ევროპის საბჭოს საპარლამენტო ასამბლეის რეზოლუციები

მსოფლიო - 16:34, 26 Jan, 2013

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Georgia and Russia: the humanitarian situation in the conflictand war-affected areas

(ინგლისური ტექსი)

Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 1916 (2013)1

Parliamentary Assembly

1. Over four years after the war between Georgia and Russia in 2008, the humanitarian consequences of the conflict remain a major concern.

2. While the emergency needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees have been largely taken care of, there is a slow but sure freezing of the conflict where people’s lives are becoming trumped by politics. This makes progress on the humanitarian front difficult.

3. The preoccupation on all sides, about status issues, access across the administrative boundary line (ABL) and terminology issues poisons the possibility of progress on the humanitarian front. These issues are political in nature and should be secondary and not primary in any humanitarian discussion. Recent political changes in Georgia following the elections on 1 October 2012 provide an opportunity for a continued commitment to dialogue respecting the relevant resolutions of the Parliamentary Assembly.

4. One of the most important humanitarian issues is the right to voluntary return in safety and dignity for internally displaced persons and refugees. In reality, this right is largely ignored for most IDPs, although there are exceptions, to a certain extent, for IDPs in the areas of Gali and Akhalgori. It is important that avenues for return of all IDPs remain open, even if this needs to be on a step-by-step basis, and that the right of all displaced persons to voluntary return in safety and in dignity is respected in accordance with international law.

5. In terms of security, the situation remains tense, particularly for those close to the ABL, but not at the level which led to the 2008 war. A large Russian military presence, both in Abkhazia, Georgia and South Ossetia, Georgia, is seen in contradictory ways. On the one side, it is seen by Georgia and most of the international community as an occupation of part of the country by the troops of a neighbour, and on the other, it is seen by the Russian Federation and the de facto authorities as a guarantee against renewal of the conflict. What is needed to restore security and long-term trust is not armies facing each other along the ABL, but a strong non-partisan international peacekeeping and monitoring presence both sides of the line.

6. The greatest humanitarian challenge facing the Georgian Government is the provision of durable housing solutions and livelihoods for IDPs. While the government is to be congratulated on many of its efforts in this area, there remain many challenges, in particular in relation to the housing of IDPs in collective centres, private housing and even those rehoused, after 2008, in temporary settlements across the country.

7. The Assembly is concerned by the situation of ethnic Georgians in the areas of Gali and Akhalgori. While each of these areas is different, the issues affecting the local population are similar. Access across the ABL for family, economic, health, education or other purposes remains problematic and uncertain. There are some positive indications that access across the ABL could be improved through more flexible arrangements and additional crossing points, but for the moment there are no guarantees that this will happen. The Assembly is also concerned by issues concerning identity and registration documents, which govern not only travel but access to a whole range of rights, including property rights. Furthermore, it is concerned by approaches that hinder, rather than favour, mother tongue education. The Assembly, while focusing in this resolution on humanitarian issues, recalls the political stance it has taken in its Resolution 1633 (2008) on the consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia and its follow up Resolution 1683 (2009).

8. In order to improve the humanitarian situation, the Assembly calls on Georgia, Russia and the de facto authorities in Sukhumi and Tskhinvali to:

8.1. take fully into account and implement the recommendations of the Assembly contained in Resolutions 1648 (2009) and 1664 (2009) on the humanitarian consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia;

8.2. work intensively on resolving security issues under the first working group of the Geneva International Discussions, and grant full and unimpeded access to the European Monitoring Mission (EUMM) to the former conflict zones now occupied and, furthermore, work in good faith on an international peacekeeping arrangement to avoid the volatile situation of armies facing each other in the conflict areas;

8.3. support fully the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) in the format agreed at the Geneva International Discussions, and ensure that the mechanism covering the region of Abkhazia renews its work in the previously agreed format, as a matter of urgency;

8.4. ensure the voluntary return of all displaced persons in safety and in dignity, in accordance with international law;

8.5. ensure the safety and security of all the people in the region, and in particular IDP returnees, taking firm action against criminality, including racketeering, bribery and forced labour;

8.6. tackle the issue of violence against women linked to the consequences of the war and raiseawareness of the problem, drawing on the expertise and assistance available from the Council of Europe;

