DPA/Inf(2009)0



DPA/Inf(2011) 1

19 January 2011

With the compliments of the Director General of Democracy and Political Affairs

Avec les compliments du Directeur Général de la Démocratie et des Affaires Politiques

INFORMATION NOTE

__________

NOTE D'INFORMATION

RE: Report from the Council of Europe Offices / December 2010

Rapport des Bureaux du Conseil de l’Europe / décembre 2010

Ce document n’existe qu’en anglais

| |

|At the end of December 2010, the term of office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General/Head of |

|Office in Baku, Belgrade, Chisinau, Podgorica, Sarajevo and Tbilisi came to an end. Gratitude is expressed for |

|their excellent work and the promotion of the Council of Europe values and activities in their respective |

|countries. |

* For a more complete list of activities, see the Council of Europe activities database (CEAD) – / Pour une liste plus complète des activités, voir la base de données des activités du Conseil de l’Europe (CEAD) –

Brussels

The European Council met on 16-17 December. The meeting essentially focused on economic policy. The Council welcomed the first progress report presented by Lady Ashton on the EU’s relations with its strategic partners (China, Russia and the US). On this basis, the European Council invited the High Representative, in close co-operation with the Commission and the Foreign Affairs Council, to take this work forward, setting out common European interests and identifying all possible leverages to achieve them. The European Council will take stock of progress once a year and, where necessary, set orientations. The launch of the EEAS on 1 December 2010[1] and its co-ordinating role was seen to provide a valuable opportunity to step up this work.

Hungarian Foreign Minister, Janos Martonyi, presented on 20 December the work programme of this first European Presidency to be held by Hungary. The key priority will be to address the EU’s monetary and economic problems. Externally, the Hungarian Presidency is planning to hold an Eastern Partnership summit in Budapest at the end of May, to be attended by the Heads of State and government of the 27 and the beneficiary countries. On enlargement, the main objective is to finalise the accession negotiations with Croatia. Generally, the main aim of the Hungarian Presidency is to “ensure continuity” in application of the work programme of the “presidential trio” (Spain, Belgium and Hungary).

1. EXTERNAL RELATIONS

The EU – Russia summit was held in Brussels on 7 December in the presence of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. The EU and Russia reiterated their joint desire to enhance their relations as “strategic partners”. They agreed on the terms related to Russia's accession to the WTO. President Medvedev also confirmed that the partnership for modernisation must not be restricted to “technological changes” but should also cover reform of political institutions. An agreement was reached on a joint EU-Russia-Council of Europe project to support reform of the Russian judiciary.

Reporting on the summit to the European Council on 17 December, HR Ashton recalled that the priority goal in its relationship with Moscow was to “promote Russia's full integration into international rules-based political and economic structures”.

The EU held three Co-operation Councils with the countries of the South Caucasus - Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan - in Brussels, on 7 December. The EU called on the three countries to make further progress in the areas of democracy, rule of law and human rights (in particular, freedom of media). The EU welcomed a number of measures taken by Georgia, such as the adoption of a new constitution and the reform of the justice sector. The EU also welcomed the recent setting up of a human rights dialogue with Armenia, which also had its second edition on 7 December. The EU called on Azerbaijan to speed up implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy action plan and negotiations on its accession to the WTO.

At a meeting in Brussels on 13 December, chaired jointly by Catherine Ashton and Stefan Füle, the Eastern Partnership Ministers welcomed the considerable progress made in bilateral relations with the EU. Five of the six countries are in the process of negotiating association agreements with the EU. On 15 December, Commissioner Füle and SG Jagland signed together the “Facility” of 4M€ which will support reforms in the field of human rights, democracy and the rule of law in the 6 partner countries.

The 9th session of the EU- Morocco Association Council was held in Brussels on 13 December. The EU took note of progress announced in terms of human rights, freedom of association and press freedom and welcomed Morocco – CoE co-operation. 

2. ENLARGEMENT

The Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) was held on 13 December under the Belgian Presidency. The Ministers discussed foreign policy priorities for 2011 and took stock notably of the EU’s relations with the Western Balkans and the latest developments in the region. It focused chiefly on Kosovo[2] and Serbia. Following the meeting, High Representative Ashton welcomed the orderly conduct of the elections in Kosovo(, held on 12 December, and called for an early election of a President and the formation of an Administration.

During a meeting of the General Affairs Council (GAC) on 14 December, the Foreign Ministers adopted conclusions on enlargement strategy. Although the Council reaffirmed its strong support for the enlargement process, it stated that key challenges remained in most enlargement countries. Strengthening the rule of law, including through judiciary reform and stepping up the fight against corruption and organised crime, remained crucial and required sustained efforts. Social and economic inclusion of vulnerable groups, including Roma, should be improved. Problems affecting freedom of expression and the media remained a particular concern.

The Conclusions of the Council on enlargement were endorsed by the European Council on 17 December, which agreed to give Montenegro the status of candidate country.

3. Fundamental RIGHTS AND JUSTICE

The European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE) organised a hearing on 30 November- 1 December on the EU's "Strategy on Roma Inclusion", following a report on this strategy drafted by Hungarian MEP Lívia Járóka. Commissioner Andor supported increased employability by improving education. VP Reding underlined the importance of the involvement of all 27 EU members in adopting strategies to solve the Roma issue. CoE representatives, including the SRSG, informed about the conclusions of the High Level Meeting on 20 October in Strasbourg.

On 21 December, the Task Force established in September by the European Commission to assess Member States' use of EU funding with regard to the social and economic integration of Roma reported on its initial findings. It noted that while EU funds offered considerable potential for bolstering Roma inclusion, bottlenecks at national, regional and local levels were limiting their effective use by Member States. The results of the Roma Task Force will be part of an EU framework for national Roma integration strategies that will be presented in Spring 2011.

Following the adoption of a negotiating mandate given by the Justice Ministers (JHA Council of 3 December), the Commission travelled to the USA to initiate talks with their administration with a view to preparing a comprehensive agreement to secure the protection of personal data. The mandate includes a reference to the CoE Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (CETS No.: 10).

The European Parliament (EP) adopted the following reports during its Plenary Session (13-16 December):

• The situation of Fundamental Rights in the European Union (2009). Parliament emphasised that the new Treaty transformed fundamental "basic values" into "concrete rights" by making the Charter of Fundamental Rights legally-binding; and

• Human Rights in the World (2009). The report underlined the need for a strong and effective EU human rights policy, which would ensure greater consistency among all EU external policies.

Cuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas, winner of the EP's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, had to be represented by an empty chair at the prize award ceremony.

4. HOME AFFAIRS

On 14 December, the European Commission decided to appoint a European Anti-Trafficking Co-ordinator : Mrs Myria Vassiliadou. She will help elaborate existing and new EU policies relevant to the fight against trafficking and provide overall strategic policy orientation for the EU's external policy in this field.

5. Other activities of the Brussels Office in December

Council of Europe delegations held several meetings in Brussels in December on various aspects of our co-operation with the European Union.

In the legal field, the working Group on EU accession to ECHR met on 6-8 December.

The Director General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs met DG Le Bail (Head of VP Reding’s Administration) on 6 December; they notably agreed on practical modalities of regularly exchanging information on normative developments. The SRSG followed this up with a meeting (21 December) with DG Manservisi, Head of Mrs Malmström’s administration. A general agreement was thus reached on such exchange of information covering both Home Affairs and Justice. In the meeting with DG Manservisi, the SRSG also presented a proposal for possible co-operation to promote global capacity building on cybercrime.

The regular exchange with the EU CATS Troïka (EU Presidency) on normative developments took place on 6 December.

