THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OF THE
COUNCIL OF
1. The Parliamentary Assembly,
referring to its Recommendation 1570 (2002) on the situation of refugees and
displaced persons in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, believes it is necessary
to resume consideration of this issue since, despite certain isolated examples
of progress, it continues to be a serious obstacle to the development of
countries in the region in economic, socio-political and health terms.
2. It is difficult to gauge the
number of refugees and displaced persons in the region. By law or by virtue of
administrative practice, the three countries tend to recognise the descendants
of persons displaced in various capacities within the region as “refugees” or
“displaced persons”, with the result that the total number of refugees and
displaced persons never seems to decrease. The majority of refugees and
displaced persons are in that situation because of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict and deportations between
3. The fact remains that there are
still substantial urgent humanitarian needs. The three countries are therefore
obliged to make maximum use of their own capacity for providing assistance at a
time when donations from the international community are waning.
4. The Assembly notes that some of
the people concerned have been able to return to within
5. The Assembly is, however, bound
to point out that the efforts made by Armenia and Azerbaijan to find a solution
to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have not as yet produced results. These
efforts are continuing. It deplores the frequent incidents along the ceasefire
line and the border incidents, which are detrimental to refugees and displaced
persons as well as to local people, and regrets the
clearly insufficient co-operation between these two countries over the fate of
missing persons.
6. The Assembly also draws attention
to the presence of numerous landmines resulting from the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict which are still injuring and, occasionally, killing people.
7. Enabling refugees and displaced
persons to return voluntarily to the regions from which they came remains one
of the main objectives of conflict
settlement.
8. The Assembly welcomes the fact
that
9. There are still, however, many
obstacles to the success of these programmes: poverty is endemic, particularly
in rural areas, and malnutrition a cause for concern; unemployment is still
very high; access to means of production and to property is problematical; the
infrastructure, especially of collective centres or areas hosting larger
numbers of displaced persons, is often in a deplorable condition, which is an
additional obstacle to development; schools are still being used to shelter
refugees and displaced persons, whereas they should be used for children’s
education, and the health services are still inadequate. In these
circumstances, it is impossible to continue providing humanitarian assistance
and to care for refugees and displaced persons without international aid.
10. International humanitarian assistance
is therefore still needed and must be supplemented, and gradually replaced, by
international development aid, not just to meet the urgent needs of refugees
and displaced persons but also for the benefit of the local population.
11. The Assembly therefore calls on
the member states of the Council of Europe:
11.1. to provide financial support
for the efforts of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia to deal with the situation
of refugees, including those who have obtained citizenship, and displaced
persons, by helping to rehabilitate buildings and build roads, a water and
electricity supply infrastructure, hospitals and schools, so as to enable these
communities to be more effectively integrated while facilitating the
development of the regions in which they live, without forgetting the local
population, who are often likewise living below the poverty line, while
ensuring that financial resources are allocated to support initiatives
regarding the protection of human rights and reconciliation efforts in these three
countries;
11.2. to continue to provide
humanitarian aid where needed, while working on more medium- and long-term
solutions to improve the living conditions, self-reliance and integration of
the displaced persons;
11.3. to
offer their good offices in order to try to achieve a permanent settlement of
the conflicts which are still raging and which impede the development of the
entire region.
12. The Assembly also calls on
12.1. to focus all their efforts on
finding a peaceful settlement of the conflicts in the region with a view to
creating conditions for the voluntary return of refugees and displaced persons
to their places of origin, safely and with dignity;
12.2. actively to pursue their
policy of locally integrating refugees and displaced persons, but not in the
occupied territories, always in consultation with them, and with the
understanding that these countries will guarantee their right to return
voluntarily as soon as conditions permit, which, for Georgia, includes
strengthening and adopting clear policies and related measures for the local
integration of refugees as well as displaced persons;
12.3. to
refrain from the use of refugees and displaced persons for political aims;
12.4. to make the return of
displaced persons a priority and do everything possible in their negotiations
so as to enable these people to return in safety even before an overall
settlement;
12.5. to co-ordinate better the
efforts of the international and non-governmental organisations on the ground
in alignment with governmental policies and development plans;
12.6. to bring their legislation
into compliance with the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees,
the European Convention on Nationality (ETS No. 166), and the United Nations
Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness by fully implementing their
provisions;
12.7. to
continue their policies of encouraging international aid projects in sectors
where there are needs to be met;
12.8. to rapidly conclude the
negotiations under way with the Council of Europe Development Bank with a view
to membership of the Bank;
12.9. to co-ordinate their refugee
and displaced persons aid policies and development policies in order to take
account of the practical, financial and other opportunities that the European
Union could offer them as part of its new European Neighbourhood Policy;
12.10. to
step up an inter-regional dialogue by introducing confidence-building measures
and arranging regular consultation between government departments responsible
for the specific problems of refugees and displaced persons;
12.11. to continue their efforts to
adapt their legislation in order to assure refugees and displaced persons the
same political, civil, economic and social rights as the local population, without
prejudicing their status;
12.12. to reconsider practices of
automatically admitting the descendants of refugees and displaced persons as
refugees and displaced persons themselves, so as to facilitate their local
integration;
12.13. to prepare the ground, by
mutual consultation and in consultation with international and non-governmental
organisations, particularly the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
and the International Committee of the Red Cross, for the voluntary return of
refugees and displaced persons by establishing what their needs will be on the
spot and seeking to make an objective estimate of the actual number of people
who could and would be willing to return initially;
12.14. to continue their efforts to
achieve a peaceful and permanent settlement of the disputes, on the basis of
norms and principles of international law, if necessary calling on the good
offices of other countries, including those in the region, and international
organisations;
12.15. to
develop practical co-operation as regards the investigation of the fate of
missing persons and to facilitate the return of identity documents and the
restitution of property in particular, making use of the experience of handling
similar problems in the Balkans.
13. The Assembly calls on
14. The Assembly calls on
15. The Assembly welcomes the full
implementation of the 1999 Refugee Law by
April 13, 2006.
(www.coe.int)