Ratification of Council of Europe conventions
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- See Doc. 5857, report of the Legal Affairs Committee. Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 23 March 1988.
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
1. Considering that, since its foundation in 1949, more than one hundred and twenty-five European conventions or protocols thereto have been drawn up in the framework of the Council of Europe ;
2. Considering that these conventions constitute a most important body of European legislation ;
3. Welcoming the fact that some of these conventions - such as the European Convention on Human Rights (1950) and the European Cultural Convention (1954) - have been ratified by all Council of Europe member states ;
4. Regretting however that many European conventions have been ratified by a limited number of Council of Europe member states, and that some of these conventions, consequently, have not entered into force ;
5. Considering that in many cases the effectiveness of Council of Europe conventions is considerably reduced not only by failure to ratify, but also by reservations or interpretative declarations made by member states at the time of signature or ratification, or by the exclusion of optional provisions (in the European Social Charter (1961) for instance) or optional chapters (in the European Convention for the Peaceful Settlement of Disputes (1957) for instance) ;
6. Considering that it is necessary that a publication on the main treaties and conventions of the Council of Europe be put at the disposal of the public and of practising lawyers ;
7. Desirous to do whatever is in its power to promote the ratification and effective implementation of Council of Europe conventions in the twenty-one member states ;
8. Paying tribute to the useful interventions of its individual members and its Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations at national level in favour of Council of Europe conventions,
9. Instructs its Legal Affairs Committee, in close co-operation with its Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations and with any other of its committees which may be concerned :
a to take any action which may be advisable in order to promote and speed up, as a matter of high priority, the signature and ratification of the following Council of Europe conventions :
European Convention for the Peaceful Settlement of Disputes (1957) ;
European Social Charter (1961) ;
European Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitation to Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes (1974) ;
European Convention on the Legal Status of Migrant Workers (1977) ;
European Convention on the Control of the Acquisition and Possession of Firearms by Individuals (1978) ;
Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (1979) ;
European Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Decisions concerning Custody of Children and on Restoration of Custody of Children (1980) ;
European Agreement on Transfer of Responsibility for Refugees (1980) ;
Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (1981) ;
European Convention on the Compensation of Victims of Violent Crimes (1983) ;
European Convention on Offences relating to Cultural Property (1985) ;
European Convention on Spectator Violence and Misbehaviour at Sports Events and in particular at Football Matches (1985) ;
Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage of Europe (1985) ;
European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experimental and other Scientific Purposes (1986) ;
Protocol No. 6 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms concerning the Abolition of the Death Penalty (1983) ;
- Protocol No. 7 (1984) to this convention ;
Protocol No. 8 (1985) to this convention ;
European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1987) ;
b to report back, if necessary, to the Assembly on ratifications and implementation of these conventions ;
10. Calls on its individual members to intervene in their national parliaments and with their governments in favour of the conventions enumerated in paragraph 9.a above ;
11. Asks for the publication by the Secretariat General of the Council of Europe of a brochure in several languages under the title of ‘‘The Legal Community in the Europe of the Twenty-one'', with a selection of the main treaties and conventions of the Organisation and their explanations ;
12. Instructs its Legal Affairs Committee to make a separate study on reservations to Council of Europe conventions.