The Director General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs delivered an introductory speech at a high level conference organised by the Fundamental Rights Agency on children rights on 7-8 December, which was opened by VP Reding.

The Director General of Democracy and Political Affairs held political consultations with his counterparts on Enlargement and Neighbourhood policies, (7-8 December) on the occasion of the annual meeting of the High Officials for EU/CoE co-operation.

A CoE Delegation participated at the 2010 IPA (instrument for pre-accession) conference on 6 December.

For the first time, the Commission (Relex) organised a training day on the CoE for EU Officials on 7 December, with a number of officials from the Council of Europe giving lectures. The success of this experience augurs well for a continuation in the framework of the European External Action Service (EEAS), which became operational on 1 December 2010, subsuming previous Relex functions as well as assuming others.

The SRSG for Roma Issues paid introductory visits to the members of the Cabinets of Commissioners Reding, Vassiliou and Andor and to the European Parliament’s rapporteur (6-7 December).

The EU-CoE Senior Officials’ Meeting, headed by the Director General of Democracy and Political Affairs and the Director of Multilateral Relations and Human Rights (DG Relex) took place on 8 December. It was preceded by the “scoreboard” meeting on CoE-EU Joint Programmes. An exchange of views between the SRSG for Organisational Development and Reform and the EU Council’s Working Group on relations with the CoE and OSCE (COSCE) was organised on 10 December.

The SRSG also had meetings with the Ambassador of Morocco (2 December) on co-operation with Morocco prior to the EU-Moroccan Council and with Ambassador Schulerud from the Norwegian Foreign Ministry (15 December) on co-operation with EEA/Norway Grants. He participated in a co-ordinating meeting of the Board of Governors of the European Schools (3 December).

The Brussels Office also welcomed and had talks with representatives of DGDPA/civil society (3 December), DGIV/Culture (8 December), DGIV/Sport (9 December), DGDAP/local democracy (21 December). The Brussels Office continued extensive work on the Joint Programmes with the EU.

Ambassador Torbjørn FROYSNES

Special Representative of the SG

Tel: +32 2 2 235 05 00 - Fax: +32 2 2 230 94 62

E-mail: torbjorn.froysnes@coe.int

Geneva

UNHCR

On 8-9 December the 4th High Commissioner’s Dialogue on Protection Challenges took place.

This year’s Dialogue was a precursor to the marking in 2011 of the 60th anniversary of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 50th anniversary of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, which will culminate in a ministerial-level meeting of States Parties on 7 and 8 December 2011.

A persistent theme in discussions has been the need to achieve a more consistent and coherent understanding on the burden and responsibility sharing.

On a more general level, questions have also been raised about the capacity of the existing international protection framework to address contemporary forms of displacement.

The size of the statelessness problem is not comprehensively mapped, there is limited accession to the relevant international treaties, obstacles to the acquisition of nationality remain and some nationality legislation is in need of reform.

The participants, divided into three working groups, focused on narrative gaps, where the international level is the most difficult, then on burden-sharing with its three components: prevention, protection and solutions, and finally on statelessness.

Human Rights Council

Informal consultation meetings took place on the functioning of the HRC in the perspective of the Review exercise.

The President of the HRC invited the heads of mission to a “retreat” in Bangkok from 8 to 10 December. This informal meeting focussed on the following main subjects: expectations from the HRC review process: how can the Council be more effective, maximizing time and resources; how to improve effectiveness of the Council; how to deal with country specific emergency situations in a more co-operative, constructive and timely manner. The positions of the participants still seemed to stay wide apart.

On 16 December the President gave a briefing to the Council in Geneva on the informal meeting of Bangkok.

The Council will address the Review exercise in two phases: from 7 to 9 February and 17 to 18 February 2011.

Varia

• Consultations took place in liaison with the OHCHR on the constitution of a working group preparing a draft UN Declaration on education in the field of human rights.

• Informal discussions took place on the possible creation of a Universal Court on Human Rights.

• An open-ended working group proceeded to the first reading of a draft optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Ambassador Jean Francois KAMMER

Permanent Observer, Head of the Council of Europe Office, acting as a Permanent Delegation of the Council of Europeto the UN Office and other international organisations in Geneva

Tel: + 00 41 22 79 198 11

E-mail: jean-francois.kammer@coe.int

Yerevan

1. Political and legislative developments

Two opposition supporters, Gabriel Gabrielyan and Felix Gevorgyan, sentenced on charges related to March 2008 post-election unrest, were released from prison on 6 and 9 December respectively.

Yerevan’s Mayor Gagik Beglaryan resigned following a brawl with a Presidential Administration official. Karen Karapetyan, Director of “ArmRosGazprom,” was elected by the Yerevan’s Council of Elders as the new Mayor on 17 December.

Justice Minister Gevorg Danielyan was dismissed because of “improper performance of duties”. He was replaced by Hrayr Tovmasyan, an independent legal expert.

On 16 December the National Commission on Television and Radio (NCTR) announced the results of the broadcasting tender stipulated by a switchover from analogue to digital broadcasting. “A1+” failed to gain a broadcasting license and “ALM” lost to the “Yerevan” channel. A week later another independent TV station, “GALA”, based in Armenia’s second city of Gyumri, lost in the regional contest and will therefore be taken off the air by 2015. On 20 December “A1+” filed two actions against the NCTR.

On 21 December, a working group headed by the Chairman of the Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression, Ashot Melikyan, presented a package of alternative proposals on television and radio broadcasting digitalisation, to be further submitted to National Assembly factions, the government, and international organisations.

The National Assembly continued discussing the report on the monitoring of follow-up actions recommended by the Ad Hoc Committee for the Investigation of March 2008 Events, submitted by the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs. The parliamentary opposition strongly criticised the report, saying it “failed to identify the causes of the events, those responsible for them and how to eliminate the consequences thereof”.

Two young Armenian National Congress (ANC) activists, Davit Kiramijyan and Sargis Gevorgyan, detained during 31 May 2010 clashes with riot police received two-year suspended prison sentences on 28 December on charges of violent conduct, which they rejected as politically motivated.

Nikol Pashinyan’s lawyer Vahe Grigoryan issued a “protocol” of his 13 December meeting with Mr Pashinyan in Artik Penitentiary, recounting the latter’s complaints regarding the prison administration’s alleged refusal to allow private meetings with his lawyer and refusal to transfer Mr Pashinyan’s letters and complaints. The Penitentiary Department of the Ministry of Justice refuted this information the following day.

At its December session the National Assembly adopted a government bill allowing the signature of international agreements with unrecognised republics and with Nagorno-Karabakh in particular. A Heritage party bill on the recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh was not adopted due to a lack of quorum, as coalition forces refrained from voting.

On 22 December, the National Assembly adopted the amendments to the laws “On Language” and “On Public Education” allowing for the opening of foreign language schools, amid continued public opposition. Parliamentary opposition parties did not participate in the voting.

The Defence Ministry launched a hotline for reporting complaints of violence, corruption and other abuses within the army ranks, issues that have had a greater public resonance in recent months.

The government allocated 1 000 and 16 000 Euros to the Justice Ministry to comply with the demands of ECtHR verdicts on the cases “Mamikonyan against Armenia” and “Harutyunyan against Armenia”.

2. Council of Europe Action

Under the Joint EC – CoE (DG-HL) Project “Support to Access to Justice” a study visit to France was organised, the main aims of which was to visit the Court of Cassation to discuss procedural questions, to visit the Council of Justice to discuss disciplinary procedures and to visit the National School for the Judiciary to discuss the continuous training of judges.

A CoE Seminar on Prison Regime (organised by DG-HL) took place on 1-2 December.