8.7. ensure freedom of movement across the ABL to enable economic recovery and improve the livelihoods of the local population, including by opening additional crossing points and removing administrative restrictions;

8.8. cater for the basic needs of the local population, including in terms of health care;

8.9. uphold the right to mother tongue education, in particular, but not limited to, Georgian speakers in the areas of Gali and Akhalgori, and guarantee freedom of movement across the ABL for education purposes;

8.10. co-operate fully in the work on missing persons, including the collection of ante-mortem data and information on the possible whereabouts of missing persons, and also the exhumation and return of the bodies and the provision of psychological assistance to their families;

8.11. set up an international investigation to examine allegations of damage to cultural heritage monuments in the conflict regions;

8.12. facilitate a visit by the Assembly rapporteur to the Tskhinvali and Akhalgori areas.

9. The Assembly encourages the Georgian authorities to continue their efforts to tackle the humanitarian needs of IDPs, and in particular to:

9.1. provide durable housing solutions, inter alia covering the needs of persons in private accommodation, rehabilitating or closing some of the collective centres, privatising new settlements once construction defects have been sorted out and providing monetary compensation in lieu of housing where appropriate;

9.2. in so far as further evictions of IDPs are necessary, ensure that they take place in accordance with the agreed standard operating procedures, that persons are fully informed and notified of these in advance and that, if appropriate, suitable alternative accommodation is provided;

9.3. focus more on ensuring an adequate livelihood for IDPs, in particular for those in new settlements, in order to break the cycle of dependency and prevent these settlements becoming IDP ghettos;

9.4. review the “Action Plan for Engagement” under the “State Strategy on Occupied Territories” in order to ensure that it achieves its goal of encouraging reintegration.
Resolution 1916 (2013)

10. The Assembly invites the Russian authorities to:

10.1. fully implement the ceasefire agreement brokered by the European Union;

10.2. make every effort to resolve the critical housing situation of many ethnic Ossetian refugees, primarily from the conflicts in Georgia in the early 1990s, but also from the 2008 conflict, making full use of federal, regional or international funding, as proposed in Assembly Resolution 1879 (2012) on the situation of IDPs and returnees in the North Caucasus region;

10.3. regularise the situation of those who fled to Russia after the earlier conflicts in Georgia and who are living in an irregular situation, and who are in some instances stateless.

11. The Assembly calls on the European Court of Human Rights to expedite the hearing of the inter-State case of Georgia v. Russia (Application No. 38263/08) which is before the Grand Chamber.

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The state of media freedom in Europe

(ინგლისური ტექსი)

Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 1920 (2013)1

Parliamentary Assembly

1. The Parliamentary Assembly stresses that freedom of expression and information constitutes a cornerstone of good governance and thriving democracy, as well as a fundamental obligation of each member State under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ETS No. 5, “the Convention”). Member States have, in particular, a positive obligation under Articles 2 and 10 of the Convention to protect journalists against attacks on their lives and freedom of expression and prevent impunity of the perpetrators.

2. The Assembly condemns the numerous attacks against investigative journalists as well as threats against people working with investigative media, like Sergei Magnitsky who was tortured and murdered in a Russian prison in 2009. The Assembly calls on the competent authorities to properly investigate such cases in order to bring to justice those who instigate them.

3. Regarding the assassination of Rafiq Tagi in Azerbaijan in 2011, the Assembly reiterates its condemnation of 2007 that a death fatwa had been issued against him in Iran for having reprinted the Mohammed cartoons of the Jyllands-Posten in a newspaper in Azerbaijan. Welcoming the arrest and adjudication in Denmark in June 2012 of a group of Islamist criminals who had planned a major assault on the Copenhagen office of the Jyllands-Posten, the Assembly condemns the recent Iranian death fatwa against Shahin Najafi in Germany and emphasises that authorities in member States must fight against religiously framed or other terrorism which threatens human lives and freedom of expression.

4. Referring to paragraphs 4 and 5 of its Recommendation 1897 (2010) on respect for media freedom, the Assembly welcomes the fact that the respective murderers of Ivo Pukanic and Niko Franjic in Croatia, Anastasia Baburova and Stanislav Markelov in Russia as well as of Hrant Dink in Turkey have been arrested and adjudicated by national courts. It remains necessary, however, to further investigate the personal environment of these murderers in order to find possible collaborators and to combat effectively those environments which are hostile to media freedom.

