29/01/2009 Session
Strasbourg, 29.1.2009 – According to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), memorials of disputed symbolic significance must not become sources of tension in intra-state relations or between different communities. In a resolution adopted today on the basis of the conclusions of Mátyás Eörsi (Hungary, ALDE), PACE Political Affairs Committee rapporteur on “Attitude to memorials exposed to different historical interpretations,” the Assembly called on member states to initiate the broadest possible debate about the fate of controversial memorials, involving historians, active members of civil society and political leaders.
In this respect, the Assembly believes that disputes can only be resolved with time and through a process specific to each nation, the decision on the fate of such memorials being a sovereign one of the State in which the monuments are located.
With regard to graves and burial sites containing the remains of soldiers, states have a duty to abide by international agreements; the Assembly recommends that member states always consult the relatives or the states concerned and relevant NGOs before exhuming any foreign soldiers or war victims buried on their territories.