Print Releases 1999
Translations
• ECRI’s country-by-country approach. Second report
on Bulgaria adopted on 18 June 1999
• ECRI General Policy Recommendation N° 1: Combating
racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and intolerance
• ECRI General Policy Recommendation N° 2:
Specialized bodies to combat racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and
intolerance at national level
• ECRI General Policy Recommendation N° 3: Combating
racism and intolerance against Roma/Gypsies
• ECRI General Policy Recommendation N° 4: National
surveys on the experience and perception of discrimination and
racism from the point of view of potential victims
• General Policy Recommendation No. 5: Combating
intolerance and discrimination against Muslims
• A visit by the CPT – What’s it all about?15
Questions and Answers for the Police
• Police Practice and Human Rights - A European
Introduction. A Reference Brochure
Publications
• The Council of Europe - a general leaflet 1999
• Europe is more that you think: educational package
for secondary school
• International Legal Acts Against Corruption
I. 50th Anniversary of
the Council of Europe
1999 was an important year for the
Council of Europe. During this year the Parliamentary Assembly
elected a new Secretary General, Mr. Walter Schwimmer (Austria) to
replace outgoing Mr. Daniel Tarschys (Sweden). An overhaul of the
Secretariat General of the Council was carried out to allow it to
better respond to new challenges and increased membership. Also,
two key new legal instruments were introduced – the Penal and Civil
Law Conventions against Corruption, as well as a monitoring
mechanism known by its French acronym GRECO.
Above all, in May, events in
Budapest, London and Strasbourg marked the 50th anniversary of this
unique pan-European organization. Conscious of the contribution,
which membership in the Council has made for Bulgaria’s democratic
development, the Information Centre initiated a celebration to
commemorate the anniversary in Sofia. The event, organized in
cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was opened by a
speech by the President of Bulgaria, Mr. Petar Stoyanov, followed
by interventions by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education
Mr. Vesselin Metodiev, the Chairman of the Constitutional Court
Prof. Zhivko Stalev, Deputy Foreign Minister Konstantin Dimitrov
and Ambassador Tamas Tick of Hungary, as Hungary was chairing the
Committee of Ministers of the Council at the time of the
celebrations.
Speeches were followed by a ceremony,
chaired by Mr. Antoni Slavinski, President of the Committee of
Posts and Telecommunications (CPT), of the official validation of a
new post stamp “50th Anniversary of the Council of Europe” issued
by the CPT. The event also included an exhibition of all
translations and publications by the Information Centre in Sofia
since its establishment.
II.
Human Rights, Social Issues and Education
Cooperation with the
Ministry of Education for the Europe in School initiative is
already a tradition for the Information Centre in Sofia. At the end
of May, the winners of the competition were awarded more than 60
Council of Europe prizes provided by the Centre. The Centre also
hosted an exhibition of some of the prize-winning
works.
In 1999, the
Information Centre was instrumental in the process of institutional
coordination for the ratification of the European Social Charter. A
coordination council was set up by the Ministry of Labor and Social
Policy including representatives of civil society organizations.
During the initial period of formation of the council, the Centre
was active in providing the participants with the background
information necessary for their work. In February, the Information
Centre hosted a consultation meeting on drafting the Council of
Europe Manual on the Administrative Procedures for the
Implementation of National Obligations according the Provisions of
the European Social Charter. The meeting brought together European
and Bulgarian social policy experts.
President Petar Stoyanov addresses the participants in the
Council of Europe 50th anniversary
meeting
As human rights are
the main priority area in the activities of the Council of Europe,
it also figures prominently in the agenda of the Information
Centres. In September, the Centre co-organized with the Ministry of
Justice a training session for judges and prosecutors on Articles
6, 8 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In
December, an international conference “7 Years of Constitutional
Court Practice: the Human Rights Perspective” was co-organized with
the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee and the Bulgarian Centre for Human
Rights.
III.
Visits and Meetings
Shortly after he took
office in September, the new Secretary General, Mr. Schwimmer, met
with the Directors of the Council Information Centers. The meeting
was attended by the Director of the Sofia Centre, Mr. Todorov. Mr.
Schwimmer discussed his vision of the role of the Council of Europe
as a pan-European organization. He stressed the role of the Council
as a preventive mechanism reducing the costs and casualties of
potential conflicts on the continent. Strengthening of the
monitoring of member states at intergovernmental level, presence at
important political events and reinforcement of the organization’s
role in implementing the Stability Pact for SEE were emphasized as
priorities by the Secretary General. It was pointed out that the
Information Centres could be instrumental in ensuring an effective
role of the Council in the region of Southeast Europe. Cooperation
with the other key international organizations – the EU, OSCE and
UN – were also discussed.
In November, during
his visit to Bulgaria on the occasion of a conference on the
parliamentary contribution to the implementation of the Stability
Pact, held in Sofia, Mr. Schwimmer visited the Information Centre
on the Council of Europe in Sofia.
Mr. Walter Schwimmer, Secretary General of the Council of
Europe visited center hosted by CSD.
Following the end of
the Kosovo conflict, PACE President Lord Russell-Johnston arrived
for a three day visit to Bulgaria at the invitation of Mr. Yordan
Sokolov, Chairman of the National Assembly. The main purpose of his
visit to Romania, Bulgaria and Albania, was to discuss the post-war
reconstruction and development of the region. During his stay in
Bulgaria, Lord Russell-Johnston visited the Information Centre in
Sofia.
In 1999, Bulgaria was
still under a monitoring procedure by the Committee on Honoring the
Obligations by the member states of the Council of Europe, which
monitors compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights.
After several years of monitoring, reports by the rapporteurs for
Bulgaria - Mr. David Atkinson, British MP and Mr. Henning Gjelerod,
Danish MP – generated considerable media interest. The Information
Centre facilitated the input of non-governmental organizations to
the report prepared by the rapporteurs of the Committee in 1999. It
also hosted two meetings of the rapporteurs with Bulgarian
non-governmental organizations during their visits in February and
December.
In view of the major
contribution to be provided by the Council of Europe to the
implementation of the Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe, a
meeting of the Information Centres’ Directors from the countries in
the region was held in Skopje, Macedonia in August. The meeting,
also attended by representatives of the Secretariat of the Council,
coordinated the efforts of the Centres as facilitators of the
organization’s contribution. Several joint projects were proposed
to be implemented in the course of 2000.
The Information Centre
in Sofia was also active participant in the work of Coalition
2000. In addition to liaising between the initiative and the
Council of Europe, the Centre compiled, translated and published an
anti-corruption reader, “International Legal Acts Against
Corruption” which included all international conventions and other
legal instruments in this area relevant to
Bulgaria.
Visits by the
Secretary General and the PACE President indicate the growing
importance the Council attaches to the activities of its
Information Centres in the countries of Central and Eastern
Europe.
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