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| Open day to mark the Council of Europe's 70th anniversary (AFP Photo/ FREDERICK FLORIN) |
Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - The Council of Europe, a pan-continental rights watchdog, on Sunday marked its 70th anniversary at a time of mounting populism and a standoff with Russia as well as doubts over its own role in the modern world.
"I
didn't know about it at all, this is really completely new to me,"
admitted Zeinila, an 18-year-old student who was visiting the building hosting
the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, in northeastern France, during an open day
to mark its anniversary.
The
70-year-old body suffers from being often confused with the European Union
Council. But its 47-nation membership stretches far beyond the EU's reaches to
include the likes of Russia, Turkey, Switzerland, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Britain's
World War II leader Winston Churchill was the first to suggest the creation the
creation of such a body back in 1942, at the height of the war, when he
expressed the hope that "the European family may act unitedly as one under
a Council of Europe".
The rights
body was created through the treaty of London in May 1949. There were 10
initial signatories; Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom,
Their
stated mission was to defend human rights, democracy and the rule of law,
through international conventions and treaties.
"The
main success is that Europe today (the 47 member states) is a totally death
penalty-free zone," Council of Europe Secretary General, Norwegian
Thorbjorn Jagland told AFP.
"If a
member state wants to introduce the death penalty, it would have to leave
immediately CoE within the session. These three articles -- no death penalty,
no torture, no forced labour -- have in a way constituted the new civilised
Europe," he added.
Human rights court
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Man of
Peace: Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland meeting
Pope
Francis at the Vatican in January (AFP Photo/Handout)
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Human rights court
Perhaps
better known than the council itself is its judical arm, the European Human
Rights Court, which is itself celebrating its 60th birthday.
It is a
tribunal of final resort for those who feel their fundamental rights are being
denied by a member state.
Strasbourg
-- a French city close to the German border -- was originally chosen to house
the Council of Europe as a symbol of post-war Franco-German reconciliation.
Germany
joined the council in 1950, a year after it was created.
From the
Thirty Years War that began the 17th century to the mass destruction of the
Second World War, the Alsatian city had been the focus of conflict and
division.
Now it is
home to an organisation striving to bring harmony, safeguard the rule of law
and to protect human rights.
The rights
court was also set up in Strasbourg.
"We
have in a way constituted the new civilised Europe after World War II"
with the European Convention on Human RIghts (ECHR) going "much further
than the universal declaration of human rights," said Jagland.
On Monday
he will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, before France
assumes the council's rotating presidency in Mid-May.
June, a crucial month
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French
National Assembly head Edouard Herriot and British Foreign minister Ernest
Bevin surrounded by Italian, Luxembourg and other delegates at the first
meeting of
Council of Europe's Consultative Assembly in Strasbourg, August 1949
(AFP Photo)
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June, a crucial month
The host
nation picks up the baton at a difficult time for the European Council.
For years
it has been in dispute with member Russia, which could reach the point of no
return in June, notably with the election of Jagland's successor.
After
Moscow's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, the council's Parliamentary
Assembly deprived the Russian delegation of its voting and other rights.
In
retaliation, Russia suspended its annual 33-million-euro ($37-million) payment
to the Strasbourg-based council -- about seven percent of the body's total
budget -- and has not participated in sessions of the council's Parliamentary
Assembly.
The
assembly brings together 324 men and women from the parliaments of the Council
of Europe's 47 member states.
Moscow is
threatening to quit altogether if its rights within the Council of Europe are
not restored in time for it to participate in the election of the new secretary
general.
"The
immediate consequence will be that we will get a new dividing line in Europe
with most of European population living on one side and they have the right to
go to the European court," Jagland told AFP.
The
"Ruxit" scenario -- a Russian exit of the Council -- remains a
possibility. But the secretary general expressed optimism, speaking of
"very good discussions" which give him hope of emerging from the
crisis and into the next 70 years.
It’s 70 years old, bigger than the European Union and strives to bring harmony, safeguard the rule of law and to protect human rights. So why is the Council of Europe having doubts about its role in the modern world? https://t.co/y6DzKHtHcu pic.twitter.com/V2H7ZK9JtH— AFP news agency (@AFP) 5 mei 2019
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