FOR THE MEMBERS OF THE ASSEMBLY
Secretariat of the Assembly
Synopsis n° 2001/059 rev.
28 May 2001
The Bureau of the Assembly, meeting on 22 May 2001 in Istanbul with Lord Russell-Johnston in the Chair,
expressed itself in favour of the request for a current affairs debate on “ the situation in the Middle East” at the Standing Committee meeting in Istanbul on 22 and 23 May 2001;
adopted the agenda and drew up the draft order of business of the 3rd Part-Session of the Assembly which will take place in Strasbourg from 25-29 June 2001 and authorised the President to make any necessary adjustments to take account of new developments;
agreed, within the framework of the request by the parliament of Kazakhstan for observer status with the Assembly, to consider at a forthcoming meeting a draft co-operation agreement and the possible sending of a Bureau delegation to Kazakhstan;
appointed Mr Jurgens (Netherlands, SOC) rapporteur for the Progress report and approved the draft report;
took note that the next meeting of the Joint Working Group on Chechnya, including Chechen representatives, would take place in Prague from 24-25 May;
took note with concern of the decision by the European Parliament to fix one of their part-sessions in September 2002 during the last week of the month at the same time as the Assembly’s Part-Session, agreed to maintain its date in accordance with its established practice and took note that the issue would be raised at the next meeting of the Presidential Committee with the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament;
declassified the report by the ad hoc committee on the observation of the elections in the Republic of Montenegro, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (22 April 2001);
invited the political groups to appoint members for an ad hoc committee to observe the legislative elections in Bulgaria on 17 June 2001, subject to receiving an invitation from the Bulgarian authorities;
took note of the information provided by the Secretary General of the Assembly on the observation of the legislative elections on 24 June 2001 in Albania, including the pre-electoral mission;
drew up the list of candidates in respect of Georgia for the European Committee for the prevention of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment of punishment (CPT) and forwarded it to the Committee of Ministers;
approved the proposed changes to the composition of the Monitoring Committee, subject to ratification by the Standing Committee;
proposed the following references, transmissions and modifications in references to committees for ratification by the Standing Committee:
Motion for a recommendation on prisoners of war and hostages held in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh (Doc. 9063): transmission to the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States (Monitoring Committee), for information;
Motion for a resolution on improving food security in Europe (Doc. 9079): for report to the Committee on the Environment and Agriculture;
Motion for a recommendation on the right to association for members of the professional staff of the armed forces (Doc. 9080): to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights and, for opinion, to the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee, for report to the Standing Committee;
Motion for a resolution on domestic violence (Doc. 9081): for report to the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men and, for opinion, to the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee;
Motion for a recommendation on Western Sahara (Doc. 9082): transmission to the Political Affairs Committee, for information;
Motion for an order on privileges and immunities of Mr Ilie Ilascu as a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (Doc. 9083): no follow-up;
Motion for a recommendation on stopping the killing of community dogs in Bucharest (Doc. 9084): transmission to the Committee on the Environment and Agriculture, for information;
Motion for an order on the opponents of free trade and globalisation regarded as a threat to democracy and freedom of opinion in Europe (Doc. 9085): for report to the Committee on the Environment and Agriculture and, for opinion, to the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development, to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights and to the Committee on Culture, Science and Education;
Motion for a resolution on harmonisation of the globalisation process and maintenance of regional values (Doc. 9087): to the Committee on the Environment and Agriculture, for report to the Standing Committee;
Motion for a recommendation on former embassies as real estate of the Baltic States on the territory of some Council of Europe member states (Doc. 9088): to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, for report to the Standing Committee;
Motion for a resolution on the prevention of environmental disasters by supporting the destruction of chemical weapons (Doc. 9089): for report to the Committee on the Environment and Agriculture;
Motion for a resolution on the state of the world population (Doc. 9090): for report to the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography;
Motion for a resolution on the need for greater European concern for the development of the Caspian Sea region (Doc. 9091): for report to the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development and, for opinion, to the Committee on the Environment and Agriculture;
Motion for a resolution on the situation of Maghrebi women in Europe (Doc. 9092): to the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, for report to the Standing Committee;
Motion for a resolution on the protection of minors against Internet child pornography (Doc. 9093): for report to the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee;
Motion for a resolution on the impact of the reinstatement of the Mexico City Policy (Global Gag Rule) by President Bush of the United States of America (Doc. 9094): to the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, for report to the Standing Committee;
Motion for a resolution on the Office of Lord Chancellor in the constitutional system of the United Kingdom (Doc. 9096): for report to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights;
Motion for a resolution on violations of the rights of a child in the case of Mrs N. Zakharova (Doc. 9097): transmission to the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee, for information;
agreed to postpone consideration of the Motion for an order on voting rights of the people living in Gibraltar (Doc. 9065) to a future meeting after having obtained relevant legal information from the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on this matter;
decided that, at the request of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, reference no. 2349 on the Motion for a resolution on fundamentalist regimes’ treatment of women had lapsed;
appointed the following Assembly representatives for official activities:
MM Behrendt (Germany, SOC), Svoboda (Czech Republic, EPP/CD) and Davis (UK, SOC) to Minsk (Belarus) from 1-3 July in the framework of the “parliamentary troika” (PACE, OSCE PA, EP);
Lord Judd to Moscow on 4 June for the hearing organised by the State Duma on missing persons in Chechnya, and authorised the President to appoint additional representatives if necessary;
confirmed its next meetings as follows:
Strasbourg, Monday 25 June 2001 at 8.30 am
Strasbourg, Friday 29 June 2001 at 8.30 am
Paris, Friday 7 September 2001 at 9.30 am
Strasbourg, Monday 24 September 2001 at 8.30 am
Strasbourg, Friday 28 September 2001 at 8.30 am
Strasbourg, Wednesday 7 November 2001 at 3 pm.
Horst Schade / Agnès Nollinger