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Follow-up to the 2nd Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe

Contribution | Doc. 7995 | 27 January 1998

Committee
Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Rapporteur :
Mr Walter SCHWIMMER, Austria
Thesaurus

1. The Summit should not be seen as a final point but as a starting point. Many issues of the Final Declaration and the majority of the actions which are contained in the Action Plan are legal matters or matters related to human rights; accordingly the Committee on Legal affairs and Human Rights is even more concerned with them.
2. Among the items of the Action Plan and the Final Declaration are the following:
  • establishment of the new single Court of Human Rights;
  • creation of an office of commissioner for human rights to promote respect for human rights in the member states;
  • prohibition of the cloning of human beings;
  • combating of racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and intolerance;
  • protection of national minorities;
  • combating of terrorism
  • fight against corruption;
  • protection of children;
  • universal abolition of the death penalty;
  • prevention and combating of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
  • strengthening the fundamental role of the institutions of local democracy,
  • support for democratic development.
3. The Committee of Legal Affairs and Human Rights therefore welcomes the results of the second summit and its Action Plan, expects an efficient realisation of their goals by the Committee of Ministers and is willing and ready to co-operate.
4. The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights also welcomes the adoption of the Additional Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of Human Being with Regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine, on the Prohibition of Cloning Human Beings. In this manner the Committee of Ministers is implementing the first proposal of the Action Plan.
5. The further implementation of the suggested measures of the Action Plan will not only depend on the proposals of the Committee of Wise Persons and the ad hoc working party but also rely on the strong support of the European public. Public support requires demands first of all a broad awareness of the principles of the Council of Europe and the goals of its second summit. A personality, who is well known by the public for his or her top performance in a special field, such as science, administration, law or politics, would be able to draw the attention of Europe's citizens to the aims and efforts of the Council of Europe. Such a person can be an appropriate representative of the issues all over Europe.
6. The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights therefore considers that outstanding personalities, successful in their fields of activity, should represent as High Representatives of the Council of Europe the main issues of the Action Plan before the European public.