15th progress report of the Special Representative of the Council of Europe for National Refugees and Over-Population

Recommendation 647 (1971)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 5 October 1971 (9th Sitting) (see Doc. 3009, Doc. 3009, report of the Committee on Population and Refugees). Text adopted by the Assembly on 5 October 1971 (9th Sitting).

The Assembly,

1. Having examined the 15th progress report of the Special Representative of the Council of Europe for National Refugees and Over-Population ;

2. Having noted with satisfaction the adoption, by the Committee of Ministers, of Resolutions (70) 35 and (70) 36, on "School education for the children of migrant workers" and "Occupational safety of migrant workers" ;

3. Noting that increasing geographical and occupational mobility creates particular social and economic problems, and that appropriate steps should be taken, on both the national and the international level, to avoid creating an underprivileged class ;

4. Earnestly hoping that the Committee of Ministers will pay particular attention to the fundamental problems of vocational training for migrant workers, inter alia, by expanding the activities of the Council of Europe in this field ;

5. Considering that numerous problems concerning migrant workers could have been avoided if the quantitative and qualitative aspects of international migration had been better studied ;

6. Noting with satisfaction that the situation of migrant workers in Europe has been placed on the agenda for the Conference of European Ministers of Labour ;

7. Recalling its proposals contained in Opinion No. 56 (1971) on the draft European Convention on the Legal Status of Migrant Workers,

8. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers :

a approve the 15th progress report of the Special Representative of the Council of Europe for National Refugees and Over-Population ;

b take into account, when finalising the draft European Convention on the Legal Status of Migrant Workers, the proposals formulated by the Assembly in its Opinion No. 56 (1971) ;

c undertake, in accordance with the Special Representative's proposals, harmonisation of methods of compiling migration statistics, as well as the study of a co-ordinated system of social and economic information designed to rationalise population movements ;

d promote the recognition of professional and technical qualifications obtained by migrant workers in their own country or during their residence abroad, by instructing the Special Representative and his Advisory Committee to undertake new studies, like that on the trade of "motor repair mechanic", in the context of the expanded vocational training programme proposed by the Special Representative ;

e draw the attention of member States to the importance of co-ordination, in the field of migrant workers, of the activities of national departments as well as those of the relevant international governmental and non-governmental organisations ;

f again request those States which are not Members of the Resettlement Fund to join it, so that it may be in a position to increase its activities.