by Anastasia Crickley
Today as I leave the good Irish summer weather of the past week has given way to rain, but at least its not cold. The Moldovan construction workers at the train station try to persuade me that I must wait an hour at Oppenheim and then take a direct train to Frankfurt airport. They are sallow skinned but dressed as I remember Irish construction workers in 1970’s London and their mood is buoyant, on the way home with plastic bags stuffed with presents. The injustice of emigration – not migration as it is euphuistically described hits me in the face one more time, one more generation of separation and sorrow.
This last session of the Advisory Committee for the Council of Europe Framework Convention on National Minorities has been interesting. Ancient alliances, not visible since the early days of my first involvement with the Convention some twelve years ago emerged again formally and informally in the discussions on Ukraine and spilled over into other matters. Now, as then, some are reminiscent of the old Soviet mantras but others who reject that also reject the new pro USA, pro Europe mantra. I am left wondering if our differences are reflected elsewhere and increasingly clear that EU self interested Europeanisation policy in Ukraine has been un-strategic and far from in the interests of Europe, human rights, justice and stability in the region.
There is open talk, even before the thirteen soldiers are killed near Douetske of civil war being waged with little faith in the front runner, ‘chocolate baron’. Almost total pessimism pervades about the 25th Presidential election with suggestions also for the postponement/cancellation, although it provides for some a glimmer of hope in view of this pro Ukranian stand and ongoing business connections with Russia. Minorities including but not only the Tartars in Crimea are instrumentalised for political ends and yet again the fact that minorities comprise women as well as men, who have human rights as women and as minority women is largely unspoken and probably ignored.
A syndrome we are familiar with from Northen Ireland during the Troubles, when local unionist and nationalist politicians managed to sit together in council chambers only to vote against halting sites for Travellers has emerged, with Roma families being literally run (or burned) out of a number of towns and a number of them, many still without papers (i.e birth certs or any form of identity document) are heading (when not blocked) for Kiev. Inevitability also Roma allegiancies and those of other minorities as in Serbia and Kosovo are to all sides of the conflict
The Council of Europe has appointed a special representative of the Secretary General to Ukraine and a package of initiatives aimed at building trust also including minorities are being finalised. He was previously special representative of the secretary general for Roma, a position which seems to have been temporarily integrated with his new role.
The OSCE and the UN as well as the European Union are also actively promoting initiatives. For the OSCE and the Council of Europe this is a specific chance for what many see as somewhat ailing institutions to demonstrate their democratic human dimension and human rights value to the people of the region. All are well aware of this but form can sometimes triumph over content as officials try to justify their positions and promotions. Parliamentary assembly numbers – mostly backbenchers in their own countries jostle for the chance of being part of a visiting delegation, and the shape and wording of the resolutions take precedence over direct consideration of their impact. However, some useful steps are being tentatively taken including by the Office of the High Commissioner on National Minorities of the OSCE.
Our own report of the Ad-Hoc visit by the Advisory Committee of the Framework Convention on National Minorities of the CoE, a snapshot of the situation for minorities put together by a small group of which I was a member just after the Crimean referendum (see links and my previous note) was well received and used by the Committee of Ministers (for which read the Ambassadors of Member States to the Council of Europe including our own, Peter Gunning). It has led to the Council of Europe including minorities in all Ukraine discussions and created greater awareness about the Convention itself. We debated at length how best to ensure that the focus on minorities has meaning and positive impact for minorities in Ukraine. The need to directly include all minorities (including Roma) of various opinions in all negotiations underlining their right to participation was agreed as crucial and a question that the Committee needs to ensure is addressed at each ongoing stage. This focus on minority rights should remain central even when humanitarian assistance is also required and all attempts at ethnic profiling should be publicised.
In addition to discussing Ukraine the Committee considered and finally adopted opinions developed on the head of a visit to Denmark and reports received from Liechtenstein, which will now be sent to those countries for comments, published (in about eight months with the comments) and eventually inform the resolution of the previously mentioned CoE Committee of Ministers. As this meeting marked the end of the cycle for the group our two year activity report was considered and adopted. Thirty nine states are now party to the treaty, including Ireland, and monitoring has reached its fourth cycle. Ireland’s 4th report is due in 2016. The Committee marked fifteen years since the coming into force of the Convention with a seminar last November. During the period fifteen state reports were received and twelve monitoring visits carried out by small teams of the eighteen person committee with secretariat support. We adopted a total of fifteen country specific opinions in addition to the Opinion on the ad-hoc Ukraine visit. I participated in four visits and associated opinion writing to Azerbaijan, Serbia, Lithuania and Ukraine. As might be expected we commented on the persistently disadvantaged situation faced by Roma and Travellers and on the European wide rise of racism and hate speech. The report will be available after its presentation to the Committee of Ministers.
Associated with the two year Report on Committee Activities we considered our response to the recent Resolution of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly. Ireland is represented at this gathering by Michael McNamara, Terry Leyden and some others including until recently Catherine Zappone. The annual resolution’s use of the term ‘traditional minorities’ is a source of irritation to many and is seen to indicate an exclusivity which keeps migrant workers (including Turks who have been in Germany for three generations) out of the frame. It is also often used to exclude Roma (unless they are so called locals of very long standing in the way that county councils and others can refer to “our Travellers”). This can have very worrying consequences including deportation.
A group of eighteen students from various programmes at the Department of Applied Social Studies visited early in the week and met with people from various part of the Council. It was energizing to be with them and discuss again the question of the value of CoE, confusion with the EU, waiting time for the court and other matters but tiring also to juggle commitments and bilocation. Colleagues who met with them were enthusiastic, interested in their questions and committed to further visits. I am struck by the importance of such visits for bringing the Council to life and regret that the expenses involved, even when costs are kept as low as possible, means that some people cannot participate.
I head home on Friday morning in time to vote in the local and European elections wondering what sort of parliament will occupy (for one week in five only) the big expensive, modern Strasbourg European Parliament Building just down from the Council of Europe. Or is there any possibility they might have the guts to say ‘end this costly charade’, so that the parliament meets only in Brussels?