In line with other activities around Human Rights Day on 10 December, the CoE Office organised a concert and a reception commemorating the European Convention of Human Rights on 15 December.

3. Other action / co-ordination and co-operation with partner organisations

The SRSG discussed different possible assistance matters with a visiting EC delegation on 9 December.

On 10 December the SRSG gave a briefing on CoE activities in Armenia for a US State Department visitor.

Upon an invitation from the government, the SRSG participated on 14 December in a discussion on anti-corruption matters with the Prime Minister.

The SRSG and Yerevan Office had regular working contacts and exchanges with foreign diplomats, international organisations and government officials during the reporting period.

Ms Silvia ZEHE

Special Representative of the SG

Tel: +374 10 54 63 22 - Fax: +374 10 54 63 19

E-mail: silvia.zehe@coe.int

Baku

1. Political and legislative developments

On 8 December, the Milli Majlis committee for legal policy and statehood and committee on human rights approved changes to the constitutional "law on the Human Rights Commissioner”, which envisage enlarged authorities for the Ombudsman, including the establishment of a national preventive group in the Ombudsman’s office, with the right to enter detention facilities without obstacles or advance warning, and to meet with detainees. The draft also provides for giving the duties of a media ombudsman (never established despite legislation having been adopted in 2005 on this issue) to the present Ombudsman.

2. Council of Europe Action

On 10 December, DG-HL experts, together with the Ombudsman’s Office of Azerbaijan, held a seminar on the topic ''Effective mechanisms and tools for the implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights'', devoted to the 60th anniversary of the ECHR.

On 13 December, the final report on the media monitoring was presented, as part of the Action plan to support the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan in 2010. Since 7 October 2010, the Media Monitoring Institute, with financial support from the Council of Europe, had been monitoring the content of eight nationwide TV channels and six daily newspapers. The monitoring aimed to assess how the media perform their role to offer objective and balanced information on election issues and whether candidates receive fair and equitable coverage as well as access to the media. A seminar for journalists was held as part of the event as well.

On 15-16 December, the Council of Europe, in co-operation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, conducted a two-day workshop aimed at contributing to strengthening institutional capacities in Azerbaijan for fighting and preventing trafficking in human beings in line with the provisions of the CoE Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.

As regards activities under the project on teaching journalism, on 6-13 December, a BBC consultant held training for students of the Baku Slavic University on curriculum development. On 11-14 December, an expert from Istanbul University conducted trainings on New Media. On 11 December, the 2nd International Conference within the frames of the project on teaching journalism took place. On 24-28 December, training on New Media was conducted by two experts from Istanbul University.

3. Other action / co-ordination and co-operation with partner organisations

▪ Statistics of the office:

2 documents translated; 127 phone calls; 14 visitors; 965 website hits;

19 calls requesting general information on the ECHR and the application procedures;

21 calls from journalists and requests on general information on the Council of Europe;

10 applicants to the ECHR visited the office to obtain an application form and relevant information on ECHR in Azeri language;

5 university students visited the library to get CoE materials and use the library resources.

Ms Veronika KOTEK

Special Representative of the SG

Tel: +994 124 975 489 - Fax: +994 124 975 475

E-mail: veronika.kotek@coe.int

Sarajevo

1. Political and legislative developments

Government formation after the 3 October general elections

At state level:

State level government is still not formed. Coalition talks continued throughout December, but failed to reach a coalition agreement so far. The Parliamentary Assembly during its plenary meeting held on 22 December did not elect its leadership and the forming of the House of People should wait for the forming of the House of the Peoples in FBiH and RS.

At Entity level:

Council of Peoples of the Republika Srpska was constituted on 27 December. Momir Malić from the Serb Club was elected as Chairman, and Zoran Lipovac from the Croat Club and Miroslav Mikeš from the Club of Others were elected as Deputy Chairmen.

The delegates of the Bosniak Club did not attend the election and left the session before the vote, because they believed that, in accordance with the constitutional position (equal representation on important entities positions), the Council presidency belongs to a Bosniak. They invoked the vital national interest which was passed to the RS Constitutional Court.

The appointment of the new RS government proposed on 29 December by the earlier appointed PM Aleksandar Dzombic, has been vetoed by the Bosniak caucus. The Bosniak representatives claim that the decision not to appoint a Bosniak to any of the six key positions in the RS is violating the right to representation of all constituent peoples. Mr Dzombic has confirmed that the old government will continue to perform all of its duties but with a technical mandate until the final decision is made.

Coalition talks

On 15. December, Social Democratic Party (SDP) of BiH adopted the platform entitled “Basis for the formation of the government in the Federation of BiH and the platform of joint action in BiH institutions during the Mandate period 2010 – 2014”. The document was signed on 23 December by the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) of BiH, the People's Party Work for Progress (NSRZB) and the Croat Party of Rights (HSP).

On 29 December 2010, leaders of six political parties (SNSD, SDS, HDZ, HDZ 1990, SBBBiH and SBiH) - the SDP and SDA were not present - held a meeting in an attempt to establish a ruling majority, but with no success. The parties invited the SDA and SDP BiH to take part in the next meeting scheduled for 10 January, when they will try to resolve the institutional crisis and eliminate blockages in the functioning of the BiH institutions.

Visa Liberalisation

The free visa regime for the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Schengen area came into force. As of 15 December, citizens with biometric passports are able to travel to the Schengen zone without visas.

2. Council of Europe action

1-2 December, the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner, assisted by the CoE office in Sarajevo, organised the round table on Human Rights Defenders in South-East Europe. The Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Thomas Hammarberg who was on an official visit to BiH from 27-30 November participated in the round table.

On 2 December, a conference on "How to implement the Sejdic and Finci judgment", co-organised by KAS and the CoE office, with the participation of the Venice Commission, was held at the BiH Parliamentary Assembly premises. The conference was chaired by the SRSG, and was attended by many BiH politicians.

The SRSG opened the regional seminar on "Cold war, past, present, future", organised in the framework of the ARK-Underground project of the Biennale of contemporary art that is supported by the CoE (Cultural event of the year label 2009-2010), was held on 3 December.

On 6 December, the conference for media “Security of Children at internet” at which the CoE educational online game for children Wild Web Woods and the Teachers Guide was launched, took place at the BiH Parliamentary Assembly premises.

4. Media

Media monitoring

The printed and electronic media as well as web portals in BiH covered CoE activities in BiH in December 2010, especially warning the BiH authorities of the need to implement the election results and create a parliamentary majority in order to reach, as soon as possible, an agreement on constitutional amendments as a pre-condition for the implementation of ECtHR decisions (Sejdić & Finci case). It was also mentioned that an agreement on the constitutional amendments will avoid challenges regarding the legality of the future BiH delegation to PACE.

Ms Caroline RAVAUD

Special Representative of the SG

Tel: +387 33 264 360 or 361 - Fax: +387 33 233 937

E-mail: caroline.ravaud@coe.int

Tbilisi

1. Political and legislative developments

EU and Georgia held the 11th meeting of the Co-operation Council in Brussels on 7 December, to discuss the implementation of the EU-Georgia ENP Action Plan and negotiations on the Association Agreement. On 13 December, MFA Grigol Vashadze attended the Eastern Partnership Ministerial meeting in Brussels. The meeting aimed at summarising the work of the EaP in 2010 and preparing the EaP summit in Budapest scheduled for May 2011. On 14 December, the European Parliament approved EU-Georgia agreements on visa facilitation and readmission of irregular immigrants.

According to the survey by Transparency International, published on 9 December, Georgia had the highest rate of respondents, among 86 countries, who said that their Government’s efforts to fight corruption had been effective.

