Responsibility of the member States of the Council of Europe regarding the free movement of people in Europe
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 2 October 1973 (19th Sitting) (seeDoc. 3356, report of the Political Affairs Committee). Text adopted by the Assembly on 2 October 1973 (19th Sitting).
The Assembly,
1. Dismayed by the most recent example of terrorist blackmail by which a pledge was extorted from the Austrian Government concerning the transit of Jewish emigrants from the USSR ;
2. Reaffirming that the principle of freedom of movement of people ought to be the main goal of humanitarian cooperation between East and West, which is currently under examination at the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe ;
3. Recalling that its members have on several occasions expressed gravest concern over the situation of the Jewish communities in the USSR, in Iraq and other countries, and have welcomed developments enabling the people concerned to emigrate to Israel ;
4. Further recalling that it has solemnly condemned international terrorism and requested the member States of the Council of Europe to unite in their efforts to combat terrorist activities on the lines of its
Recommendation 703, and that it has warned governments of the consequences of failing to take immediate and effective action,
5. Insists on the necessity for the member States of the Council of Europe to recognise that they have a joint responsibility to firmly resist any criminal violence and intimidation purporting to extort political decisions, as long as they have not found an effective common policy on combating such terrorism ;
6. Declares its conviction that no government can be held committed by a pledge extorted by violence, intimidation or blackmail.
