19/03/2021 Standing Committee
The PACE Standing Committee, meeting by videoconference, today expressed its deep concern over victims of arbitrary displacement, underlining that nearly 2.8 million Europeans were internally displaced persons (IDPs). “Many Europeans are refugees in other countries, in particular Ukrainians who fled the war in eastern Ukraine and the Crimea; more recently, the conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region has led to new waves of displaced persons,” the parliamentarians stressed.
By adopting a resolution based on the report by Fabien Gouttefarde (France, ALDE), the Standing Committee called on member States to transpose the standards of international law into national legislation, and to “introduce therein the principle of universal jurisdiction of national courts” for arbitrary displacement and other war crimes or crimes against humanity.
According to the adopted resolution, each member State should prosecute and punish, by all means available under national and international law, any human rights violations committed by third parties abroad against displaced persons.
Finally, the Standing Committee called on member States to provide protection and assistance to victims of such displacements through special medical and psychological care, accelerated asylum procedures, action allowing family reunification, and the prosecution of crimes committed. against victims.