The role of the Council of Europe in preventing conflicts, restoring credibility of international institutions and promoting global peace
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 12 October 2023 (23rd sitting) (see Doc. 15821, report of the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy,
rapporteur: Ms Lesia Vasylenko; and Doc. 15824, opinion of the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and
Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring
Committee), rapporteur: Mr Claude Kern). Text adopted
by the Assembly on 12 October 2023 (23rd sitting).See
also Recommendation 2259
(2023).
1. The price of every war will always
be many times higher than that of preventing it. Throughout its seventy-four years
of history, the Council of Europe has played an active role in preventing
conflicts on the European continent, employing a panoply of tools,
such as early warning and monitoring, confidence building and the
promotion of common values. Recently, however, peace has been fundamentally
challenged.
2. After a gradual decline, the number of armed conflicts in
the world began to rise again in 2010. Some 35 conflicts are currently
ongoing. Contributing factors to this rise include the breakdown
in the rule of law, weak State institutions, the unsustainable exploitation
of natural resources that exacerbates climate change, the erosion
of social welfare, the weakening of multilateralism and the passivity
of the international community towards emerging threats – all of
which might contribute to the rise of authoritarian regimes. The
international order has been placed under an existential threat
as a result of the current Russian aggression against Ukraine, which
was launched on 20 February 2014 and drastically escalated on 24
February 2022.
3. The Statute of the Council of Europe (ETS No. 1) begins with
a preambular paragraph declaring that “the pursuit of peace based
upon justice and international co-operation is vital for the preservation
of human society and civilisation”. According to Article 1 of the
Statute, “the aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve a greater unity
between its members for the purpose of safeguarding and realising
the ideals and principles which are their common heritage and facilitating
their economic and social progress”. However, greater unity cannot
be achieved without peace.
4. Indeed, the Council of Europe is a peace project, aimed at
tackling, in a structural and systematic way, the root causes of
tensions and disputes before they erupt into conflicts.
5. The Parliamentary Assembly recalls that security is a wider
concept than defence and rests to a great extent on compliance with
democratic processes, human rights and the rule of law. While national
defence is explicitly excluded from its scope of responsibility,
the Council of Europe is a frontrunner in protecting democratic
security. This notion, first endorsed by the Heads of State and
Government of the Council of Europe at the 1993 Vienna Summit, along
with the concept of “indivisible security”, included in the Charter
for European Security of the Organization for Security and Co-operation
in Europe (OSCE) (Istanbul, 1999), are today as relevant as ever.
6. In this new security context fraught with risks, Council of
Europe member States should renew their commitment to the values
of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. They should reiterate
their support for the Council of Europe as a cornerstone European
organisation for developing a shared space where these values can
thrive, in the pursuit of peace based upon justice and international
co-operation.
7. The Assembly believes that the Council of Europe should develop
additional tools to promote democratic security, namely a common
democratic security policy aimed at intensifying the efforts of
the Council of Europe to protect and strengthen international security.
The policy should ensure the comprehensive use of early-warning
and confidence-building measures, improve policy making, strengthen
accountability and prevent future conflicts. This policy should
be drawn up and implemented within the legal and political mandate
of the Council of Europe, in parallel with the activities of other
international organisations competent in this field.
8. The Assembly strongly advises member States to refrain from
initiating official interactions with the governments of both the
Russian Federation and Belarus, particularly in the realm of diplomatic
appointments.
9. The Assembly should fully use its significant potential to
contribute to the reform of the global security architecture, as
its good functioning will have a direct impact on the democratic
security of Council of Europe member States. In doing so, the Assembly
should promote co-ordination and co-operation between the Council of
Europe and other international organisations.
10. The Assembly also underscores the importance of the complementary
joint procedure, enabling the Council of Europe’s statutory organs
to take action together in case of a blatant violation by a member
State of its obligations under the Statute.
11. In addition, the Assembly underlines the role of national
parliaments in fulfilling their key function to uphold representative
democracy in Europe: to reflect and advise on the best ways in which
modern democracies might advance and democratic security can be
preserved.
