Position of women in the Council of Europe Secretariat
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Text adopted by the Standing Committee acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 1 July 1981. See Doc. 4739, report of the Committee on the Budget and the Intergovernmental Work Programme
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
1. Concerned about the low proportion of women among the A grade staff of the Council of Europe Secretariat, especially at the highest level (A5-A7) ;
2. Recognising that this situation may well not reflect any deliberate discrimination against women but may in part follow from the fact that fewer women than men apply for recruitment to the Secretariat and leave the organisation for private, in particular, family reasons ;
3. Considering that the position of women in the Council of Europe Secretariat cannot be seen in isolation from that prevailing in other international organisations or in the national administrations of member states, where a similar under-representation is commonly found ;
4. Recalling Assembly
Resolution 606 (1975), on the political rights and position of women, in which it "(urged) the Committee of Ministers and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to see to it that internal regulations and practice concerning staff do not result in discrimination on the grounds of sex, including unintentional discrimination" ;
5. Believing that the Council of Europe owes it to its particular responsibility in the field of human rights to serve as an example as regards the equality between the sexes in its own Secretariat ;
6. Recalling that the Staff Regulations of the Council of Europe stipulate, inter alia, that "recruitment shall be aimed at ensuring the employment of officials of the highest ability, efficiency and integrity", and that "appointment shall not be subject to any condition of race, creed, sex or civil status" ;
7. Welcoming the work done by the Committee on the Status of Women (CAHFM), set up by the Committee of Ministers with a view to examining, inter alia, the situation of Council of Europe staff with regard to equality between the sexes,
8. Calls on the Secretary General :
8.1 to formulate advertisements for A-grade employment at the Council of Europe in such a way that women feel positively encouraged to apply
8.2 to let his decisions on recruitment and promotions in the A-grade category- in cases where male and female candidates seem equally qualified- be inspired by the need to ensure an equitable distribution between the sexes of posts within the Secretariat ;
8.3 to report to the Assembly at regular intervals on the situation of women within the Council of Europe Secretariat.
