Reply to the 13th progress report of the Special Representative of the Council of Europe for National Refugees and Over-Population
Recommendation 565
(1969)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 30 September 1969 (10th Sitting) (see Doc. 2636, report of the Committee on Population and Refugees). Text adopted by the Assembly on 30 September 1969 (10th Sitting).
The Assembly,
1. Having considered the 13th progress report of the Special Representative of the Council of Europe for National Refugees and Over-Population (
Doc. 2547);
2. Noting with satisfaction the adoption by the Committee of Ministers of the recommendations on low-cost housing for migrant workers, the participation of such workers in the life of the firms in the host country and the problems raised by the return of migrant workers to their home country put forward by the Special Representative and supported by the Assembly in its
Recommendation 534;
3. Being aware that to be really free migration must rid itself of the limitations imposed on it by the economic or demographic requirements of countries with a reserve of manpower or countries beset with a periodic or permanent shortage of workers;
4. Considering that efforts must be made to free migrant workers from the necessitous condition which urges them to emigrate, by providing in their home country the basic conditions for a more active economic life and encouraging structural investments and the flow of capital towards overpopulated areas;
5. Being convinced that the active pursuit of such a policy would permit migration, today mainly the result of economic constraint, to be transformed into a movement for cultural, social and economic advancement based on the free choice of each individual;
6. Believing that the treatment accorded to migrant workers by their host countries should in no circumstances be less favourable than that accorded to national workers;
7. Therefore encouraging the Special Representative to continue the activities under study by his Advisory Committee;
8. Considering it to be one of the primary functions of the Special Representative to provide political stimulus and impulsion with the aid of his Advisory Committee;
9. Being convinced that the obligations resulting from the Council of Europe's Work Programme whereby, year by year, the Special Representative's activities are determined, engage in a large measure the efforts required to ensure that his mission of political instigation preserves its flexibility, dynamism and spontaneity;
10. Considering that the achievement of the objectives of European social co-operation, defined by the member governments, must continue to depend on the ever more judicious use of the machinery at the command of the Council of Europe, including the Special Representative himself;
11. Deeming that the planning by the Special Representative's Advisory Committee of any action requested of governments is unlikely to have the desired effectiveness unless based at the outset on close working co-operation between the Special Representative with his advisers and the competent committees of government experts;
12. Being anxious to continue and develop, in this spirit, the permanent working co-operation maintained with the Special Representative at both its plenary level and that of its competent committees;
13. Believing, lastly, that the Resettlement Fund of the Council of Europe should be associated more closely and more extensively than in the past with the Special Representative's work;
14. Accordingly noting and approving the Special Representative's proposals that in the years to come his role of political instigator should be enhanced with a view to determining, in consultation with all Council of Europe bodies and public and private authorities that he is entitled to approach under his terms of reference, the general political context of the action to be taken to improve the legal position and living conditions of migrant workers and their families,
15. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers:
a approve the 13th progress report of the Special Representative;
b ensure that the Special Representative can fully accomplish his mission in the light of his role as political instigator and stimulator defined by the Committee of Ministers themselves;
c provide the Special Representative with the means of action necessary to enable him, when implementing the activities of the Work Programme pertaining to his mission:
15.3.1 to ensure effective co-ordination with other technical bodies such as committees of governmental experts;
15.3.2 to give his support in accordance with his terms of reference;
d seek ways and means of pursuing an active migration policy designed to improve the economic, social and cultural conditions of workers and based on the free choice of the individual and, to that end, instruct the Special Representative, in agreement with the competent Council of Europe authorities, to undertake all the necessary studies and draw up all the appropriate proposals for the attention of member governments;
e discuss the possibility of expanding the activities of the Council of Europe Resettlement Fund for National Refugees and Over-Population by securing the accession of all Council of Europe member states;
f accede to the Assembly's request to convene a meeting of European Ministers of Labour and Social Affairs with a view not only to co-ordinating the activities proposed by member governments and defining the principles of a modern European social cooperation policy, but also to promote a reactivation of the European unification policy pursued by the Council of Europe.
