At its meeting on 25 January 2013, the Bureau appointed me as rapporteur for this report. Since then, the Bureau has met on 7 March 2013 in Paris. The Standing Committee met on 8 March 2013 in Paris.
In line with my predecessors, this progress report covers the period outside of Assembly sessions, leaving aside the decisions which have already been ratified by the Assembly. Therefore, this report presents the Bureau’s activities since the end of the 1st part-session of 2013 (21-25 January) until the 2nd part-session of 2013 (22-26 April).
The Bureau will hold its next meetings in Strasbourg on Monday 22 April 2013 at 8 a.m. and Friday 26 April 2013 at 8.30 a.m. (in Strasbourg, during the 2nd part-session), then on 30 May 2013 in Yerevan. The next meeting of the Standing Committee will also be held in Yerevan on 31 May 2013.
On 25 January 2013, the Bureau approved the following proposals made by the Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly:
On 7 March 2013, the Bureau drew up the draft agenda and agreed that the Secretary General of the Assembly would issue it after confirmation of all guest speakers.
On 25 January 2013, the Bureau took note of the conclusions of the meeting held on 22 January 2013 and agreed to return to the matter at its next meeting.
On 25 January 2013, the Bureau approved the changes to the final composition of the ad hoc committee. At its next meeting, it approved the final report of the ad hoc Committee.
On 25 January 2013, the Bureau approved the changes to the final composition of the ad hoc committee. On 7 March 2013, it took note of the press release issued by the ad hoc committee.
On 25 January 2013, the Bureau approved the composition of the ad hoc committee and appointed Mr Roman Jakič (Slovenia, ALDE) as Chairperson, subsequently replaced by Mr Christopher Chope (United Kingdom, EDG).
On 7 March 2013, the Bureau decided to observe these elections. It constituted an ad hoc committee for this purpose composed of 21 members (EPP/DC: 7, SOC: 6; ALDE: 3; EDG: 3; UEL: 1 and the Rapporteur of the Monitoring Committee), appointed Mr Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC) as Chairperson, and authorised a pre-electoral mission a month before the elections.
On 25 January 2013, the Bureau, at the request of the Chairperson of the Committee, decided to invite Ms Margaret Chan, Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) to address the Assembly in the context of the presentation of the report submitted by the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development on “Equal access to health care”, during the June part-session.
On 25 January 2013, the Bureau authorised Mr José Mendes Bota (Portugal, EPP/CD) to attend the 57th meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women, at the United Nations in New York (USA) from 4-6 March.
On 7 March 2013, the Bureau approved an information memorandum on the participation of members in Parliamentary Assembly plenary sessions and committee meetings in 2012 in accordance with Resolution 1583 (2007). It invited the President of the Assembly to inform the chairpersons of the delegations and the speakers of the parliaments concerned by low participation rates and in particular to arrange a meeting with the chairpersons of the relevant delegations, preferably on an individual basis, in order to enquire about the reasons of a low participation. Furthermore, it decided to make publicly available on the Assembly’s website the statistics related to the participation of national delegations.
On 7 March 2013, the Bureau approved the following references, which were subsequently ratified by the Standing Committee:
On 25 January 2013, the Bureau modified the following references, which were subsequently ratified by the Assembly:
On 25 January 2013, the Bureau approved the extension of the following references:
On 7 March 2013, the Bureau decided to transfer Document 13103, motion for a resolution on Measures to combat the rising popularity of right-wing extremism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism in the Council of Europe’s member States to the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy for consultation on the follow-up to be given.
The Bureau took note of communications by the President of the Assembly and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
On 7 March 2013, the Bureau approved the programme of the conference, constituted an ad hoc Committee of the Bureau chaired by the President of the Assembly, and invited the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy and the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights to nominate members to it.
On 7 March 2013, the Bureau held an exchange of views on the basis of a memorandum prepared by the Secretariat.
On 25 January 2013, the Bureau drew up the list of candidates for the CPT in respect of Georgia, which it forwarded to the Committee of Ministers.
