Parliamentary Assembly

Draft resolution

1The Parliamentary Assembly reiterates its commitment to international order based on effective multilateralism, with the United Nations and its Charter as its cornerstone. As universal values such as human rights are increasingly being challenged, it is essential to strengthen mutual support between the United Nations, as a global Organisation, and value-based regional partners such as the Council of Europe.

2The Assembly greatly values the fruitful and multifaceted co-operation between the Council of Europe and the United Nations founded on the complementarity of their action to protect peace based on respect for human rights. It strongly believes that the Council of Europe, as an important multilateral player at the European level, must contribute more actively to the United Nations efforts to address key global challenges.

3In this context, the Assembly attaches great importance to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted at the Global Summit in September 2015 and to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set out to achieve this ambitious and comprehensive Agenda by 2030. The Assembly welcomes the fact that the SDGs are accompanied by targets and indicators enable progress in achieving them to be measured.

4The Assembly particularly welcomes the emphasis which the 2030 Agenda places on human rights, the rule of law and good governance through democratic institutions, thereby tightly linking the Agenda with the core values on which the Council of Europe is founded.

5The implementation of the 2030 Agenda will require full mobilisation of all stakeholders. While the primary responsibility for achieving the SDGs lies with the national authorities of United Nations member States, regional organisations such as the Council of Europe can facilitate the effective translation of global sustainable development policies into concrete action at national level.

6In this respect, the Assembly refers to United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/73/15 on co-operation between the United Nations and the Council of Europe, which welcomes the contribution of the Council of Europe to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Europe and beyond. It notes that our Organisation is already contributing to 13 of the 17 SDGs.

7In order to maximise its contribution, the Council of Europe should make full use of strengths such as its unique and widely recognised standard-setting role, which has resulted in a number of ground-breaking conventions, its multi-stakeholder structure, its monitoring and reporting machinery, the support it provides to its member States, its position as a platform for exchanging information and sharing experience and good practice, and its global outreach.

8The main force of the Council of Europe is its conventional system. Its effectiveness is ensured by unique monitoring and follow-up bodies and processes which assess member States’ compliance with the conventions on the basis of measurable benchmarks and indicators. This produces unique and vital data for identifying areas of progress, as well as challenges; this data is in several cases applicable also for certain SDGs. Since many SDGs and specific targets correlate with obligations under relevant Council of Europe conventions, its member States are legally bound to complying with 2030 Agenda Goals and targets.

9In line with United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/73/15, the Parliamentary Assembly recognises the need for the United Nations and the Council of Europe to continue to work together, within their respective mandates, to accelerate the pace of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals towards achieving the 2030 Agenda.

10The Assembly calls on the Council of Europe member States, as well as, where relevant, observer States and States whose parliaments enjoy observer or partner for democracy status with the Assembly to:

10.1fully honour their commitments to the SDGs;

10.2sign and ratify and efficiently implement the Council of Europe legal instruments, in particular those which directly contribute to the achievement of SDGs;

10.3when reporting to Council of Europe monitoring bodies, make reference, where applicable, to relevant SDGs;

10.4make reference systematically to relevant obligations under the Council of Europe legal instruments to which they are Parties and make full use of the reporting they are carrying out in the process of monitoring their compliance, in the context of assessing progress in the implementation of SDGs, including when presenting voluntary national reviews;

10.5include parliamentarians in their national structures and delegations at the various stages of reviewing SDGs, including at the sessions of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development and the United Nations General Assembly, as well as at thematic events, and provide them with the possibility to participate actively in the work of these processes and events.

11With reference to Resolution … (2019) “Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals: synergy needed on the part of all stakeholders, from parliaments to local authorities”, the Assembly further calls on the Parliaments of Council of Europe member and observer States, as well as parliaments enjoying observer or partner for democracy status with the Assembly, to:

11.1play an active role in the implementation of the SDGs, both in setting priorities and in ensuring progress;

11.2encourage its members to join their country’s delegation to the General Assembly of the United Nations;

11.3ensure that voluntary national reviews are first presented to, and discussed in, national parliaments, including the budgetary aspects;

11.4hold debates on the activities of the United Nations in order to increase public awareness of its central role as a cornerstone of multilateralism and with the aim of increasing knowledge of the benefits that the United Nations 2030 Agenda bring to every person’s daily life.

12The Assembly calls on the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to:

12.1continue highlighting the mutual relevance of the Council of Europe activities and the 2030 Agenda process, notably by:

12.1.1inviting the different intergovernmental committees and structures to regularly include the item of the United Nations 2030 Agenda on their agendas, with a reference to relevant Council of Europe conventions, and by stimulating the exchange of experience and good practice, with the aim of making progress in achieving the SDGs;

12.1.2labelling the various activities, including those in neighbouring regions, which contribute to relevant SDGs;

12.1.3bringing up issues relating to the 2030 Agenda on the occasion of country visits, and by inviting other Council of Europe interlocutors to do so;

12.2ensure that the Council of Europe is duly represented, and its contribution made available, at the various stages of reviewing SDGs, including at the sessions of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development and the United Nations General Assembly, as well as at thematic events;

12.3find a way for the Council of Europe to be represented, in a visible and co-ordinated way, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York;

12.4consider ways to engage with the business community in order to promote sustainable and responsible business, in line with the United Nations 2030 Agenda.

13The Assembly calls on the United Nations to:

13.1draw greater benefit from the Council of Europe's unique experience in human rights and parliamentary democracy and the relevant standards, notably the useful benchmarks that they provide, and their monitoring reports;

13.2acknowledge, make visible and fully use the Council of Europe’s contribution to the implementation of SDGs;

13.3further promote Council of Europe legal instruments open to non-member States.

14For its part, the Assembly resolves to:

14.1regularly review the implementation of SDGs and fully play its role as a platform for exchanging national experiences and good practice;

14.2strengthen the parliamentary contribution to, and dialogue with the United Nations, focusing on the implementation of SDGs and the complementarity between the Council of Europe and the United Nations, including with its agencies based in Geneva and Vienna;

14.3label its activities, including those in neighbouring regions, as those contributing to relevant SDGs.

Draft recommendation

1The Parliamentary Assembly refers to its Resolution … (2019) on strengthening co-operation with the United Nations in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

2It recommends that the Committee of Ministers:

2.1consult at an early stage the Parliamentary Assembly on the preparation of the biannual debate in the General Assembly of the United Nations and of the draft resolution on “Co-operation between the United Nations and the Council of Europe”, as well as, when applicable, in the process of preparing the Council of Europe’s contribution to the review of progress in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);

2.2encourage the governments of the Council of Europe member and observer States to include members of the Parliamentary Assembly in their delegations to the General Assembly for the purpose of the biannual debate on “Co-operation between the United Nations and the Council of Europe”, as well as to various stages of the review of progress in implementing the SDGs, including at the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development;

2.3consider introducing regular exchanges of views on issues relating to the Council of Europe contribution to the implementation of SDGs at the level of Ministers’ Deputies with the participation of experts from capitals and United Nations high officials, as well as of the Parliamentary Assembly;

2.4find a pragmatic solution enabling the Council of Europe to be represented at United Nations Headquarters in New York.