IFLRY was invited to Strasbourg to join and assist the meetings held by the ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe) group during the 1st part of the 2009 Ordinary Session of the PACE (The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) meetings in Strasbourg 26-30 January 2009. As a guest of the ALDE group I assisted their meetings during the first three days of the week and I was also able to view the plenary discussions and participate in the Conference of NGOs of the Council of Europe.

Monday morning started with the ALDE group meetings where preparation of the sessions took place. During the afternoon I went to the plenary discussions to listen to Mr. Terry Davis’, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, speech on the state of the Council of Europe. Mr. Davis talked about the critical situation in Gaza and the consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia. He also mentioned that currently there are three major problems for the Council of Europe to discuss. The first problem that would need a better solution is that the pension funds needs to rise, the second problem is that the war in south Caucasus has a negative effect on the whole region and the third problem for the Council of Europe to discuss is the financial crisis affect on the world economy. The plenary discussions continued with a report on access to rights for people with disabilities and their full and active participation in society. It was mentioned that more than one person in every ten suffers from some form of disability, which gives a total worldwide of 650 million people. All disabled people should have the opportunity to full citizenship and no one should be denied their rights to reach their full potential. The ALDE evening meeting followed with a speech by Mr. Andrei Illarionov, former economic advisor to Mr. Putin and his conclusion of Russia was “what is predictable about Russia is its unpredictability”. Later that evening the ALDE group gathered to a dinner at Restaurant de la Vignette, that I was delighted to take part in.

During Tuesday, I was glad to take part in a NGO meeting held by the Civil Society and Democracy Committee. There were discussions about how and where the NGO meetings should be organized in the future. Should the meetings continuously be held in Strasbourg or in different countries and cities every time? Regional civil participation was also mentioned and that it was important for a NGO on a national level to provide a service in order to survive. The European Local Democracy Week (ELDW) will be held 12-18 October 2009 and is a new annual European event with simultaneous national and local events. ELDW will be organized by participating local authorities in all Council of Europe member states. In the evening I went to listen to the plenary discussions reporting on crimes allegedly committed by high officials during the Kuchma rule in Ukraine – the Gongadze case as an emblematic example. The highest level of government was involved in the murder of outspoken Ukrainian journalist Georgy Gongadze nine years ago, but no guilty is yet prosecuted. The progress is very slow and the free journalism might be distinguished with power and money. Everybody agreed in the importance of the report and more reports were more than welcome trying to solve other murders of journalists in Eastern Europe and the Russian Federation.

Wednesday started early with a debate about the current situation in Gaza. After the ALDE group meeting I went to listen to the plenary discussions on the humanitarian consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia. According to the Migration committee, this must be one of the Assembly’s most immediate priorities. The situation remains tense in the former buffer zone, where people continue to be killed. People who have returned home to the Gali district and to the buffer zone are facing insecurity and a hard winter. In south Ossetia people have to try to survive under the same conditions and with little or no access to international humanitarian aid or human rights monitoring. For the time being it is impossible for humanitarian aid to reach South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which means that the population is suffering. The stabilization of the region is very important to avoid future conflicts.
 
I enjoyed observing the meetings taking part in the Council of Europe and I hope that some solutions can be made to the many problems discussed during my three days there.

Sabine Nygrund