On 15 December, the Public Defender published the report on the activities of the National Preventive Mechanism, which described the results of the monitoring of penitentiary establishments and temporary detention isolators in the first half of 2010. The report presented cases of ill-treatment, in particular, the excessive use of force at the time of apprehension and ill-treatment in penitentiary establishments.

On 15 December, the Parliament adopted a Constitutional amendment making a referendum binding in case the Government decided to increase taxes (except the excise and local taxes). The final version contained a reservation according to which a separate, organic law would define the cases in which the Government would still be able to increase taxes without a referendum.

The Parliament decided on 17 December to postpone the second reading of the draft amendments reinforcing the transparency of media ownership until February 2011. On the same day, the Parliament decided to postpone the adoption of the Liberty Charter to the spring session. The draft bill, initiated by opposition MP Gia Tortladze, combined two earlier draft laws: on Lustration and the so-called Patriot Act (modelled after the US example).

The 2011 State budget was adopted by the Parliament on 17 December, setting revenues at GEL 5.955 billion and expenditures – at GEL 5.734 billion against GEL 5.363 billion and GEL 5.607 billion in 2010, respectively. The Parliamentary minority refused to support the proposed budget and criticized it as “irresponsible”.

Two Georgian opposition politicians – ex-Speaker Nino Burjanadze and ex-PM Zurab Noghaideli –on 21 December, attended the inauguration ceremony of the replica of the monument to the Georgian soldiers killed in WW II in Moscow (the Kutaisi original was destroyed in December 2009 to make place for the construction of the new Parliament building). They also met the Russian PM Vladimir Putin on this occasion.

Conflict related developments

In what appeared to be a co-ordinated move, leaders of the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia made separate, but similar statements on 6 December, both pledging not to use force in their relations with Tbilisi. This was a reaction to the pledge made by President Saakashvili on 23 November 2010.

On 7 December, the Georgian MIA announced the arrest of six persons suspected of having recently carried out a series of bombings throughout the country. The main suspect was a former Georgian military officer but the MIA stated that the person who had ordered and financed the blasts was Mjr Yevgeniy Borisov from the Russian AF. The Georgian authorities requested the Russian side to assist them in investigating the blasts.

A Georgian-Abkhaz meeting on the issue of missing persons was held on 9 December in the ICRC Office in Kyiv. ICRC representatives dubbed the meeting “constructive” and said that participants expressed their readiness to contribute to the resolution of this humanitarian problem.

A draft Resolution supporting Georgia's territorial integrity and recognising Abkhazia and South Ossetia as regions “occupied by the Russian Federation” was referred to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on 9 December.

An IPRM meeting with representatives of the de facto SO authorities took place in Ergneti on 10 December. Participants agreed that the meeting had taken place in a constructive atmosphere.

The European Parliament debated on the Annual Report on Human Rights in the World 2009 on 15 December. As regards Georgia, the report “deeply regrets that during the armed conflict between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia and Abkhazia in August 2008 the violations of international humanitarian law resulted in hundreds of casualties and tens of thousands of displaced individuals”. It also recalled that “to this day Russia has fulfilled only the first point of its six-point ceasefire agreement with Georgia”, deplored “the deliberate destruction of ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia and Abkhazia during and after the conflict” and stressed that “impunity for these violations persists to this day”.

The XIVth round of Geneva talks took place on 16 December. In a joint statement released after the talks, the Co-Chairs said that all participants had “agreed that unilateral commitments to the non-use of force as a legal obligation under international law play an important role in advancing the process”.

Georgian Airways announced on 17 December that they had got permission from the competent Russian authorities to schedule charter flights to/from St.Petersburg on 30 and 31 December (in addition to the daily charters to/from Moscow); two more flights would be scheduled in January 2011.

The Ministry of IDPs, Accommodation and Refugees announced on 17 December that the last wave of expulsions of IDPs from collective centres in Tbilisi would take place as from mid-January 2011. The announcement followed criticism from the opposition concerning (in particular) the initial timing of the evictions (during the New Year and Orthodox Christmas period). Nevertheless, some opposition parties continued to demand a total halt to the expulsions. Some hundreds of IDPs held a rally outside the Parliament on 21 December to protest against their imminent eviction.

The de facto SO authorities announced on 20 December that, as from 10 January 2011, the Georgian currency (lari) would no longer be tolerated as a means of payment in the Akhalgori District.

2. Council of Europe Action

A seminar of the Tbilisi School of Political Studies on “Culture of Reconciliation” took place in Bakuriani on 9 and 10 December. The SRSG made the opening remarks.

From 13 to 17 December, GRECO carried out its 3rd Round Evaluation in respect of Georgia, to check whether Georgian legislation and policies are in line with the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption and its Additional Protocol; and Rec(2003)4 of the Committee of Ministers on the transparency of the funding of political parties and election campaigns.

On 21 December, Dick Marty, Chairman of the PACE Monitoring Committee visited Tbilisi. Mr Marty held meetings with members of the Georgian Parliament and senior officials, in preparation for the hearing on the consequences of the August 2008 war planned in Paris on 17 January 2011.

3. Other action / co-ordination and co-operation with partner organisations

The SRSG and the HRA continued the practice of holding regular meetings with partner IO’s and diplomatic community, civil society and political parties. They also participated in weekly EUMM briefings, TWG and AWG meetings. Further, the SRSG, the HRA and other Office staff participated in donor co-ordination meetings in various formats (EU, UN, Georgian authorities, etc).

Office statistics: 2 press releases issued; 24 visitors; 111 CoE promotional material distributed; 95 phone calls responded; 104 replies by mail; 1 Secretariat mission; 15 ECtHR related visits; 4610 web visitors; 68312 web hits.

Mr Borys WÒDZ

Special Representative of the SG

Tel: +995 32 913870/71/72/73 - Fax: +995 32 913874

E-mail: borys.wodz@coe.int

Chisinau

1. Political and legislative developments

Election results and Government formation

On 6 December, the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) submitted its report on the early parliamentary elections of 28 November to the Constitutional Court (CC). On 10 December, upon a request by the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM), the CC ordered a vote recount. On 24 December, the CC confirmed the legality of the parliamentary elections of 28 November and validated the mandates of the 101 MPs which will constitute the new Parliament of Moldova. The recount of the votes did not affect the balance of the parliamentary forces, and the MPs distribution was confirmed as follows: the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova obtained 42 mandates; the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova 32 mandates; the Democratic Party 15 mandates; and the Liberal Party got 12.

On 26 December, the then Acting President of the Republic of Moldova, Mr Mihai Ghimpu, signed a decree on convening the new Parliament on 28 December. During the first constituent sitting of the Parliament, chaired by the oldest MP, Mr Vladimir Voronin, the parties created the parliamentary factions. Following a number of bilateral and trilateral consultations, PLDM, PD and PL signed an agreement on the creation of a centre-right alliance (59 MPs) on 30 December. On 30 December, with the vote of 57 MPs, Mr Marian Lupu, leader of the Democratic Party, was elected Speaker of the Parliament. The Communist group of 42 MPs did not take part in the voting, while another two MPs were absent from the sitting. The same day, Marian Lupu became Acting President of Moldova and proposed the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, Mr Vlad Filat, for Prime Minister.

Other Political Developments

On 13 December, the EU officials who gathered at the Eastern Partnership (EaP) ministerial meeting in Brussels, praised Moldova for being in the forerunner of the EaP and reiterated support to the aspirations for a liberalised visa regime and broader free trade arrangements. Following the meeting, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Ms Ashton said the EU should redouble efforts in the Transnistrian conflict settlement.

