Granting of participatory status to the international non-governmental organisation ANDANTE
Recommendation 1989
(2011)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Text
adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly,
on 25 November 2011 (see Doc.
12780, report of the Committee on Culture, Science and
Education, rapporteur: Ms John-Calame; and Doc. 12781, opinion of the Committee
on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, rapporteur: Ms Gafarova).
- Thesaurus
1. The Andante European Alliance of
Catholic Women’s Organisations applied for participatory status with
the Council of Europe in 2008. In March 2010, at the end of the
two-year observation period, the chairperson of the association
renewed the application in a letter to the Civil Society/NGO Division
of the Directorate General of Democracy and Political Affairs of
the Council of Europe.
2. In her reply of 9 July 2010, while noting that the Andante
association had participated in the work of the Council of Europe’s
Conference of International Non-governmental Organisations (INGOs),
the Head of the Civil Society/NGO Division stated that she was not
aware of any concrete co-operation that Andante had had with the
Council of Europe during the observation period. She referred to
the ongoing reform of the Council of Europe and the rationalisation
of its activities. She also mentioned the evaluation of relations
between the Council of Europe and INGOs and the possible changes
to the criteria for granting participatory status to them. In conclusion,
she indicated she was hesitant about the possibility of any concrete
co-operation between Andante and the Council of Europe.
3. On 29 September 2010, the Secretary General of the Council
of Europe communicated to the Committee of Ministers, the Parliamentary
Assembly and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the
Council of Europe the names of the INGOs to which he had decided
not to grant participatory status with the Council of Europe. The Andante
European Alliance of Catholic Women’s Organisations was one of those
organisations.
4. Following the objections to this decision from several members
of the Parliamentary Assembly, the Committee of Ministers referred
the matter to the Assembly, with a view to deciding whether or not
to grant participatory status to the Andante association, in accordance
with paragraph 15 of the Appendix to Committee of Ministers Resolution
Res(2003)8 on participatory status for international non-governmental organisations
with the Council of Europe.
5. The Assembly recalls that the conditions to be met by INGOs
in order to obtain participatory status are listed in paragraph
2 of the Appendix to Resolution Res(2003)8:
“2. Participatory status may be granted by the Council
of Europe to INGOs:
a which are particularly
representative in the field(s) of their competence, fields of action
shared by the Council of Europe;
b which are represented at European level, that is to say which
have members in a significant number of countries throughout greater
Europe;
c which are able, through their work, to support the achievement
of that closer unity mentioned in Article 1 of the Council of Europe’s
Statute;
d are capable of contributing to and participating actively in
Council of Europe deliberations and activities;
e which are able to make known the work of the Council of
Europe among European citizens.”
6. The Assembly observes that the Andante association:
6.1 is one of the few women’s associations
that have applied for participatory status with the Council of Europe, and
it is particularly representative of Catholic convictions in the
field of promoting women’s rights and the role of women in society,
which are also important fields of action of the Council of Europe;
6.2 is well represented at the European level, given that
it has 22 member organisations in 13 member states of the Council
of Europe;
6.3 advocates the recognition of values shared by the various
cultures and a commitment to the common good from a female perspective
and, accordingly, supports the achievement of a greater unity as
set out in Article 1 of the Statute of the Council of Europe (ETS
No. 1);
6.4 has regularly and actively participated in the activities
of three committees of the Conference of INGOs of the Council of
Europe – namely the Human Rights Committee, the Culture, Science
and Education Committee and the Social Cohesion and Eradication
of Poverty Committee – as well as the Gender Equality Transversal
Group, by making a contribution, for example, in the context of
the preparation of the White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue, the
2010 questionnaire on the implementation of the revised European
Social Charter (ETS No. 163) and the Council of Europe Convention
on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic
Violence (CETS No. 210);
6.5 helps, particularly through its electronic newsletter, to
disseminate information on Council of Europe activities among the
members of its network.
7. In these circumstances, the Assembly does not share the doubts
expressed with regard to the Andante association’s ability to work
together in a fruitful manner with Council of Europe bodies. The
Assembly also believes that the refusal to grant this association participatory
status cannot reasonably be based on possible changes to the criteria
for granting participatory status. This argument is both illegal,
because the only applicable criteria are those in force, set out
in Committee of Ministers Resolution Res(2003)8, and illogical, because
it is impossible to predict the conclusions of the current debate
and therefore to know how the Andante association might be affected
by any change to the current criteria.
8. The Assembly therefore considers that the Andante European
Alliance of Catholic Women’s Organisations fully meets all the conditions
listed in paragraph 2 of the Appendix to Committee of Ministers Resolution
Res(2003)8 and accordingly recommends that the Committee of Ministers
grant it participatory status.
