The Council of Europe closed its 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government on Tuesday 16 May with a very dense ‘Reykjavik Declaration’.
Forty-one states have already pledged to support the launch of a “Register of Damages” caused to Ukrainians by the war.
This unprecedented mechanism will be the subject of a meeting between the parties before the summer and will be operational in September, announced the Secretary General, Marija Pejčinović Burić, who was delighted with this “strong and robust” Declaration, supported by all the Member States of the Organisation with the exception of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Hungary and Serbia, which expressed reservations on all or part of the text without going so far as to oppose it directly.
The signature register of the Register of Damages itself remains open to any country wishing to sign up.
At this stage, within the Council of Europe, Andorra, Bulgaria and Switzerland have officially expressed their intention to join, but this is not the case for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary and Serbia, which are not among the “founding” countries.
For Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, this “detail” does not detract from the “message of unity” conveyed by the Summit.
“More than 40 member states have joined this mechanism, which shows the vitality of the Council of Europe”, he says.
The Ukrainian Prime Minister, Denys Chmyhal, had the same reaction. He considered it normal that in a democratic forum such as the Council of Europe “not all countries have the same position” and insisted - like Edgars Rinkēvičs, the Latvian Foreign Minister, whose country is taking over from Iceland as head of the Committee of Ministers - on the importance of an agreement that was destined to be extended.
With the signatures of the Council of Europe observer countries Canada, Japan, Mexico and the United States, this register already brings together “three continents” around the importance of holding Russia accountable for its crimes, stressed Marija Pejčinović Burić.
The European Union is also a founder and contributor and will strengthen its cooperation with the Council of Europe, announced Charles Michel, President of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, confirming the Union's forthcoming accession to the European Convention on Human Rights and the Istanbul Convention on Violence against Women.
Another pillar of the Declaration is the warning against the advance of autocracies in Europe and the adoption of the “Reykjavik Principles for Democracy” on freedom of expression, assembly and association, the independence of institutions, the impartiality and effectiveness of the judiciary, the fight against corruption and the democratic participation of civil society and youth.
This is directly linked to the “deep and abiding” re-commitment of all to the European Convention on Human Rights, the affirmation of the “unwavering commitment to the Convention system” and the recognition of the “unconditional obligation to abide by the final judgments of the Court in any case”.
Strong language to which Britain has subscribed, even if it openly questions Article 39 of the Convention, which allowed the immediate suspension of expulsions of migrants to Rwanda.
EU leaders also stressed the link between human rights and the environment and called on the Council of Europe to start work on translating this into a binding instrument.
There are also calls for new standards to protect human rights in the digital age, especially in the field of artificial intelligence, where the Council of Europe has already made good progress in conjunction with the European Union.
Asked after the Summit, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe stressed that “the high level of participation represented by the number of Heads of State and Government who came to Reykjavik shows a real political will to support the Declaration and to demonstrate European unity in the defence of democracy, human rights and the rule of law”.
“The war in Ukraine has shown what Europe is like when a Member State flouts our values, it ends in savagery. Everything must be done to prevent this from happening again. The conclusions of the Summit make me optimistic”.
The Council of Europe must now follow up on the commitments made in Reykjavik and “insist” on the full implementation of the Declaration, she added.
This implies a reinforcement of the Organisation’s budget, mentioned in the Declaration, but without precise figures.
Alexander de Croo announces an additional budgetary commitment of €400,000 to deal with priority cases of the European Court of Human Rights and “drawn from taxation on frozen Russian assets”.
Germany, for its part, announced, through its Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, an additional contribution of €10 million to the Council of Europe budget. It will be for this year.
However, the Council of Europe has a very long-term mission ahead of it and it will need to have the means to fulfil the promises made in the Reykjavik Declaration.
In financial terms too, its Member States will have to meet their commitments.
See the Reykjavík Declaration of the Council of Europe: https://aeur.eu/f/6YH (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)