Brussels, 28/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has reaffirmed the right to draw cartoons and warned against mass surveillance of citizens.
In a resolution adopted on Wednesday 28 January in Strasbourg, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) stated, “faced with the Paris terrorist attacks in January 2015, which targeted journalists and cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo, as well as police officers and Jewish people, Europe must continue to use humour and satire and not give in to fear. Disallowing this, in order to be politically correct, would mean that terrorism has won”.
This was indeed an unequivocal statement made during the debate preceding the vote, which unanimously condemned the murders carried out. This statement does not, however, take into account the complexity of the different points of view expressed by the different speakers during the exchanges. The demand to avoid offending religion effectively emerged on a number of occasions, even though this did not threaten the vote in question. Other questions were also raised regarding implementation difficulties.
In reply to the concerns from Moroccan and Palestinian Authority representatives, expressed in the “partners for democracy” context, Jacques Legendre (European People's Party, France) - and editor of the report - subsequently emphasised the fact that the choice of words had been a very delicate matter and explained, “I was keen not to use the term 'radical Islamism' too often… because this repetition may have suggested that we were confusing Islam and radicalism”. It was used, however, not very often, but on a few occasions, nevertheless… A compromise solution between the two, which ultimately did not settle the question.
The underlying fear expressed through these misgivings clearly relate to Islamophobia, the poison of “living together” that all the speakers made a heartfelt appeal for, whilst recognising the scale of the task involved in achieving this. In a reference to Islamic State and Al Qaeda, Jacques Legendre said that these murders had been inspired from forces outside Europe but that “they are also the result of three young people born in France and we need to look at the social and cultural causes of their alienation”. Quoting the sociologist, Driss Ajbali, who was given a hearing on Monday at the political questions and democracy committee, the rapporteur alluded to a European Islam that was developing in communities that were “poor, of a low cultural level and an Islam that was increasingly 'Balkanised' between Moroccan, Algerian and Somalian etc. interpretations”. This is a worrying observation given the resolution adopted at the end of the debates advocates “preventive measures in prisons, on social media networks, at school and in deprived neighbourhoods”.
Mass surveillance. In addition to these societal responses, the PACE resolution contains a warning against any possible introduction of mass surveillance, “which has proved inefficient when it comes to preventing terrorism and dangerous with regard to respecting human rights”. The text, however, advocates, “Enhanced cooperation between intelligence services in different European countries, as well as with those in the Middle East”. It also calls on the European Parliament to reconsider its position concerning the European PNR for transferring personal passenger data of those entering the EU from at-risk areas and which has been blocked for the past two years, without providing “appropriate guarantees concerning data protection”.
Faced with the terrorist threat, PACE appears determined to play its role. It has invited member states that have not yet done so, to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism and support preparations for an additional protocol on “foreign terrorist combatants”.
The Parliamentary Assembly also refutes the notion of “the war against terror”, which “threatens the framework of human rights”. The text explains that “terrorists are killers, not soldiers and terrorist crimes are not acts of war”. This, however, does not question “the right of democracies to defend themselves when they are attacked”. (VL)