PM Filat visited Brussels on 16-17 December and attended the European People’s Party (EPP) Summit. Apart from meeting his German, Italian and Hungarian counterparts, PM Filat also met with the President of the European Commission, Mr Barroso and the President of the European Council, Mr Van Rompuy. On 17 December, the European Commission approved the EU-Moldova Action Plan on visa liberalisation and offered Moldova a 90 Million Euro grant for developing infrastructure and promoting reforms.

Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova

Acting President Ghimpu refused to attend the 1-2 December OSCE Summit in Astana because of the lack on its agenda of the subject of the Russian troops’ withdrawal from the Transnistrian region. Deputy PM Osipov attended the Summit and reiterated Moldova’s stance on the presence of the Russian peacekeepers and the readiness to resume the 5+2 format negotiations.

On 12 December, “elections” to the Supreme Soviet were held in Transnistria. 123 persons ran for 43 seats. With a 43% turnout (25% required), the elections were declared valid. The “Obnovleniye” (Renewal) Republican Party will have 26 representatives (three more than previously) in the forum. On 29 December, the Chairman of the Obnovleniye Kaminsky was re-elected as speaker.

On 16 December, journalist Ernest Vardanyan was sentenced by the Transnistrian supreme court to 15 years in jail for treason and espionage in Moldova’s favour. The trial took place behind closed doors and Mr Vardanyan could not choose a lawyer. On 25 December, Mr Vardanyan petitioned “President” Smirnov for pardon. The Moldovan Government firmly condemned the conduct of the Tiraspol administration. Both the cabinet and local NGOs called upon all those able to influence Mr Vardanyan’s release to intervene. The CoE, the US Embassy and the EUSR also expressed concern in respect to this case. On 22 December, the CoE Deputy Secretary General, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, expressed concern about the fate of the journalist Ernest Vardanyan, the circumstances of his trial and the very harsh sentence imposed in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova.

Gagauzia

On 12 December, the Gagauz Autonomous Region (ATU) held the first round of elections for the post of Governor–Bashkan. Three candidates ran - incumbent Bashkan Formuzal, city of Comrat mayor Dudoglo, and Communist MP Vlah. A five member-delegation of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe carried out a mission to assess the political situation in the ATU, in respect to the elections of the Governor. In the second round of elections, held on 26 December, Mihail Formuzal defeated Nicolai Dudoglo with 51.4% of the votes.

2. Council of Europe Action

Confidence Building Measures Programme (CBM) for Transnistria

The last event within the media component of the CBMs took place on 1-4 December in Strasbourg. A press trip was organised for seven journalists who met a number of CoE officials as well as colleagues from the French Media. A climate of trust between the authorities on both sides of the river and the project’s personnel has been fruitfully established. The success of the current project allows for a new series of CBMs to take place in 2011.

Democracy Support Programme (DSP)

On 15 December, the Second meeting of the Steering Committee of the Democracy Support Programme took place. The event brought together the representatives of the Secretariat, the European Union Delegation to Moldova and the representatives of the Moldovan institutions benefiting from the Programme. The main purpose of the event was to discuss the implementation of the Joint Programme and set the priorities for 2011.

From 13 to 15 December, the DSP organised a 3-day study visit to Scottish governmental institutions entitled “The effective investigation of ill-treatment: Scots law and practice” and a seminar on the same subject.

During the period 13-20 December, an international consultant on communication and public relations provided analysis and comments on the recently developed 2011-2013 plan for the implementation of the Parliament of Moldova’s communication strategy. The expert shared the experience of new EU member-countries’ pre-accession communication strategies aimed at different groups of society and provided expert advice to the PRM Director General and key staff on respective best practices.  He also conducted a seminar for the staff of Apparatus on successful communication strategies and practices in the Baltic states parliaments. 

On 13 December, the DSP organised a round-table for the national and local broadcasters and civil society representatives to discuss the results of the CCA’s final media monitoring report on the early parliamentary elections. The round-table was attended by some 30 representatives from the TV and radio channels, media NGOs etc. The participants highlighted the improvements in the quality of CCA’s media monitoring activities. The results of CCA’s media monitoring reports were, for the first time, close to the similar reports made by civil society and international organisations.

During the period 14-16 December, the Programme organised an in-house training on preparing, planning and managing 'quality' radio and TV programmes for journalists from the public channels “Radio Moldova” and “Moldova 1”. Some 20 journalists from the public TV and radio channels were trained and two detailed plans for new programmes were elaborated.

On 20 and 21 December, the staff of the Parliament’s Apparatus benefited from a training course on international protocol.

Ms Birute Abraitiene

Special Representative of the SG

Tel: +373 22 202 304 or +373 22 202 212 374 - Fax: +373 22 202 305

E-mail: birute.abraitiene@coe.int

Belgrade

1. Political and legislative developments

After the Serbian Government announced last November that conditions were not met for the Kosovo( Serbs to participate in the Kosovo* elections, Serbs from North Kosovo* ignored the ballot while in enclaves in the South the Independent Liberal party won 1,8% of votes cast, and the United Serb list took some 0,7%. Oliver Ivanovic was one of the few state officials who commented the elections, expressing his disappointment with the failure of the Serb boycott in Central Kosovo*, saying that the relatively high turnout of Serbs in the South shows a rather weak communication between these enclaves and the Serbian government.

Following the publication of PACE Rapporteur Dick Marty’s report on illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo*, President Tadic stated that “Serbia has been waiting for years in front of international institutions for a report like this”, adding that Serbia has “appealed for all crimes to be brought to light, but that these appeals were not accepted seriously”.

The Chief Hague Prosecutor, Mr Brammertz presented his new report on Serbia’s co-operation to the UNSC on 6 December. Mr Brammertz commanded Serbia’s co-operation with that institution but noted that the failure to arrest two remaining fugitives was a cause for concern. He said that “Serbia must bridge the gap between its stated readiness to locate and arrest the fugitives and efficiency, as time is passing but no results are visible”.

Following their fact-finding visit to Belgrade and Novi Pazar (28 November-2 December) the co-rapporteurs on Serbia of PACE Monitoring Committee stressed that Serbia has made significant progress in many areas and is heading towards the full completion of its commitments; however, some key issues remain unsolved or incomplete such as the reform of the justice system, the revision of the electoral law, the elimination of the party-administered system and blank resignations, as well as the full compliance with the laws on freedom of speech and association. In order to measure the achievements made and progress yet to be accomplished, the co-rapporteurs requested that the Serbian delegation submit a roadmap for the completion of commitments and implementation of statutory obligations.

Following the critical remarks in the last EU progress report about the judiciary reforms, and in particular about last year’s reappointment of judges, the Ministry of Justice prepared a number of amendments to the set of judiciary Laws, that went through the urgent procedure in Parliament on 21 of December. These amendments concern notably the elections for the permanent composition of the two Permanent Councils. According to these amendments, the Councils will take over the review of appeals filed by non-appointed judges from the Constitutional Court. The Associations of Judges and Prosecutors criticised the amendments, underlying that they will undermine the constitutional order, by depriving the Constitutional Court of its powers.

On 30 December, the Serbian government adopted an Action plan for fulfilling recommendations from the EU progress report, with the purpose of speeding up the process of acquiring candidate status. According to the plan, State bodies will have to carry out measures in 10 indicative areas: judiciary, restitution, fight against corruption, financing of political parties and the improvement of electoral system and other.

