Reply to the 12th Progress Report of the Special Representative of the Council of Europe for National Refugees and Over-Population

Recommendation 534 (1968)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 24 September 1968 (13th Sitting) (seeDoc. 2458, report of the Committee on Population and Refugees). Text adopted by the Assembly on 24 September 1968 (13th Sitting).

The Assembly,

1. Having considered the 12th progress report of the Special Representative for National Refugees and Over-Population (Doc. 2413) ;

2. Noting with satisfaction the practical measures put forward within the time-limit laid down by the Intergovernmental Work Programme by the Special Representative and his Advisory Committee to improve the material, legal and psychological position of migrant workers and their families ;

3. Convinced that this highly European problem urgently requires concrete action by the Council of Europe and the application of solutions on the European level ;

4. Considering that a better co-ordination of migratory movements would be of advantage both to the countries concerned and to the migrant workers ;

5. Welcoming the action taken by the Committee of Ministers regarding migrant workers' maintenance obligations and the teaching of languages to migrant workers ;

6. Welcoming the decisions taken in favour of the vocational training grants programme for unskilled workers ;

7. Recalling the opinion expressed by che Committee on Population and Refugees in the framework of the Work Programme on the elaboration of a European Migrant Workers' Statute ;

8. Noting with interest the future work programme of the Advisory Committee which is closely linked to its present activities ;

9. Having noted with satisfaction the decision taken by the organs of the Resettlement Fund concerning the use of profits for setting up a social fund, intended to lower the interest rate of loans granted to certain projects of an eminently social character ;

10. Considering that a number of projects complying with the social aims of the Resettlement Fund have not been implemented in view of the high interest rates on the international market of capitals,

11. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers :

adopt the recommendations presented by the Special Representative's Advisory Committee on low-cost housing for migrant workers, participation of immigrants in the life of the firms in which they work and problems raised by the return of migrant workers to their home country ;

promote common action by member states as regards vocational training with a view to applying European solutions to the problems of workers' professional qualifications and in particular to the question of their equivalence ;

take steps to see that the European Statute for Migrant Workers, at present in process of being drafted, takes account of the real needs of the migrant worker and his family and duly contains provisions dealing with the legal, economic and social situation of this category of workers ;

invite the member governments to consider in a spirit of European solidarity the possibility of making available their national financial markets to the issues of the Resettlement Fund.