5. In view of the numerous murders of, and serious physical attacks against, journalists in Russia, the Assembly notes the establishment in 2011 of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation under the Russian President. The Assembly calls on this committee to continue the work of previous investigative bodies, publish periodically the progress of its work and establish rules for its good governance and judicial supervision. The Assembly invites the Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a report on the efforts by the Russian authorities to combat effectively the de facto impunity for the numerous murders of journalists and human rights defenders in Russia.

6. The Assembly is shocked by the high number of journalists imprisoned, detained or prosecuted in Turkey for having expressed their political opinions and contributed to a political debate necessary in a vibrant democracy. The enormous number of cases has a paralysing effect on Turkey’s media environment and journalists.

7. While welcoming that the “Third Judicial Reform Package” adopted by the Turkish Parliament on 2 July 2012 may prevent excessively long detentions in the future, the Assembly notes with concern that previously imposed detentions still continue and ongoing trials continue to be adjudicated by the previous special courts. The Assembly calls for the findings by the Commissioner for Human Rights in his report of 12 July 2011 to be fully implemented by the Turkish Government without delay.

8. The legislative revision in 2008 of Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code has not resolved the problem that this article can be applied unduly against journalists and others, as stated by the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Altuğ Taner Akçam v. Turkey on 25 October 2011. Therefore, the Assembly calls on Turkey to repeal Article 301 immediately.

9. It is rather difficult for the Assembly to comprehend the large number of criminal investigations which have been initiated against journalists under Articles 285 and 288 of the Turkish Penal Code, Article 6 of the Turkish Anti-Terror Law and related legal provisions, in particular for having reported on the massive court trials concerning the Ergenekon criminal organisation. The sheer number of cases is an indication of a serious violation of media freedom, also in the light of Committee of Ministers Recommendation Rec(2003)13 on the provision of information through the media in relation to criminal proceedings.

10. Welcoming the assistance and co-operation projects established by the Council of Europe with Turkey upon the invitation extended by the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in April 2011, the Assembly invites the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to assess the impact of this action and to review and possibly increase co-operation activities in the field of media freedom.

11. The Assembly notes the amendments made in May 2012 to the media laws adopted in Hungary in 2010, but regrets that those amendments address only a small number of the concerns raised by the Commissioner for Human Rights in his opinion of 25 February 2011 and do not prevent the abuse of such laws for restricting media freedom. Therefore, the Assembly calls for the Commissioner’s findings to be fully implemented by the Hungarian Government.

12. The Assembly condemns the persistent and systematic violation of media freedom in Belarus and reminds its government of its obligations under Articles 9, 19 and 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. With Belarus being a candidate for membership of the Council of Europe and a Party to the European Cultural Convention (ETS No. 18), the acquis of the Council of Europe, including the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, constitutes a relevant frame of reference for the authorities in Belarus. In this context, the Assembly welcomes the recent establishment by the United Nations Human Rights Council of a special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Republic of Belarus and invites the special rapporteur to co-operate with the relevant committees of the Assembly.

13. The Assembly urges the authorities in Belarus to properly investigate the disappearance of the photo journalist, Dmitry Zavadsky, in 2000 and the death of the founder of the news website “Charter 97”, Aleh Byabenin, in 2010, release immediately Ales Bialiatski from prison and Anton Suryapin from detention, waive the penalties for Iryna Khalip, Andrzej Poczobut, Pavel Sverdlov, Yulia Doroshkevich and Iryna Kozlik, drop the prosecution charges against Natalya Radina, Andrzej Poczobut, Pavel Yevtikheev, Andrey Tkachev, Roman
Protasevich, Oleg Shramuk and Sergei Bespalov, and stop their practice of issuing administrative warnings to media and associations, in accordance with the opinions of 17-18 December 2010 and 17-18 June 2011 adopted by the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission).

14. The considerable growth in Internet media has widely increased the possibilities for everyone to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers in accordance with Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Assembly condemns the prosecution, detention and imprisonment of Internet users for having expressed political criticism of the government, for example in Azerbaijan, the Russian Federation and Turkey, as well as in Belarus.

