by Gerhard Ermischer, Vice-President of CIVILSCAPE (gerhard.ermischer@civilscape.eu) and Sophie Hueglin, Vice-President of EAA (s.hueglin@web.de)
EAA and CIVILSCAPE are both among the about 300 organisations, which have been granted participatory status with the Conference of the International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs). Therefore, it is important to know how these organisations function and in which way archaeologists can get involved through their institutions and organisations in Strasbourg.
How does the Council of Europe (CoE) work?
The Council of Europe (CoE) is an intergovernmental organization (IGO), a union of states, just as the United Nations (UN) or the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The CoE includes all 46 sovereign states and dependent territories of Europe with the exception of Belarus. Belarus is the only state in Europe that still has the death penalty and therefore cannot become a member state of the CoE. Any potential member state must firstly adhere to the European Convention on Human Rights, which explicitly forbids the death penalty. The Vatican has been granted a special status with the CoE. Since its foundation in 1949, the CoE has undergone many reforms. Today it is made up by the Quadrilogue or the four columns of the CoE:
- The Committee of Ministers (CM) is formed by the foreign ministers of the member states. As these meet only in a longer sequence, they are deputized by the ambassadors of the member states of CoE. They have a status as deputy ministers and can make binding decisions. In this configuration, the Council meets very regularly and makes all the important decisions for the Council of Europe.
- The Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) is the law-making body of the CoE. It is not a parliament of elected members such as the European Parliament of the European Union (EU), which holds regular meetings just across river Ill, but the parliaments of the member states delegate members to PACE.
- The Congress of the Regions is the assembly of the local and regional governments or parliaments. Its members are also delegated by the appropriate bodies of the member states. Their meetings are called Congress of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR). The CoR has a consultative and participatory role.
- The Conference of the INGOs at the Council of Europe is the assembly of the delegates of all international NGOs with participatory status. It has a consultative and participatory role.
The administration of the CoE is situated in Strasbourg, mainly in two buildings: the older “Palais” and the younger “Agora” close by. It is organized in General Directories and Directories. At present, it is chaired by the Secretary General, Thorbjørn Jagland and Deputy Secretary General, Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni. The political presidency is held by one of the member states in a half-year rota system, just as it is practised in the EU. In the first half of 2017, the presidency is with Cyprus and in the second half of 2017 it is with the Czech Republic. Of course every presidency tries to set its own accents. The Secretary General and/or his deputy are present at all INGO conferences and answer questions by the NGOs.
The Council of Europe has a number of different institutions and initiatives:
- The European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) is the oldest institution of the Council of Europe and it is unique. The seat of the court is in Strasbourg; it is situated next to the buildings of both the CoE and the European Parliament of the EU. Each potential member state of the CoE must join the convention and make a binding obligation to follow the rules of the ECHR. In recent years, this obligation has come under massive pressure in a number of member states and the court has no real means of enforcement at hand. This differs from the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) situated in Luxembourg, which is responsible to sanction breaking of EU law.
- The Commissioner for Human Rights was introduced in 1999 and monitors the state of human rights in the member states, advocating for human rights and strengthening their impact in the member states.
- The European Pharmacopeia (EDQM) is also situated in Strasbourg, next to the Agora building. It is a legally binding institute that ensures quality of medicines and health care. After the Lisbon Treaty entered into force in 2009, the EU has acceded to the institution and so EDQM decisions have now also standard setting force in the EU. According to the Lisbon Treaty the EU can now join international treaties such as conventions etc. of the CoE, and is doing this more and more.
- The European Youth Centre (EYC) and European Youth Foundation (EYF) are the two institutions at the Youth Department of the CoE. The EYC has two locations, one in in Strasbourg and one in Budapest; apart from conference rooms these buildings offer also accommodation. The EYF, on the other hand, finances youth programmes.
- The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is an international bank of the CoE; it was established in 1991 with the task to finance social projects. It is situated in Paris, where there are also seminar rooms for the use of the CoE. The Development Bank works on the basis of a so-called Partial Agreement. This term is used within the CoE to describe a major activity of European cooperation organised by the CoE that does not include all member states.
- The European Institute of Cultural Routes is also the result of a partial agreement. Situated in Luxembourg, it is responsible for awarding the title “European Cultural Route” according to strict criteria. The title can be recalled, if the partners fail to live up to the standards.
At present, more Partial Agreements are being prepared. They allow for progress in projects and the creation of institutions, if not all member states want to participate. It also helps the budget of the CoE, as the implementation of such partial agreements is mainly self-financed.
The CoE drafts conventions, chartas and other agreements, the texts of which are all international treaties in the sense of the Convention of Vienna of 1969. The CoE Treaty Series (CETS) groups together all the conventions concluded since 1949. With the exception of the human rights convention, the accession to these conventions is not mandatory. Some conventions are meant only for members of the Council of Europe, others are open also to non-member states. The access to the conventions normally requires two steps: the signing of the convention by the government and the ratification by the national parliament, which is the law-making body in a parliamentarian democracy. After a pre-agreed number of states have ratified the convention it comes into force, which means it from then on has binding character for the signatory states. As conventions are mostly formulated very generally and are setting a framework for goals and obligations, they normally have to be implemented into national legislation and – where competences of federal states are affected – often also in the individual laws of these sub-states. Conventions have different institutional bodies to evaluate and further develop the conventions, which can vary in size and binding character from convention to convention. One of the most important conventions is the European Social Charter from 1961. In the field of cultural heritage, we find the Convention for the Archaeological Heritage (Valetta 1992), the Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage (Granada 1985), the European Landscape Convention (Florence 2000), the Framework Convention on the Value of the Cultural Heritage for Society (Faro 2005) or the brand-new Convention on Offences relating to Cultural Property. Most conventions strengthen the position of the civil society and citizen engagement.
