1039th meeting of the Committee of Ministers – 22 October 2008

On 22 October 2008, the Committee of Ministers continued their discussions on the consequences of the conflict in Georgia. They considered proposals made by the Secretary General, following their request a week ago, for the financing and implementation of the measures included in the action plan for the promotion of the Council of Europe’s values and standards in Georgia and the Russian Federation proposed by the Swedish Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers. The Committee will return to this matter at its meeting on 5 November in order to take decisions.

Mr Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, presented his third quarterly report for 2008, covering the period July - September. The Commissioner underlined that work had been intensive during these three months, not only because of the consequences of the conflict in Georgia, but also, inter alia, on account of the continuation of the Commissioner's co-operation with the Armenian authorities on the follow-up to the events of 1 March. The Deputies noted that, the programme of initial assessment visits now being almost complete, the Commissioner would be able to devote more resources to targeted activities.

Proposals by the Swedish Chairmanship aiming to give effect to some of the conclusions of the Colloquy “Towards stronger implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights at national level” (Stockholm, 9-10 June) were considered by the Deputies. They decided to call for emphasis to be placed in ongoing intergovernmental work on drafting more specific, non-binding instruments on effective domestic measures for certain kinds of common violations and on ways of raising states’ awareness of judgments relevant to all contracting parties.

The Ministers’ Deputies heard an oral report, and took note of the conclusions, of the international conference entitled “International courts and tribunals – the challenges ahead”, which took place in London on 6 and 7 October. The conference brought together the Presidents, Prosecutors and Registrars of International Courts and Tribunals with the Legal Advisers to the Foreign Ministers of the Council of Europe's member states to discuss the practical challenges these courts and tribunals face.

The Ministers' Deputies took note of the Final Declaration on "Economic migration, social cohesion and development: towards an integrated approach" and of the Action Plan, adopted by the 8th Council of Europe Conference of Ministers responsible for Migration Affairs took place in Kyiv, 4-5 September 2008. The Ministers' Deputies took a number of decisions regarding the follow-up to the Conference, and in particular the Action Plan.

Finally, the Ministers’ Deputies approved the financial statements of the Council of Europe for the year 2007.