15. Recalling its Resolution 1577 (2007) “Towards decriminalisation of defamation”, the Assembly deplores the excessive application of criminal laws on defamation in Azerbaijan and Turkey, as well as the excessive legal actions under related civil law in Bulgaria and the Republic of Moldova. The Assembly, while welcoming the efforts of Armenia to address the issues with regard to the libel suit, encourages the Armenian authorities to continue the work in this direction. The Assembly expresses its concern regarding attempts to restore
criminal prosecution for defamation in the Ukrainian legislation. Referring to the recent 14-month prison sentence imposed on Alessandro Sallusti in Italy, the Assembly asks the Venice Commission to prepare an opinion on whether the Italian laws on defamation are in line with Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

16. he Assembly recalls the crucial importance of freedom of expression and information through the media before and during elections. The Assembly therefore calls in particular on Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine to take steps to remedy shortcomings identified in recent election observation reports. Member States are reminded of Committee of Ministers Recommendations CM/Rec(2007)15 and No. R (1999) 15 on measures concerning media coverage of election campaigns. The Assembly expresses its concern about the record number of violations against journalists recorded in Ukraine for the last ten years, especially during the 2012 parliamentary elections.

17. The Assembly regrets that media ownership is not made transparent in all member States and asks them to adopt the necessary provisions to this end. Lack of transparency is typically used to hide political or commercial interests in controlling major media companies. The Assembly calls on member States to take proper action for ensuring media transparency and pluralism and promoting journalistic standards. The Assembly welcomes the report on transparency of media ownership in Europe prepared by Access Info Europe
(Madrid) and the Open Society Media Programme (London) in October 2012 and invites the European Audiovisual Observatory (Strasbourg) to develop further its MAVISE database on media ownership and to provide assistance to its members in establishing transparency of media ownership.

18. The Assembly notes with concern recent incidences of collusion of media and media owners with politicians and State officials, which undermine public confidence in democratic government and independent media. Politicians and State officials must avoid any relations with the media which may lead to a conflict of interest, anti-corruption laws should be implemented and media and journalists should adhere to their professional ethics. In this context, the Assembly welcomes the establishment in 2011 by the British
Government of the public inquiry led by Lord Justice Leveson into the practices and ethics of the British media, following the police bribery and phone-hacking scandal of the News International Group.

19. Despite the multiplication of digital media outlets, public service broadcasting remains a major source of information in Europe. The Assembly notes with concern recent reports about political pressure on public service broadcasters in Hungary, Italy, Romania, Serbia, Spain and Ukraine and invites the European Broadcasting Union to co-operate with the Council of Europe in this regard. It reminds member States of paragraphs 8.20 and 8.21 of its Resolution 1636 (2008) on indicators for media in a democracy: public service
broadcasters must be protected against political interference in their daily management and their editorial work; senior management positions should be refused to people with clear party political affiliations; public service broadcasters should establish in-house codes of conduct for journalistic work and editorial independence from political influence.

20. The Assembly regrets that governments in some member States have replaced senior staff in their public service broadcasters after a change in government in order to influence the political orientation of those broadcasters. In this regard, it is particularly alarming that the Georgian Prime Minister suggested merging the Georgian public service broadcaster with the private broadcaster TV9 owned by his wife and amending the Georgian law on broadcasting.

21. The Assembly expresses concern over a series of surprise financial inspections of the Georgian Public Broadcaster, followed by aggressive political statements by senior government officials in parallel with the introduction of controversial amendments to the Law on Broadcasting. These steps preceded statements by Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili on the desirability of the GPB's merger with TV9, owned by his wife, as well as of ownership shifts in the private Georgian media.

22. The Assembly regrets that many journalists in Europe work in precarious situations resulting from an increase of free-lance positions, lack of respect for social rights and generally low income. Where the journalistic profession is weakened by such circumstances, professional quality and ethics are at stake. The Assembly reminds member States of the revised European Social Charter (ETS No. 163) and invites journalists to use their collective rights in order to improve their employment conditions.

23. The Assembly welcomes the successful organisation of the inter-parliamentary seminar on the independence and financing of public service broadcasting, which was hosted by the Croatian Parliament in Zagreb on 15 October 2012 with the financial support of the Open Society Media Programme. It invites national parliaments and partner organisations to collaborate in future similar projects.