Although defence issues are explicitly excluded from the Council of Europe’s remit, the Parliamentary Assembly voted, on Thursday 12 October, in favour of a report and resolution on the Organisation’s role in conflict prevention, restoring the credibility of international institutions and promoting peace.
After a gradual decline, the number of armed conflicts in the world began to rise again in 2010, these texts emphasise.
“Some 35 conflicts are currently ongoing, and the international order has been put under an existential threat as a result of the ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine”.
In order to tackle “in a structural and systematic way, the root causes of tensions and disputes before they degenerate into conflicts”, the resolution calls on the Council of Europe to “develop additional tools to promote democratic security, including a common democratic security policy aimed at intensifying the Council of Europe’s efforts in matters of protection and strengthening of international security”.
This policy should be developed and implemented within the framework of the Council of Europe’s mandate, in complementarity with other international organisations with competence in this field.
In concrete terms, this would “ensure that early warning systems and confidence-building measures are fully used, improve policy-making processes, strengthen accountability and help prevent future conflicts”.
The resolution also calls on the 46 member states of the Council of Europe to “begin a dialogue aimed at consolidating positions on the reform of crucial security institutions, in particular the United Nations Security Council, and pursue an active and concerted policy to initiate change”.
Link to resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/91n (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)