On 8 December, the Serbian Minister of Human and Minority Rights announced his intention to call for new elections for the Bosniak National Minority Council. According to the law, since the three Bosniak lists did not reach the compromise and the legal deadline to form the Bosniak National Minority Council has expired, new elections should be organised. This decision could however raise further tensions in the Sandzak region as shown by the immediate reaction of mufti Zukorlic (leader of one of the Bosniak lists) who said that he will boycott these elections.

2. Council of Europe action

Programme “Strengthening Local Self-Government, Phase II” (DGDPA-DDI) organised three visits to Belgrade for three international experts, one on 2-3 December and two on 6-7 December. The Programme organised a national conference “Improvement of Local Finances in Serbia”, in Belgrade on 7 December, together with the Finance Ministry and the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SCTM), with the participation of top government officials and international community representatives. The Programme held its third Steering Committee meeting and adopted the second interim report for May-October 2010.

Under the regional programme “Removing the obstacles to the non-enforcement of domestic court judgments/Ensuring an effective implementation of domestic court judgments” (DGHL) an expertise of the Draft law on enforcement and security has been delivered to the Justice Ministry, including recommendations. A seminar for judges on the freedom of expression under the ECHR and its implementation at the national level was organised in co-operation with the Judicial Academy and DGHL – Media Department on 1 December in the southern town of Nis.

On 3 December 2010, Criminal Asset Recovery (CAR) Project organised a Co-ordination meeting of the IOs active in the area of assets recovery, namely OSCE, USAID, UNODC. They all agreed that CoE will have the co-ordinating role, due to its expertise and comprehensive approach. Co-ordination meetings will be held regularly and the main aim is to avoid overlapping and duplication. CAR Project Team participated at the meeting organised by OSCE and USAID dedicated to the implementation of the Law on seizure and confiscation of the proceeds from crime. CAR project experts have commenced the preliminary work to prepare a Manual on improving the usage of mutual legal assistance (MLA) by Serbian authorities and enhancing the capacity of police and judiciary. The CoE expert met all relevant beneficiaries. It was agreed that the Manual will address two sets of questions - general issues in criminal matters and specificities of the MLA in assets recovery issues. Experts’ mission dealing with the software needs of the FIU (MoI) and Management of seized and confiscated assets took place from 16-22 December 2010. Experts will prepare a detailed ToR addressing specific needs of each institution and including both findings and recommendations. The final report will be submitted to EUD mid January 2011.

3. Other action / co-ordination and co-operation with partner organisations

SRSG attended the national conference "Improvement of Local Finances in Serbia" on 7 December, co-organised by the Office’s project “Strengthening Local Self-Government in Serbia, Phase 2”.

DSRSG attended the consultation meeting for the future regional EU/CoE joint project on national minorities in the Montenegrin town of Becici on 7 December. She met with the Monitoring Mission of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages on 9 December in Belgrade. The DSRSG opened a roundtable “Media and Human Rights – Contribution to Tolerance”, organised by the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights on 10 December. She also attended the session of the Venice Commission on the reform of the Serbian judiciary on 16 December.

The SRSG and DSRSG attended all official meetings, including with NGOs, media and the diplomatic community, by the PACE rapporteurs on Serbia on 1-2 December and also met with the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities on 3 December.

4. Council of Europe profile

All media reported from 1 to 4 December about the visit of the PACE rapporteurs to Serbia, while the daily Danas and the Fonet news agency published exclusive interviews with the two CoE officials on 3 and 4 December. All media published a statement by GRECO and its report on Serbia on 7 and 8 December. Serbian media covered, in detail, the publishing of the report by the PACE rapporteur Dick Marty on the trafficking of organs in Albania and Kosovo( in 1999, which claims the alleged involvement of some of Kosovo*’s top officials.

Mr Constantin YEROCOSTOPOULOS

Special Representative of the SG

Tel: +381 11 3 088 411 - Fax: +381 11 3 086 494

E-mail: constantin.yerocostopoulos@coe.int

Podgorica

1. Political and legislative developments

On 17 December, the EU Council granted Montenegro the status of candidate country, as recommended by the EC in its Opinion of 9 November 2010. The country will now have to focus on the key priority fields for reforms as identified by the Commission as instrumental to preparing the country for the opening of its accession negotiations with the EU.

Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic announced his resignation on 21 December. The Parliament approved on 29 December the new government led by Igor Luksic. The new government is composed of representatives of the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, Social-Democratic Party and MPs representing minority groups. The government was elected by the Parliament without the votes of the three main opposition parties - Socialist People's Party, Movement for Change and New Serb Democracy. According to the new Prime Minister’s programme, the priorities of the new government would be Euro-Atlantic integration and a rise in the standard of living.

On 28 December, the police arrested Milojko Nikolic suspected of taking part in the 1999 killing of Albanian civilians in the Kosovo( village of Cuska committed during the conflict, as a former member of the Serb paramilitary group Jackal. This arrest came on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by Serbia where a trial is ongoing before Belgrade's Special Court for War Crimes. Mr Nikolic is expected to be extradited to Serbia under the extradition treaty signed by the two countries in October.

2. Council of Europe action

On 7 December, a consultation meeting for the preparation of a European Union/Council of Europe Joint Programme on minority rights in the Western Balkans was organised by DGHL in Becici, with the participation of the IPA Beneficiaries countries, as well as EU and RCC representatives.

On 9 December, on the occasion of a DDI mission (DG-DPA) to Podgorica, meetings were organised with the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of interior and public administration, Ministry of Finance, Union of Municipalities and representatives of the EUD, aimed at reviewing the progress in the implementation of the Joint EC/CoE Programme on “Strengthening local self-government in Montenegro (Phase II).

Ms Ana ZEC

Acting Head of Office

Tel: +382 20 230 819 or +382 20 230 825 - Fax: +382 20 230 176

E-mail: ana.zec@coe.int

Pristina

1. Political and legislative developments

The Central Election Commission (CEC) certified 29 political parties with 1 265 candidates for the 12 December elections to the Assembly of Kosovo(. More than 1.6 million voters were registered for the general elections. CEC accredited 26 049 observers from the political entities. Democracy in Action accredited 4 896 observers, The European Network of Election Monitoring Organisations (ENEMO) deployed 188 observers and the total number of observers on the election day was 32 135. The European Commission sent an election expert mission, the EUSR’s Office co-ordinated the election watch mission and a seven-member EP delegation visited the territory on election day. The election campaign only lasted ten days.

According to the preliminary results published by the CEC, the overall turnout on 12 December was 47.5%. PDK won with 33.5%, The Democratic League of Kosovo* was second with 23.6 %, third was Vetëvendosje with 12.2%, then the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo* with 10.8% of the votes. AKR coalition got 7.1% of the votes, while the Democratic League of Dardania and FAIR party were below the 5% threshold to become members of the Assembly with 3.3% and 2.2.% respectively. The Independent Liberal Party won in Caglavica and Laplje Selo with 138 votes. The Serbian Democratic Party of Kosovo* and Metohija got 42 votes, and 28 votes went to the United Serbian List.

The Election Panel for Complaints and Appeals reviewed 171 complaints by political parties claiming irregularities in the election process of 12 December 2010. Re-voting had to be organised in five municipalities: Drenas/Srbica, Skenderaj, Decan, Malisheva and Lipjan on 9 January. The Supreme Court ruled that re-voting should also take place in Mitrovica on 23 January 2011. The Election Panel for Complaints and Appeals issued fines for violations committed by political parties during the campaign to the value of 27.800 Euros.

In its report issued on 13 December 2010, the European Commission Liaison Office said that the elections were an important step forward in its democratic development. A statement on elections was also issued by the EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and European Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Füle. The European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO) also issued its preliminary findings and conclusions on 13 December 2010.

