Political strategies to prevent, prepare for, and face the consequences of natural disasters
Reply to Recommendation
| Doc. 15859
| 13 November 2023
- Author(s):
- Committee of Ministers
- Origin
- Adopted at the 1480th meeting
of the Ministers’ Deputies (8 November 2023). 2023 - November Standing Committee (Vaduz)
- Reply to Recommendation
- : Recommendation 2251
(2023)
1. The Committee of
Ministers has carefully examined Parliamentary Assembly
Recommendation 2251 (2023) “Political strategies to prevent, prepare for, and face
the consequences of natural disasters”. The recommendation has been
brought to the attention of the governments of the member States
and forwarded to the relevant committees for information and possible
comments.
Note
2. The Committee fully shares the Assembly’s concerns about the
consequences of natural disasters that directly affect human health,
dignity and life. It notes the emphasis given to environmental issues
in the Reykjavík Declaration adopted at the 4th Summit
of Council of Europe Heads of State and Government in May 2023,
which underscored “the role that the Council of Europe may play
as an organisation working not only in the area of human rights,
democracy and the rule of law, but with a longstanding and widely
acknowledged track record in protecting the environment, environmentally
friendly landscape management and public health”.
3. The Committee of Ministers recalls its recent replies to Parliamentary
Assembly
Recommendations 2214
(2021) “The climate crisis and the rule of law” and 2211 (2021)
“Anchoring the right to a healthy environment: need for enhanced
action by the Council of Europe”, in which it presented some of
the pioneering work already carried out by the Council of Europe
in this area.
4. Regarding the Assembly’s recommendation to draw up an additional
protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights (paragraph 4.1),
the Committee recalls its previous replies to Assembly
Recommendations 1614 (2003) “Environment and human rights”, 1885 (2009) “Drafting
an additional protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights
concerning the right to a healthy environment” and 2211 (2021) “Anchoring
the right to a healthy environment: need for enhanced action by
the Council of Europe”. In this context, it has been reiterated
that the Convention system already indirectly contributes to the
protection of the environment through existing Convention rights
and their interpretation by the European Court of Human Rights in
its case law, thereby offering protection in relation to environmental
issues.
5. As concerns the drawing up an additional protocol to the European
Social Charter (paragraph 4.2), the European Committee for Social
Rights (ECSR) has addressed certain aspects of environmental protection through
its monitoring procedures, in particular within the scope of application
of Article 11 on the right to protection of health. This includes
the right to a healthy environment, where States are required to
take measures designed to remove the causes of ill health resulting
from environmental threats such as pollution. While noting that
the ECSR supports the Assembly’s recommendation to draw up an additional
protocol to the European Social Charter on the right to a safe,
clean, healthy and sustainable environment, the Committee recalls
that the interrelationship between the protection of social rights
and environmental protection has been recognised to a certain extent
by the ECSR, albeit only indirectly by treaty interpretation in
the framework of the monitoring procedures. The Committee considers
that in principle the Charter mechanisms would be well suited to
monitor State compliance with obligations relating to systemic issues
such as those related to the environment and the consequences of
natural disasters.
6. Nevertheless, the Committee informs the Assembly that, in
line with paragraph 4.1, the CDDH Drafting Group on human rights
and the environment (CDDH-ENV) is currently working on a draft report
on the need for and feasibility of a further instrument or instruments
in this field, bearing in mind the proposals already made in
Recommendation 2211 (2021) for additional protocols to the European Convention
on Human Rights and the European Social Charter. The CDDH recalled
that the Reykjavík Declaration includes a commitment to conclude
as soon as possible this report and confirmed its intention to meet
this commitment.
7. With regard to paragraph 4.4, the Committee informs the Assembly
that, in February 2022, it took note of a report on the implementation
of Recommendation
CM/Rec(2016)3, covering questions of how businesses conduct environmental
and human rights due diligence and how victims of human rights and
environmental adverse impacts access remedies. Although a revision
of Recommendation
CM/Rec(2016)3 is not foreseen, the CDDH continues its activities in
this area. For example, in December 2022, it organised a workshop
on the implementation of human rights and environmental due diligence.
8. In accordance with paragraph 5, the Committee of Ministers
underlines the important work undertaken by the EUR-OPA Major Hazards
Agreement that pays particular attention to the most vulnerable
populations. Mindful of the need for sharing scientific knowledge
and establishing links across borders, EUR-OPA continues, in addition
to intergovernmental co-operation, to develop within its Network
of Specialised Scientific Centers technical scientific projects
seeking to identify hazards affecting specific territories and to
propose solutions aiming at risk reduction.
10. The Committee notes the view of the Parliamentary Assembly
(paragraph 6 of the recommendation) on the importance to incorporate
appropriate funding to Council of Europe instruments focusing on
nature, landscape and major hazards, in particular to the Council
of Europe Landscape and Bern Conventions, which is being considered
in the context of the discussion on the draft Programme and Budget
2024-2027.
11. In line with paragraph 8, the Committee of Ministers informs
the Assembly that it has initiated the “Reykjavík process” on strengthening
the work of the Council of Europe in the field of the environment,
with the aim of making it a visible priority for the Organisation
(Appendix V on “The Council of Europe and the environment”).