On 25 January 2012, the Bureau nominated Ms Lolita Čigāne (Latvia, EPP/CD), Mr Cezar Florin Preda (Romania, EPP/CD) and Mr Serhiy Sobolev (Ukraine, EPP/CD) to the Monitoring Committee, on the basis of proposals submitted by the EPP/CD group, which were subsequently ratified by the Assembly.
On the same day, the Bureau nominated Ms Ingjerd Schou (Norway, EPP/CD), Mr Serhiy Sobolev (Ukraine, EPP/CD) Mr Spyridon Taliadouros (Greece, EPP/CD) and Mr Jordí Xuclà (Spain, ALDE) to the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs, on the basis of proposals submitted by the EPP/CD and ALDE Groups, which were subsequently ratified by the Assembly.
During the reference period, the Bureau authorised the following meetings:
The following members were appointed during the reference period:
On 25 January 2013, the Bureau appointed the Assembly’s representatives to various bodies (see appendix 1).
On 25 January 2013, the Bureau agreed to accept the invitation from the Croatian Parliament to hold its September meeting in Dubrovnik (Croatia).
The Standing Committee held exchanges of views with Mr Klaas de Vries, Chairperson of the Sub-Committee on the Election of Judges to the European Court of Human Rights, and with Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR).
Following debates, the Standing Committee adopted the following texts on behalf of the Assembly, which are available on the Assembly website:
The Standing Committee ratified the references as listed in chapter 2.5 of this report.
It ratified the credentials of new members of the Assembly submitted by the delegations of Belgium, Monaco, the Netherlands, Romania, the Russian Federation and Serbia, and approved the changes in the composition of Assembly committees.
The Standing Committee took note of the draft agenda of the Second Part-Session of the Assembly (22-26 April 2013) as well as of the report of the Ad hoc Committee of the Bureau on “Observation of the elections to the National Council of Monaco (10 February 2013)”.
On 7 March in Paris, the Bureau considered a memorandum prepared by the Secretary General of the Assembly and, subject to ratification by the Assembly, decided:
On 7 March 2013, the Bureau considered a memorandum prepared by the Secretary General of the Assembly and, subject to ratification by the Assembly, approved:
The Assembly is invited to ratify these Bureau decisions.
|
Body |
who represents the Assembly |
reference |
2013 nominations |
|---|---|---|---|
|
European Commission for Democracy through Law Venice Commission |
Representatives of the Assembly appointed by the Bureau to attend the sessions of the Commission |
Article 2.4 of the Venice Commission Statute (Res CM (2002) 3) |
Members: Mr Çavuşoğlu, EDG appointment by the President Mr Chope – EDG (AS/Jur) Substitute: Mr Mahoux – SOC (AS/Jur) |
|
Council on Democratic Elections of the Venice Commission |
Representatives of AS/Pol, AS/Jur and AS/Mon approved by the Bureau of the Assembly |
Bureau decision of 10 March 2003 |
Members : Ms Durrieu - SOC (AS/Pol) Mr Gross – SOC (AS/Jur) Ms de Pourbaix-Lundin – EPP/CD (AS/Mon) Substitutes : Ms Khidasheli - ALDE (AS/Pol) Mr Xuclà – ALDE (AS/Mon) … (AS/Jur) |
|
European Centre for Global Interdependence and Solidarity North-South Centre |
Two members of the Executive Council - appointed by the Bureau of the Assembly |
Article 5.1(b) of the North-South Centre Statute (Res CM (1993) 51) |
Members : Ms Blondin – SOC (AS/Soc) Sir Roger Gale – EDG (AS/Cult) Substitutes : Mr Schennach – SOC (AS/Soc) Mr Costa Neves – EPP/CD (AS/Cult) |
|
European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance ECRI |
Representatives of the Assembly appointed by the Bureau (representatives of the following three committees: AS/Pol, AS/Ega and AS/Cult) |
Article 5 of the ECRI Statute (Res CM (2002) 8) |
Members : Ms de Pourbaix-Lundin – EPP/CD (AS/Pol) Mr Cilevičs – SOC (AS/Ega) Mr Schneider – EPP/CD (AS/Cult) Substitutes : Ms Memecan - ALDE (AS/Pol) Mr Davies - EDG (AS/Ega) Mr Jensen - SOC (AS/Cult) |
|
Group of States against Corruption GRECO |
A representative of the Assembly appointed by the Bureau |
CM decision of 717th meeting in 2000 in accordance with Article 7.2 of the Statute of the GRECO |
Member : Mr Neill – EDG (AS/Jur) Substitute: Mr Sasi – EPP/CD (AS/Jur) |
|
