publicity campaign at European level by the promulgation of a "Water Charter" ;

2. Convinced that a Water Charter would awaken European public opinion to the urgent need to safeguard and protect water resources against the increasing risks of pollution with a view to meeting the ever-increasing needs ;

3. Convinced that the time is ripe for launching a European campaign designed to publicise the Water Charter, in order to explain the magnitude of the campaign and the need for close intergovernmental collaboration ;

4. Considering that the campaign must be organised on the European level so that its broad lines may be defined and on the national level so that particular situations and problems peculiar to each country may be taken into account ;

5. Having taken note of the report on the contribution of the Assembly on the promulgation and launching of the Water Charter presented by the Cultural and Scientific Committee (Doc. 2211),

6. Recommends the Committee of Ministers :

a to promulgate the Water Charter at an official ceremony in Strasbourg when the Committee of Ministers and the Consultative Assembly meet for the spring session of 1968 ;

b to ensure that the ceremony promulgating the Charter in Europe is arranged with care, and that the Charter is launched in all member countries and local authorities on the very day of its promulgation ;

c to set up, for this purpose, an Organising Committee composed of an equal number of representatives of the Consultative Assembly and of the European Committee for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, and to authorise it to obtain the assistance of public relations experts ;

d to appoint a Committee of Patrons which should include eminent European personalities, scientists of renown, and representatives of the Committee of Ministers, the Assembly and the above-mentioned European Committee ;

e to continue the campaign against fresh water pollution until the European Conservation Year of 1970, when a European Convention on this matter may possibly be adopted ;

f to make provision for the necessary funds - and for supplementary appropriations in 1967 - to finance the campaign ;

g to extend, as part of the policy of technical co-operation with other European countries, the campaign for publicising the Water Charter in non-member countries of the Council of Europe which are equally interested in the problems of water pollution ;

h to associate other international organisations closely with this campaign, in particular the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe ;

i to invite member countries to issue a special stamp in 1968 when the Water Charter is proclaimed, and to approach the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations in this connection ;

j to make the promulgation of the Water Charter one of the subjects discussed on the occasion of Europe Day 1968 ;

k to invite the European Conference of Local Authorities to include the circulation of the Water Charter in local and regional organisations in Europe, as an item on the agenda of its Seventh Session ;

7. Recommends the Committee of Ministers to invite member Governments :

a to employ all appropriate means to organise the launching of the Water Charter at national level, having regard to the distribution plan worked out by the European Organising Committee and adapted to the particular situations and specific problems of each of the countries in question ;

b to instruct preferably a special committee or an existing body to organise the national campaign, and to grant it the necessary powers, including the right to collect special funds to cover the campaign expenses ;

c to associate a member of the national Parliament, who should if possible also be a member of the Assembly, with the work of the Committee or body responsible for the national campaign ;

d to associate with the organisation of the campaign private national associations concerned with the protection of nature in general and fresh water resources in particular, together with associations of local authorities ;

e to issue a special stamp in the "Europe" series when the Water Charter is promulgated ;

8. Recommends the Committee of Ministers to instruct the Secretary General :

a to make the necessary contacts, in particular with the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, with a view to associating non-member countries with the campaign to launch the Charter ;

b to circulate the illustrated booklet on "Fresh Water Pollution Control in Europe" as widely as possible, in order to prepare the ground for the launching of the Water Charter and, if need be, to have the necessary funds granted to enable a further edition of that booklet to be published ;

c to invite national postal administrations to issue a special stamp to celebrate the promulgation of the Water Charter.