Activities of the Council of Europe Resettlement Fund for National Refugees and Over-Population
Recommendation 999
(1984)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 4 October 1984 (21st Sitting) (see Doc. 5263, report of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography). Text adopted by the Assembly on 4 October 1984 (21st Sitting).
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
1. Having acquainted itself with the work done hitherto by the Council of Europe Resettlement Fund for National Refugees and Over-Population ;
2. Having considered the financial situation of the Fund, the distribution of loans by sphere of operation and the gradual modifications made as a consequence of changes in the situation of states ;
3. Having considered, in particular, the very satisfactory results of the consolidation of the Fund's own assets and the increase in its reserves, broadening the financial basis of the Fund and enabling it to increase the amount of the loans granted to states ;
4. Wishing to pay tribute to the remarkable work carried on with continuity and efficiency by the Fund, which has succeeded, despite the deterioration in the economic situation, in appreciably extending those activities characterised by their highly social purposes ;
5. Noting with satisfaction that the Fund's perseverance in combating unemployment is in line with the conclusions of the Conference of European Ministers of Labour, held in Paris in May 1983, and of the Conference of European Ministers responsible for Migration Questions, held in Rome in October 1983 ;
6. Gratified by the rapidity and scale of the assistance provided by the Fund in the case of exceptional disasters and catastrophes, such as those which befell Turkey and Portugal ;
7. Earnestly hoping that all the Fund's member states will be able, when the time comes, to back up the various decisions taken by the Fund by providing it with additional funds, designed, in particular, to finance job-creating projects in the migrant workers' countries of origin ;
8. Recalling its
Recommendation 981 (1984) on employment in Europe, particularly paragraph 16.xiii stressing the need to increase "the Fund's capacity to grant loans at advantageous rates of interest, which, at present, account for only a small proportion of all loans, most of which are made at market rates" ;
9. Hoping that states will avail themselves of the possibility given to them to pay voluntary contributions intended for countries of their choice, thereby enabling the Fund to grant, for the projects selected, loans ten times the amount of the contributions paid ;
10. Expressing regret that Ireland and the United Kingdom are not yet members of the Resettlement Fund, but welcoming the ongoing negotiations with Austria with a view to its accession, together with the contacts made by Yugoslavia with the Fund's authorities with a view to becoming a member of the Fund,
11. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers invite the governments of those member states :
a Which are already members of the Fund :
11.1.1 to consider it as an outstanding instrument for Council of Europe action in areas affected by the economic crisis and particularly in the very critical matter of the reintegration in their countries of origin of migrants who return of their own free will ;
11.1.2 to encourage the enlargement of the field of action of the Fund by the accession of new members, in particular of the countries of origin of migrant workers, such as Yugoslavia ;
11.1.3 to do their utmost to provide the Fund with more substantial means of action- notably in view of loans at advantageous interest rates granted by the Fund- the means placed at its disposal hitherto seeming modest by comparison with those available to other financial institutions, and in view of the scale of the problems it has to face ;
b Which are not members of the Fund, to accede to it.
