Second Progress Report of the Special Representative of the Council of Europe for National Refugees and Over-population

Motion for a recommendation | Doc. 760 | 12 December 1957

Committee

Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee

Signatories:

Mr Ludovico MONTINI, Italy

Thesaurus

The Assembly,

Having examined the Second Progress Report of the Special Representative of the Council of Europe for National Refugees and Over-population, and noted a number of points to which it wishes to draw the attention of t h e Committee of Ministers;

Noting t h a t the International Labour Convention on Migrant Workers, adopted on 1st July 1949, b y the International Labour Conference in Geneva, has still not been ratified by nine of the fifteen Member States of the Council of Europe, notwithstanding Recommendation 112 (1957), adopted by t he Assembly on 8th January 1957;

Convinced that the problem of the vocational training of unskilled surplus labour is of growing interest not only to the overpopulated countries but also to immigration countries and indeed to any other European country whose economic and social development necessitates an increase in its skilled labour force;

Recalling that, on several occasions, it has drawn the attention of the Governments of the member countries to the need for devising and adopting a common social policy;

Considering that the results achieved by the Resettlement Fund, after one year of operation, justify the confidence placed in it by eight member countries;

Having noted t h a t the Special Representative has stressed that new projects submitted to the Resettlement Fund will, in future, assume a more productive form so as to make it possible, inter alia, to provide local employment for part of the surplus labour force;

Considering that new European institutions, such as the European Economic Community and, possibly, the Free Trade Area, will be set up in the near future and provided with organs of economic and financial assistance whose aims and function will be similar to those of the Council of Europe Resettlement Fund;

Congratulating the Special Representative on his work, reaffirming its confidence in him and inviting him to continue his efforts,

Recommends that the Committee of Ministers :

1 Invite, as requested in Recommendation 112 (1957), the Governments of Austria, Denmark, Greece, the Federal Republic of Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Sweden and Turkey to ratify at the earliest possible date the International Convention on Migrant Workers, adopted on 1st July 1949, by the International Labour Conference in Geneva;

2 Request the Special Representative to intensify his efforts aimed at offering increased opportunities of vocational training to surplus elements of population, in close co-operation with the international organisations concerned with this question;

3 Implement the measures advocated in Recommendation 113 (1957) and, in particular, that which provides for the convening, within the Council of Europe framework, of periodical conferences of Ministers of Labour and Social Welfare;

4 Invite the Governments of Austria, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom to accede to the Council of Europe Resettlement Fund, which is an example of European solidarity;

5 Invite interested Member Governments to submit to the Resettlement Fund applications for loans in respect of industrial projects designed to give lasting or permanent employment to surplus manpower;

6 Follow closely the setting up of the new European institutions so as to be in a position to take the necessary action to ensure t h a t the activities of the economic and financial assistance bodies operating within the framework of these institutions are harmonised with those of the Council of Europe Resettlement Fund.