The main promise of PDK was the visa liberalisation process in 15 months from the day of the creation of the new government. Mr Thaqi even announced that he had strong assurances from the European Commission on this. This was immediately denied by the Spokesperson of the European Commission who announced in Brussels that the European Union did not give any promises to Pristina regarding the start of the dialogue on removal of visas, and the European Parliament Rapporteur Ulrike Lunacek also confirmed that the visa liberalisation process would depend on the efforts of the newly elected government.

A draft report on the inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs, prepared by the Parliamentary Assembly Rapporteur Dick Marty was approved by the Council of Europe PACE Committee on Legal Affairs on 15 December 2010. The report which will be debated during the January 2011 session of PACE has generated massive coverage in both local and international media.

2. Council of Europe action

A workshop on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities for the members of the Communities Consultative Council was held on 8 December 2010. A representative from the FCNM Secretariat gave a presentation at the workshop where she also spoke about the role of the CoE Office in Pristina in the promotion and protection of national minorities.

Upon the invitation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) two members of the Assembly attended the meetings of the Political Affairs Committee and the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights on 15 and 16 December, respectively.

The UNMIK SRSG Mr Lamberto Zannier and Mr Andy Sparkes, Deputy Head of Mission of EULEX were invited to attend the meeting of the Venice Commission on 18 December for an exchange of views concerning the opinion of the Commission on the UNMIK Advisory Panel and on the EULEX Review Panel.

The Human Rights International Contact Group meeting was held on 15 December 2010 at the CoE premises where the members of the HRICG reviewed the human rights related developments including developments in the Ombudsperson institution, UN strategic framework, and reporting to HR bodies.

The DG IV CoE/EC Promotion of Cultural Diversity (PCDK) Project continued with its regular activities throughout December 2010. The main activities were: seminar on Promotion of the Convention on Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage, Municipal Working group meetings in Kline/Klina, Fushe Kosove/ Kosovo( Polje, Obiliq/Obilic, Mitrovice/Mitrovica, Gjakove/Djakovica, Junik, Prizren, Decan/Decane, Kllokot/Klokot, and Regional Working group meetings in Prishtine/Pristina and Mitrovice/Mitrovica. Ten visits were organised with elementary school pupils and university students in the first half of December reaching out to over 500 persons, and also Intangible Heritage Days organised during the first ten days of December in the form of an artisans’ fair.

Within the framework of the DG IV CoE/EC Interculturalism and the Bologna Process Project (IBP Project), the sixth workshop for Curriculum Developers on Modernisation of History Curricula and Textbooks on the theme: Assessment-The perspective for curriculum developers, was held on 2 and 3 December 2010. As a result of 6 workshops organised by the IBP project in co-operation with other linked EC funded projects, a Teacher Guide will be published by the project to support the process of implementing history education reform. Other activities during the month of December 2010 were the sixth meeting of the Project Steering Board on 13 December 2010, and a workshop on the reform of history teaching in South-East Europe organised by the Council of Europe and the North-South Centre in co-operation with the Slovenian authorities held in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 16-17 December.

3. Other action / co-ordination and co-operation with partner organisations

The CoE Office in Pristina attended a conference marking, 10 December, International Human Rights Day. The conference was organised by the AOGG/OPM in co-operation with the OHCHR.

On 11 December the Head of Office and the Head of Operations of the ECLO in Pristina spoke on the occasion of the celebration of the International Human Rights Day at the EU Information and Cultural Centre in Pristina. The event was organised for children and youth and generated a discussion on the protection and promotion of human rights.

On 13 December the Head of Office met the President of the Assembly of EU judges, Ms Maria-Giuliana Civinnini, to discuss co-operation on the publication of the CEPEJ Magna Charta for Judges.

4. General Security Situation

The security situation was in general calm around the elections on 12 December however, some isolated incidents occurred.

On 8 December 2010, the leader of five Bosniak villages in Leposavic, Sefko Salkovic was killed, while Edin Islamovic was seriously wounded in an attack by unknown persons near Leposavic in the village of Podstinje.

Ms Orsolya SZEKELY

Head of Office

Tel: +381 38 243 749 - Fax: +381 38 243 752

E-mail: orsolya.szekely@coe.int

Tirana

1. Political and legislative developments

Since early December, floods caused by days of heavy rain and the opening of the hydro power plants' gates, led to an emergency situation in Shkoder region, with more than 12 000 people evacuated from their homes, more than 7 500 houses were damaged and more than 14 000 hectares flooded. The situation in the Northern region gradually improved by the end of the month, with thousands of people returning to their homes.

During the emergency plenary session held on 27 December to discuss the Socialist Party’s (SP) proposal on the investigation of the June 2009 election, the majority and the opposition failed to reach an agreement on the setting up an election inquiry committee (69 votes against, 56 in favour, and one abstention).

On 29 December, the Central Election Commission (CEC) decided on the burning of the ballot papers from the 2009 general elections (the four ruling majority representatives voted in favour while the opposition representatives walked out of the meeting). The burning process will start on 7 January 2011.

From 14 to 16 December, the Director General of Democracy and Political Affairs travelled to Tirana on the occasion of the diploma award ceremony of the Albanian School of Political Studies, where he had a series of meetings with the highest authorities, in particular, the President of the Republic, Prime Minister, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Speaker of Parliament, the Minister of Justice, the Deputy Minister of the Interior, the President of the Central Election Committee and the Head of the Socialist Party (SP). He also met with representatives of the international community.

On 15 December, Albania celebrated the entry into force of the liberalisation of short-term visas, in the Schengen Area.

Further to Dick Marty’s report “on Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo(” made public mid December, the Albanian authorities condemned and dismissed the allegations of organs and arms trafficking contained in the report as ungrounded and failing to reflect a spirit of responsibility, credibility and maturity.

2. Council of Europe action

Within CoE Project on Anti Corruption (PACA) (DG-HL): 

13-14 December 2010 – PACA organised intensive technical meetings with representatives of line ministries, other public institutions and non-governmental experts to discuss and provide input to the drafting of the 2011-2013 Anti-corruption Action Plan. The meetings were introduced by the Chair of the Inter-ministerial Working Group for Monitoring Implementation of the Anti-corruption Strategy, Minister for Innovation, Information Technology and Communication Mr Genc Pollo.

21 December 2010 – PACA organised - together with the Open Society Foundation for Albania, the Agency for the Support of Civil Society and the Ministry of Finance Directorate for the Prevention of Money Laundering (DPML) - a discussion and awareness-raising event with NGOs. The aim of the event was to raise awareness among the non-profit sector of the legal requirements concerning prevention of money laundering and financing of terrorism. Moreover, aspects related to the implementation of the FATF special recommendation VIII and the ensuing MONEYVAL recommendation to Albania - to undertake actions in support of the non profit sector to prevent the sector from being used to finance terrorism – were reviewed.

On 16-17 December 2010, PACA organised a third training event for school teachers and curricula developers. Following an initial training in October 2010, after which teachers submitted to PACA proposed draft lessons/lesson components to raise awareness and increase intolerance of corruption, PACA international experts trained the same teachers again on how to improve the content and focus of the lessons. One of the most important outputs of the event was a consensus that corruption/anti-corruption related issues should be incorporated into the widest range of school subjects and lessons as possible, but on an ad hoc basis and when appropriate. The event was attended by 20 educational staff (teachers, Ministry of Education officials and Regional Education Directorates).

Albanian School of Political Studies (ASPS):

On 7-9 December, the Albanian School of Political Studies carried out the interviews for the selection of its participants for the academic year 2011. 24 applicants were selected to attend the programme.