CE Committee for Works of Art |
Two members appointed by the Bureau of the Assembly (at present AS/Cult Committee member and Museum Prize rapporteur) |
CM decision of 482nd meeting in 1992 |
Members: - Baroness Eccles – EDG (AS/Cult) - Ms Marjanović - SOC (AS/Cult) |
|
MONEYVAL |
A representative of the Assembly appointed by the Bureau |
Article 4.1 of Resolution CM/Res (2010) 12 |
Member: Lord Tomlinson – SOC (AS/Jur) Substitute: Mr Hübner – NI (AS/Jur) |
|
EUROPA NOSTRA Pan-European Federation for Heritage |
One member (and substitute) to be nominated by the Assembly - to attend the Federation Council meetings as observer |
Article 21.4 of the Statute of Europa Nostra |
Mr Nicolaides - SOC (AS/Cult) Vice-Chairperson of the Sub-Committee on Culture, Diversity and Heritage |
|
Regulations for the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Human Rights Prize |
Draft Regulations for the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize |
|---|---|
|
Article 1: The Prize The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Human Rights Prize shall be awarded on the occasion of the Parliamentary Assembly’s biennial debate on “The State of Human Rights in Europe”, in order to reward outstanding civil society action in the defence of human rights in Europe. |
Article 1: The Prize The Václav Havel Human Rights Prize shall be awarded by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in partnership with the Václav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation every year in order to reward outstanding civil society action in the defence of human rights. The Prize shall be awarded in memory of Václav Havel, playwright, fighter against totalitarianism, leader of the 1989 Velvet Revolution, Czechoslovak and Czech President, and an enduring symbol of opposition to despotism. |
|
Article 2: Nature The Prize shall consist of a sum of ten thousand euros, which may be subject to periodic adjustment by the Bureau, a plaque and a diploma commending the Prizewinner’s outstanding contribution to the cause of human rights. |
Article 2: Nature The Prize shall consist of a sum of thirty thousand euros, which may be subject to periodic adjustment, a trophy and a diploma commending the Prizewinner’s outstanding contribution to the cause of human rights. |
|
Article 3: Eligibility Individual members of civil society or non-governmental organisations or institutions who are active in the defence of human rights in Europe may be eligible for consideration. |
Article 3: Eligibility Individuals or non-governmental institutions who or which are active in the defence of human rights may be eligible for consideration. |
|
Article 4: Nominations 1 Nominations
for the Prize must reach the Secretary General of the Parliamentary
Assembly by 30 September each year. They shall be signed by at least five
sponsors, other than the nominee, on the special form appended to
these Regulations.
2 Nominations shall provide details of the nominee’s action(s)
in the defence of human rights and specify the reasons why the nominee’s
action(s) can be considered to be outstanding. All relevant supporting documents
shall be provided.
3 Nominations may be submitted in one of the two official
languages of the Parliamentary Assembly: English or French.
|
Article 4: Nominations 1 Nominations
for the Prize must reach the Secretary General of the Parliamentary
Assembly before 30 June each year. They shall be signed by at least
five sponsors, other than the nominee, on the special form appended
to these Regulations.
2 Nominations shall provide details of the nominee’s action(s)
in the defence of human rights and specify the reasons why the nominee’s
action(s) can be considered to be outstanding. All relevant supporting documents
shall be provided.
3 Nominations may be submitted in one of the two official
languages of the Council of Europe: English or French.
|
|
Article 5: Selection Panel 1 A
selection panel comprising the President of the Assembly, the Chairperson
of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, the Chairperson
of the Monitoring Committee and four independent persons with recognised
moral standing in the field of human rights shall examine the nominations
and make a recommendation to the Bureau as to the Prizewinner for
the year in question.