12. In light of these considerations, as regards democratic security
and democratic resilience, the Assembly recommends that Council
of Europe member States:
12.1 ensure
adherence to the rule of law and to fundamental rights and freedoms,
so as to build trust in public institutions in every member State;
12.2 engage in a dialogue on the state of democracy in Europe,
so as to consolidate the Council of Europe’s role as the guardian
of democracy throughout greater Europe;
12.3 consider the ways in which public debate can be organised
in member States in order to raise awareness about democratic security
and to explore ways to strengthen democratic resilience;
12.4 prioritise good neighbourly relations and commit to resolving
disputes and disagreements through dialogue and diplomacy;
12.5 give priority to the use of early-warning and confidence-building
measures;
12.6 commit to the peaceful settlement of disputes by recognising
as compulsory the jurisdiction of international tribunals, strengthening
their capacities and streamlining their procedures;
12.7 ensure early access of decision makers to international
legal expertise to guide national policies;
12.8 intensify co-operation with the European Commission for
Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) and support its activities;
12.9 support cross-border co-operation and other efforts to
defuse tensions and promote understanding at the local level, including
with and among civil society;
12.10 promote multilateral dialogue and contribute to the formation
of uniform positions of different international organisations, which
will pave the way for building a strong and unified response to violations
of international law;
12.11 start a dialogue on consolidating member States’ positions
on reforming crucial security institutions, in particular the United
Nations Security Council, and pursue an active and concerted policy to
initiate change;
12.12 invest in all aspects of a comprehensive security approach,
including soft security, human security and democratic resilience;
12.13 recognise that the notion of security is closely intertwined
with numerous challenges, such as energy dependence and climate
change;
12.14 safeguard their societies from attacks on the good functioning
of democracy, including disinformation and misinformation, and particularly
from internal or external attempts to undermine, or interfere in,
electoral processes;
12.15 promote the role of civil society, finding ways of involving
citizens in decision-making processes and safeguarding freedom of
association;
12.16 ensure that the ability to access and impart information
is protected, including by guaranteeing an independent and pluralistic
media environment;
12.17 tackle socio-economic inequalities, which threaten the
democratic stability of our countries and dent citizens’ trust in
politics;
12.18 consider, for instance in the framework of the World
Forum for Democracy to be held in Strasbourg in November 2023, the
ways in which democracy can be strengthened by giving it a firmer foothold
at all levels of the State and also by reinforcing it at the transnational
level.
13. As regards the role of the Council of Europe, the Assembly
recommends that its member States:
13.1 fully subscribe to rules-based multilateralism while striving
to further strengthen it, in particular by ensuring full compliance
with international law and the honouring of the obligations stemming
from the conventions to which they are parties;
13.2 ensure that the European multilateral architecture is
more responsive and effective in tackling present challenges;
13.3 give fresh impetus and political support to the central
role of the Council of Europe as the guardian of human rights, democracy
and the rule of law in Europe, and as a platform for political dialogue,
diplomacy and multilateralism;
13.4 support the further development of Council of Europe work
in the area of democratic security and democratic resilience;
13.5 promote all efforts aimed at ensuring accountability for
violations of international law by recognising the jurisdiction
of the International Criminal Court, lifting all jurisdictional
limits for the prosecution of the crime of aggression and, when
necessary, to ensure full accountability, establishing ad hoc tribunals
with a narrowly defined jurisdiction, such as a special tribunal
for the crime of aggression against Ukraine;
13.6 encourage the participation of the Council of Europe,
as appropriate, in relevant consultations and negotiations and the
provision of concrete expert and technical support for the process
of creating the special tribunal for the crime of aggression against
Ukraine;
13.7 enforce the obligation to provide compensation to the
victims of aggression, including by lawful confiscation of State-owned
and privately owned assets;
13.8 support the establishment of a comprehensive compensation
mechanism as provided for by the Riga Declaration of 11 September
2023, including the development of the already created Register
of Damage Caused by the Aggression of the Russian Federation against
Ukraine and an international commission for the examination of claims
for damages;
13.9 support the active role of the Council of Europe in promoting
reforms of other international organisations to ensure their effective
functioning;
13.10 allocate the necessary financial resources to ensure
the financial sustainability of the Council of Europe;
13.11 ensure effective follow-up to the 4th Summit of Heads
of State and Government of the Council of Europe (Reykjavik, 16
and 17 May 2023);
13.12 allocate the necessary resources to ensure that the Council
of Europe can expand its work on confidence-building measures to
help lay the foundations for long-lasting peace.
14. As regards its own activities, the Assembly should:
14.1 increase its focus on parliamentary
diplomacy as a tool for defusing tensions, promoting dialogue, reinforcing
mutual understanding and enhancing confidence building, and conflict
prevention;
14.2 contribute to the Council of Europe’s efforts on early
warning in order to address situations which risk posing a threat
to the rule of law, democratic security and good neighbourly relations;
14.3 strengthen the capacity of both the Committee on Political
Affairs and Democracy and the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations
and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring
Committee), in particular in terms of early warning, in line with
the conclusions of the 2023 Council of Europe Summit, and give consideration
to mechanisms to ensure that due account is taken of such early
warnings;
14.4 strengthen elements relating to conflict prevention, conflict
resolution and democratic security in the terms of reference of
its committees and sub-committees;
14.5 place greater emphasis on new security challenges and
how they relate to democracy, human rights and the rule of law and
mobilise political will to address structural factors that erode
democratic institutions;
14.6 enhance co-operation on confidence building and conflict
prevention with other international parliamentary assemblies, including
the European Parliament, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the
Parliamentary Assembly of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO);
14.7 strengthen co-operation and carry out joint activities
with national parliaments on confidence building and conflict prevention.
