General policy of the Council of Europe

Recommendation 498 (1967)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 25th September 1967 (9th Sitting) (see Doc. 2276, report of the Political Committee). Text adopted by the Assembly on 26th September 1967 (10th Sitting).

The Assembly,

1. Convinced that the recent events in the Middle East have proved that only a lasting political solution can guarantee peace in this region of the world ;

2. Regretting that the member countries of the Council of Europe have been unable to adopt a common stand and expressing the hope that they will seek and find ways of concerting their international policy ;

3. Stressing that accession to the United Nations Charter implies mutual recognition of member States and that recognition of Israel by the Arab States will enable a settlement to be reached of the pending problems in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter by means of a dialogue between the parties directly concerned ;

4. Denouncing the resumption of arms deliveries to the Middle East which adds further dangers of a renewal of hostilities ;

5. Considering that it is imperative that the negotiations should result in a general settlement and, particularly, in a solution to the problem of the refugees ;

6. Stressing in this respect that the international community has the duty of contributing to the elimination of this permanent cause of friction by proposing and financing with the States concerned a plan for the settlement or resettlement of the refugees ;

7. Considering that any settlement should include the safeguarding, with international backing, of free access to the Holy Places of the different denominations and complete freedom of worship ;

8. Stressing the importance of free access to international waterways, particularly the Gulf of Aqaba, the Suez Canal and the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb ;

9. Convinced that the safeguarding of the Council of Europe system for the maintenance of human rights is of great importance for the further development of the respect for and maintenance of human rights in the whole world ;

10. Noting that numerous grave violations of human rights have been notified since the coup d'etat followed up by a military dictatorship in Greece ;

11. Referring to Resolution 346 adopted by the Standing Committee on 23rd June 1967 ;

12. Convinced that, despite serious current difficulties, in the interests of peace, co-operation between the member States of the Council of Europe and the Soviet Union and the other States of Eastern Europe must be encouraged,

13. Recommends the Committee of Ministers :

a to reaffirm the interest of the member States of the Council of Europe in maintaining good relations in the Middle East both with Israel and the Arab States, promoting a general settlement including the problem of the refugee problem and that of the re-opening of the Suez Canal and other international waterways, and encouraging the people of the Middle East, especially by direct talks between the Arab States and Israel, to secure a permanent peace settlement and to establish among themselves permanent forms of co-operation enabling them to improve their economic and social relations and to solve technical problems such as irrigation in the framework of regional agreements in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations ;

b to acknowledge that no exception can be permitted to the universal application of human rights ;

c to demand that the Greek Government should respect the freedoms enshrined in the Statute of the Council of Europe and to establish forthwith a parliamentary system of government which provides adequate guarantees for those human rights which are a condition of membership of the Council of Europe ;

d to take all appropriate steps in order to reach a common European stand on the Middle East crisis ;

e to neglect no opportunity of promoting co-operation between East and West.