11/12/2012 Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Strasbourg, 11.12.2012 – In a draft resolution adopted today by the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights at its meeting in Paris, the committee called for reinforcement of the selection procedures for the experts involved in the principal human rights monitoring mechanisms of the Council of Europe. The key role of these mechanisms is to ensure that the member states honour their obligations. It is very often plain that the conclusions of the monitoring agencies are perceived as expressing the Organisation’s point of view, hence the importance of making sure that a meticulous and transparent selection procedure is applied.
Referring to the proposals of the rapporteur, Boriss Cilevičs (Latvia, SOC), the Committee emphasised the established need to define clear selection criteria such as experts’ proficiency, independence and integrity and respect for gender balance in conjunction with the stipulation of strict rules on the term of appointment and its renewal, or the arrangements to be made in order to ensure a transparent competition open to all.