What are INGOs and how does the Conference of INGOs work?
The Council of Europe is unique, as it gives NGOs not just an observatory or consultative status but a participatory status. Therefore, they can contribute to all processes of drafting conventions, regulations, guidelines etc. and fully participate in the policy making at the Council of Europe.
How to obtain participatory status as an INGO?
The status must be applied for and INGOs have to fulfill a number of criteria, e.g. to be independent, active in at least five European countries, and work on themes covered by the agenda of the CoE. They have to give proof of their activities. The application is evaluated by CoE and commented by the governing body of the Conference of the INGOs. The recommendation to accept or deny participatory status is forwarded en bloc once a year to the Committee of Ministers. The CM decides by “quiet approval”; that means, if there is no objection during a certain period, the recommendations will be accepted. If a member state wants to challenge a decision, it has to comment, only then, the CM will decide by vote.
How are the INGOs evaluated?
There is a major evaluation process every four years. The INGOs have to fill in a detailed form and give reports on their activities, especially with the CoE and other European and international organizations. The formal criteria are re-checked as well. Failure to proof the formal criteria, to comply with the report obligations or to show sufficient activities will lead to loss of participatory status. The INGOs effected are given a set time to comment, hand in additional information and show their commitment. Again the ruling body of the INGO Conference will comment. Finally the list of INGOs to be removed will be forwarded to the Council of Ministers, who will decide as in the case of new applicants.
How is the INGO Conference structured?
The INGO Conference has undergone changes through the 40 years of its existence. Currently, it is structured in three thematic committees:
- The Committee for Democracy, Social Cohesion and Global Challenges
- The Committee for Education and Culture and
- The Committee for Human Rights
There is also an Expert Council on NGO Law, the Gender Equality Expert and INGO-Service, which is the self-administrating body of the Conference, financed through voluntary financial contributions from INGOs. Additionally, there is a secretariat, which is part of the administration of the Council of Europe.
Each Thematic Committee has a Chair and two Vice-Chairs. The conference has an overall board consisting of the President and three Vice-Presidents. All positions are elected for a three-year period of office and can be re-elected once into the same position. The election of the overall board of the Conference is held half a year after the chairs of the committees: the election of the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the Thematic Committees is always in the summer session and for the President and Vice-President in the following winter session. The Conference meets twice a year parallel to the sittings of the CoE Parliamentary Assembly (PACE). President and Vice-Presidents of the Conference of INGOs and the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the Thematic Committees form the Standing Committee. It includes also the head of the Expert Commission on NGO Law, the Gender Equality Expert and the Head of INGO-Service in a consultative function.
The three Thematic Committees decide on their own working program, which they develop in line with the overall strategy of the Conference of INGOs. The overall strategy is decided on every three years with the start of a new working period. Most of the practical work is done in working groups, active inside the committees but sometimes also transversal, meaning across committees. In cases of special urgency, ad hoc working groups can be formed. Working groups have to be approved by the chairs of the committees or by the Standing Committee. They normally are created bottom-up by members, but they also can be installed top-down by the chairs.
How does the administration of the Conference of the INGOs function?
The administration of the INGO Conference has two columns:
- The Secretariat is part of the administration of the Council of Europe. It is part of the Forum of the Future of Democracy (FFT) and here responsible for the interaction with civil society. It does all in-house administration, like the allocation of rooms, simultaneous translation, translation of official documents, etc. FFT’s budget for this is allocated within the greater budget of the CoE.
- INGO-Service is the self-administration of the Conference of INGOs. It is organized as an association, which the INGOs with participatory status should become a member of. As there is still no legal form of a “European Association” it is registered in Strasbourg under French law. As there can be no legally binding mandatory membership the Conference depends on the good will of its members – as the membership fees are essential to allow independent work of the Conference and running its own projects. Actually, the association collects about half of the annual budget of the Conference of INGO’s.
How does the Conference of INGOs cooperate with the Council of Europe and its other columns?
It is intended that the four columns of the CoE work closely together. So their representatives are invited to participate in meetings and actions of the other columns. The CoE administers a great number of conventions. These conventions have their own instruments – e.g. the Landscape Convention has the Conference of the Landscape Convention, the Work Shops and the Landscape Award – and are followed up by the appropriate steering committee within the CoE – e.g. the Steering Committee for Culture, Heritage and Landscape is responsible for all conventions in this field. Individual INGOs can apply to be granted observatory status with all these institutions, while the INGO Conference, as one of the four pillars, can attend in a participatory function. Invitations are issued by the administration of the CoE or by the appropriate institution. The invitations are either addressed to the president of the Conference or the Chair of the appropriate thematic committee. Questions of representation are decided within the board. The Conference of INGOs can comment on strategies, participate in the drafting of conventions and create own suggestions, declarations, guidelines etc., which are forwarded to the other columns of the Council of Europe and finally are adopted by the CM.
What other programs and projects are pursued by the Council of Europe?
The CoE runs many different programs, like the European Heritage Days, the European Local Democracy Week (ELDW) etc. Now, they are often pursued in cooperation with the European Commission. Individual INGOs as well as the Conference of INGOs as an institution participate in most of these activities. The Conference of INGO also cooperates closely with the various institutions and Partial Agreements of the Council of Europe.
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