The Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers, taking
advantage of its unique position as a forum for pan-European co-operation,
initiate the following activities:
3.1 harmonisation among Council of Europe member states of
systems for collecting and processing data on migrants;
3.2 elaboration of guidelines on registration and status of
long-term lawful foreign residents in Council of Europe member states;
3.3 promotion of less restrictive access to citizenship and
harmonisation of naturalisation systems, in particular regarding
the length of required residence, also considering the “dependent”
status of many migrant women, so as to make the situation more equitable
across the member states, as well as the criteria for defining the
degree of integration of the person concerned;
3.4 promotion of harmonisation of rules regarding voting and
political rights of foreigners across the member states;
3.5 gender-sensitive research on political participation of
migrants and people of migrant origin at different levels of political
representation and of the decision-making process;
3.6 encouraging governments to follow the example of the Netherlands
Government and to carry out a self-evaluation of the quality of
democracy in their states according to the guidelines elaborated
by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance
(IDEA.
