The need for a renewed rules-based international order
Recommendation 2288
(2025)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 28 January 2025 (3rd sitting) (see Doc. 16087, report of the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy,
rapporteur: Ms Dora Bakoyannis). Text
adopted by the Assembly on 28 January 2025 (3rd sitting).
1. The Parliamentary Assembly draws
the Committee of Ministers’ attention to its
Resolution 2581 (2025) “The need
for a renewed rules-based international order”, in which it takes
stock of the current challenges to the rules-based international
order as established following the Second World War. The shift towards multipolarity,
with groups of countries coalescing around diverging approaches
and visions as regards values, systems of governance and the international
order itself, is accompanied by a rapid rise in authoritarianism, nationalism,
isolationism, unilateralism and pure power politics. This phenomenon
has been underscored by the Russian Federation’s ongoing war of
aggression against Ukraine, which constitutes a grave and blatant violation
of the rules-based international order. The world is currently facing
the highest number of conflicts since the end of the Second World
War, and the United Nations Security Council is struggling to fulfil
its primary responsibility of ensuring the maintenance of international
peace and security due to the irreconcilable positions and interests
of its permanent members.
2. This context of global instability and insecurity is all the
more worrying as, in addition to the maintenance of international
peace, the world faces a number of other distinct and interrelated
challenges that can only be addressed through concerted action,
ranging from climate change and environmental degradation to mass migration,
growing inequalities, global health risks, food and energy crises,
terrorism and violent extremism, the rise of artificial intelligence
and its impact on all aspects of society, and the risks of space
exploration.
3. The Assembly strongly supports the renewal of the multilateral
system of global governance, which should continue to be based on
respect for international law and the principles enshrined in the
United Nations Charter. Co-operation among international organisations
sharing these universal values and principles will be essential
to safeguard multilateralism and ensure that the momentous challenges
ahead can be addressed for the benefit of humanity.
4. Founded in 1949 as a peace project, the Council of Europe
has made an outstanding contribution to strengthening rules-based
multilateralism by promoting democracy, human rights and the rule
of law, and contributing to the creation of a single European legal
space, through the European Convention on Human Rights (ETS No. 5)
and its interpretation by the European Court of Human Rights, and
more than 200 other conventions. By strengthening democratic standards,
the protection of human rights and respect for the rule of law,
the Council of Europe contributes to democratic security and the
promotion of international peace within the meaning of the United
Nations Charter.
5. For these reasons, the Assembly makes a resolute call for
strengthening the partnership between the Council of Europe and
the United Nations, in line with the position taken by the Heads
of State and Government of the Council of Europe at their 4th Summit
in Reykjavik in 2023, when they committed to “strengthening the role
of the Council of Europe in the evolving European multilateral architecture
and in global governance by enhancing its external dimension, through
its liaison offices and through a new engagement based on its core values
with democracies in the world and its southern neighbourhood”.
6. The Assembly refers to its
Recommendation 1367 (1998) “Reform
of the United Nations”, in which it had already recommended that
the Committee of Ministers “recognise that the Council of Europe
is a regional organisation within the meaning of Chapter VIII of
the United Nations Charter, on the basis of its contribution to
democratic security in Europe, and the observer status it enjoys
in the United Nations General Assembly” and “examine practical possibilities
for the Council of Europe, including the Parliamentary Assembly,
to be effectively present at the United Nations General Assembly’s
sessions in New York”. In the current international context, these
recommendations become even more relevant.
7. In light of the above, the Assembly calls upon the Committee
of Ministers to:
7.1 take appropriate
steps to seek recognition of the Council of Europe as a regional
organisation within the meaning of Article 52, Chapter VIII, of
the United Nations Charter, in view of the role played by the Council
of Europe in ensuring democratic security;
7.2 strengthen co-operation between the relevant Council of
Europe and United Nations bodies, in particular as regards the implementation
of the Sustainable Development Goals and their respective work in
the field of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, as well
as issues such as environmental protection, the benefits and risks
of new technologies and artificial intelligence, and the role of
youth and gender equality;
7.3 consider updating the 1971 Arrangements on Co-operation
and Liaison between the secretariats of the Council of Europe and
the United Nations to better reflect the potential areas of synergy
and co-operation between the two organisations in the face of current
challenges.
8. Finally, the Assembly reiterates its
Recommendations 1659 (2004) “Strengthening
of the United Nations” and
2150 (2019) “Strengthening
co-operation with the United Nations in implementing the 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development”, in which it invited the Committee
of Ministers to find modalities for establishing a Council of Europe
representation at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. It
therefore strongly supports the proposal of the Secretary General
of the Council of Europe to establish a liaison office of the Council
of Europe at the United Nations Headquarters in New York and urges
the Committee of Ministers to take the necessary steps in this direction
without delay.