2 The four independent experts referred to in the preceding
paragraph shall not be current members of the Assembly. They shall
be appointed by the Bureau for a five-year period, renewable once.
In order to ensure a reasonable rotation and continuity, the term of
two of the experts shall be limited to three years on the occasion
of the first appointment made by the Bureau. The names of the experts
concerned shall be drawn by lot by the President of the Parliamentary Assembly.
3 The selection panel shall be chaired by the President of
the Assembly.
4 In the event that the selection panel considers that none
of the nominations put forward is sufficiently outstanding, it shall
inform the Bureau accordingly.
|
Article 5: Selection Panel 1 A
Selection Panel comprising the President of the Assembly or a person
designated by him/her, and six independent persons with recognised
moral standing in the field of human rights shall examine the nominations,
submit a shortlist of three nominees to the Bureau of the Parliamentary
Assembly for information and, subsequently, designate the Prizewinner
for the year in question (see also Articles 6 and 7 below).
2 The six independent experts referred to in the preceding
paragraph shall not be current members of the Assembly. Three members
shall be appointed by the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly and
three members by the Václav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation.
The six independent experts shall be appointed for a two-year period,
renewable twice.
3 The Selection Panel shall be chaired by the President of
the Assembly or the person designated by him/her.
4 In the event that the Selection Panel considers that none
of the nominations put forward is sufficiently outstanding, it shall
inform the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly and the Václav Havel
Library and the Charta 77 Foundation accordingly.
|
|
Article 6: Decision on the Prizewinner 1 The decision on the Prizewinner shall be taken by the Bureau
by an absolute majority of the votes cast.
2 The Bureau’s decision on the Prizewinner shall be subject
to the endorsement of the Parliamentary Assembly by means of the
Bureau’s progress report
|
Article 6: Decision on the Prizewinner 1 The Selection Panel shall, in a first sitting, draw up
a shortlist of three nominees. The names of these nominees shall
subsequently be made public by the President of the Assembly.
2 In a second sitting, the Panel shall designate the Prizewinner
out of the shortlist. This decision shall be taken by an absolute
majority of the votes cast, the day before the opening of the Fourth
part-session of the Parliamentary Assembly.
3 The name of the Prizewinner shall be announced by the
President of the Parliamentary Assembly in plenary, during the opening
of the Fourth part-session of the Assembly.
4 The calendar of events shall be as follows:
a 30 June: deadline for submission
of nominees for the Prize;
b August: first meeting of the Selection Panel (Prague); selection
of a shortlist of three nominees;
c First week of September: transmission to the Bureau of
the Parliamentary Assembly of a shortlist of three nominees, for
information;
d Sunday before the Fourth part-session of the Parliamentary
Assembly: second meeting of the Selection Panel (Strasbourg), selection
of the Prizewinner from the shortlist.
|
|
Article 7: Award Ceremony 1 The
Prize shall be awarded at a ceremony which shall take place in principle
during the part-session of the Parliamentary Assembly following
the Assembly’s endorsement of the Prizewinner.
2 The Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly shall approve
the modalities of the ceremony.
|
Article 7: Award Ceremony 1 The
Prize shall be awarded at a ceremony which shall take place in Strasbourg
on the Monday of the Fourth part-session of the Parliamentary Assembly.
2 The former Czech First Lady, Ms Dagmar Havlova, shall
be invited to honour the ceremony with her presence.
3 The Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly shall approve
the arrangements for the ceremony.
|
|
Article 8: Conference in honour of Prizewinner 1 The Václav Havel Library shall
organise, at a later date, an international conference in Prague
in honour of the Prizewinner.
|
Strasbourg, … 2013
Signed in Strasbourg, this ...th day of … 2013, in three copies, in English.
For the Václav Havel Library, Director Ms Marta Smolíková
For the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, President Jean-Claude Mignon
For the Charta 77 Foundation, Chairman of the Board Mr František Janouch