The diploma award ceremony of the ASPS for its 4th generation of students took place on 15 December. The ceremony was addressed by the President of the Republic, the Director General of Democracy and Political Affairs, the Charge d’Affaires of the European Union Delegation, and the Director of the School. The event was well attended by representatives of the Albanian authorities and diplomatic missions in Albania, with high media coverage.

3. Activities of the Information Office

IOCE regularly updated the website, special websites on the campaigns and distributed the monthly e-newsletter to various institutions, NGOs, media etc.

Media work:

- Daily media monitoring

- Interview with Mr Jean-Louis Laurens, Director General of Democracy and Political Affairs of the Council of Europe at Neser TV and Shekulli newspaper

- 79 TV chronicles and references to CoE in Albanian media.

Translations:

- 2 news for the web

Assistance to secretariat missions:

14-16 December, organisation and facilitation of the visit of Mr Jean-Louis Laurens, Director General of Democracy and Political Affairs and Ms Delphine Freymann, Political Advisor.

Statistics:

|IOCE visitors: 30 |Photocopies: 150 |

|Telephone calls: 50 |News translated for the website: 2 |

|E-mails: 10 | |

|Website hits: 68413 |Persons wishing to apply to the ECoHR: 5 |

Kyiv

1. Institutional and legislative developments

The new version of the Tax Code, incorporating the President’s proposals for amendments, was adopted in a final reading on 2 December. The present simplified system of taxation, format and accounting for small and medium size businesses was retained. The President has signed the law which introduces other changes to the system over time between 2011 and 2015.

On 7 December, the Ministry of Finance handed over the findings of the international audit commissioned on the activities of the previous government for the period 2008-2009 to the General Prosecutor’s Office.

On 9 December, the President by decree initiated a reorganisation of the central executive organs. The decree to “optimise the system of central organs of executive authority”. The number of central government organs is reduced to 63 (from 112), including a reduction of the number of ministries, by mergers, to 16 from 20. Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice, Interior, Security Service and General Prosecutor’s Office are not touched by reorganisation at this stage.

A number of dismissals and (re)appointments of government officials including ministers has followed.

The Parliament on 14 December initiated the budget process for 2011. On 23 December the budget was adopted by the Rada, and on 28 December the President signed a Law on the State Budget for 2011. The budget foresees increases over the budget year of the minimum subsistence income from 894 UAH to 985, and of the minimum salary from 941 UAH to 1004 UAH.

The High Administrative Court on 15 December deferred to 25 January its deliberation on appeals by TV Channels TVi, 5th Channel and STB disputing the decision of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv of 8 June to cancel the January 2010 decision of the National Council of Radio and TV to award them a set of broadcasting frequencies.

2. Council of Europe action

The EC/CoE JP ”Transparency and efficiency of the judicial system of Ukraine” (TEJSU) (DG-HL) organised two activities: a combined study visit to CoE, including the ECtHR, and to the Paris Appeal Court and Conseil d’Etat, familiarised 15 judges of the High Administrative Court with the work of CoE various bodies including the ECtHR. They also got acquainted with the Court’s recent case law developments and topical legal issues before the Court concerning Ukraine as well as with the French administrative court system; on 17 December, a training seminar was organised on the functionalities of the computer programme Workflow in commercial courts, a programme dealing with automatic case assignment to judges; 100 participants were brought together representing all commercial courts of the country.

Ukrainian 5th TV Channel on 11 December broadcast a documentary produced under the project activity devoted to Alternative Dispute Resolution. The documentary is named “A Path to Understanding or Win-Win Negotiations”. Regional TV Channels have agreed to feature the documentary later.

The Joint EU-CoE Project “Promotion of the European Standards in the Ukrainian Media Environment” (DG-HL) completed the cycle to promote media ethics and raise corporate solidarity in the journalist environment on a local level through six media club meetings in Cherkassy, Chernivtsi, Donetsk, Sumy, Rivne and Kherson. Six final public dialogue meetings in the same cities ended with local stakeholders (representatives of local government, civil society and local media) developing plans for future cross-sectoral collaboration.

At the Steering Committee of the project on 9 December major stakeholders including the Parliamentary Committee for Freedom of Speech and Information, the National Broadcasting Council, the Public Humanitarian Council under the President as well as the State Administration for Communications, broadcaster and publisher associations, leaders of media self-regulation structures and key media NGOs discussed the results as well as the outlines of a new phase of the project.

The project on strengthening and protecting women’s and children’s rights (TRES) (DG-HL), under the output to promote standards and reforms along the European Social Charter, finalised and published the manual “Protecting Women’s and Children’s Rights by the Judicial and Law Enforcement Authorities”, and organised a round table in Parliament with UK and national experts to discuss the results of the compatibility study to identify areas needing improvement with regard to prosecution and prevention of violence against women and children. A study visit to Ministries of Labour/Social Policy, for Family, Youth and Sport and of Justice, in Bulgaria, was organised focusing on gender policy, prevention and the fight against human trafficking. Under the output to prepare the legal framework, policy and practices to standards of the CoE Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (CETS 201), a study was finalised based on the monitoring of court practices in relevant cases. A seminar was organised with the support of Microsoft through CoE Global Project on Cybercrime on cross-cutting issues regarding cybercrime, child pornography and sexual exploitation of children.

The JP on combating ill-treatment and impunity (DG-HL) took part in the hearing of the Parliament’s Committee on Legislative Support of Law Enforcement, as well as in the Conference on Free Legal Aid organised by the Renaissance Foundation and a seminar on Combatting Ill-treatment issues, organised by the Kharkiv Human Rights Group.

The “Strengthening Local Democracy and Support for Local Government Reforms in Ukraine” Project (DG-DAP) promoted the development of inter-municipal co-operation by organising the Ukrainian Municipal Forum in Yalta and a conference at Parliament in Kyiv on legislative requirements to introduce inter-municipal co-operation. A training of trainers on inter-municipal co-operation was also organised in Kyiv. In co-operation with the relevant authorities, a conference was organised in the Ministry of Finance on approaches to the reform of Local Finances in Ukraine and impact of the world financial crisis on local self-government. The project also took part in the working group on the European Charter of Local Self-Government.

Mr Åke PETERSON

Representative of the SG for the co-ordination of CoE co-operation programmes

E-mail: ake.peterson@coe.int

-----------------------

[1] Three of the service's four administrative chiefs took up their posts on 1 December 2010: Pierre Vimont (France), the Executive Secretary General; David O'Sullivan (Ireland), the Administrative Director General and Helga Schmid (Germany), the Deputy Secretary General. The second Deputy Secretary General, Maciej Popowski (Poland), currently Head of the Private Office of EP President Buzek, will take up his post only on 1 January 2011. Illka Salmi (Finland) was appointed Director of the EU Situation Center for the EEAS (17 December), Hugues Mingarelli (France) as Managing Director for the Middle East and Southern Neighbourhood and Viorel Isticioaia Budu[pic][2]

hQ;æh‘y_5?@ˆþÿmH

sH

-hQ;æh‘y_5?6?@ˆþÿmH

sH

hü){h?Y5?6?@ˆþÿhü){h‘y_5?6?@ˆþÿhü){h?{Ÿ5?@ˆþÿ

hvZ^5?@ˆþÿ

h‘y_5?@ˆþÿhü){h—}«ra (Romania) as managing Director for Asia (21 December).

[3] All references to Kosovo, whether to the territory, institutions or population, in this text shall be understood in full compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo.

( See footnote 1

(See footnote 1 on page 3

(See footnote 1 on page 3

(See footnote 1 on page 3

(See footnote 1 on page 3

(See footnote 1 on page 3

(See footnote 1 on page 3

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download