Latest update 16 March 2022 2:05 pm
Council of Europe leaders announced early this morning the exclusion of the Russian Federation from this international multilateral organisation.
” In an extraordinary meeting this morning, the Committee of Ministers decided in the context of the procedure launched under Article 8 of the Statute of the Council of Europe, that the Russian Federation ceases to be a member of the Council of Europe as from today, after 26 years of membership.
Foreign Affairs Minister of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba welcomed today ” the decision to immediately exclude Russia from the Council of Europe just taken by the Council of Ministers. No place for Russia in European bodies as it wages a barbaric war of aggression against Ukraine and commits multiple war crimes” with a tweet.
Yesterday the Government of the Russian Federation informed the Europena Council’s Secretary General of its withdrawal from the Council of Europe in accordance with the Statute of the Council of Europe and of its intention to denounce the European Convention on Human Rights.
Some hours before the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly announcement of the opininon going for Russia’s exclusion under Article 8 of the Statute of the Council of Europe, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation informed that Russia had decided to withdraw from this international multilateral institution.
The exit of Russia from the Council of Europe means that The Russian Federation will no longer be a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights, and therefore its citizens can’t file applications to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
The European Court of Human rights dealt with 6,002 applications concerning Russia in 2021, of which 5,261 were declared inadmissible or struck out.
The Court delivered 232 judgments (concerning 741 applications), 219 of which found at least one violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Russia joined the Council of Europe on 28 February 1996. Since then the European Council has urged the country once and another to execute the Resolutions of the European Court of Human Rights with no or very reduced success.
Russia has deprived Ukrainians of the protection of their human rights through war
The Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and Chair of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, Luigi Di Maio, the President of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, Tiny Kox, and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić made the following joint statement explaining the exclusion of Russia: “As leaders of the Council of Europe we expressed on several occasions our firm condemnation of the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine. This unjustified and unprovoked aggression led to the decision of the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly to initiate the procedure of expulsion of the Russian Federation from the Council of Europe provided under Article 8 of the Statute.
In this framework, tonight, the Parliamentary Assembly unanimously considered that the Russian Federation should no longer be a member State of the Organisation. The Committee of Ministers will hold an extraordinary meeting tomorrow morning also in the light of today’s notification by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation of the Russian leadership’s decision to withdraw from the Council of Europe.
Through their actions in Ukraine the Russian authorities deprive the Russian people of the benefit of the most advanced human rights protection system in the world, including the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights and our vast convention system.
We express solidarity with the Russian people who, we firmly believe, share democratic values and aspire to remain part of the European family where they belong.
We remain determined to use all means at our disposal to provide support, relief and legal remedies to the Ukrainian people in their fight against the aggressor and to continue the pursuit of peace based on justice and international co-operation.
It is important in these difficult times for Europe to stand strong and united by Ukraine, its authorities and the Ukrainian people.”
The Council of Europe has turned into an entity that aggressively imposes a neoliberal approach to human rights against the spirit of its chart of foundation, says Russia
The official communication issued by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of The Russian Federation says: “EU and NATO countries have abused their majority in the Council of Europe (CE) to steadily transform this organisation into an anti-Russia policy tool, while rejecting dialogue on equal terms and refusing to abide by the principles underlying this pan-European organisation. On February 25, they adopted a discriminatory decision to suspend Russia’s representation in the statutory bodies of the Council of Europe.
As such, our country will not remain part of the Council of Europe. On March 15, CE Secretary General Marija Pejcinovic-Buric was notified of the Russian Federation’s withdrawal from this organisation.
Responsibility for the destruction of the common humanitarian and legal space on the continent and the consequences for the Council of Europe – which, without Russia, will lose its pan-European character – will be borne solely by those who are forcing us to take this step.
In 1996, when we joined this organisation, which was created to consolidate the unity of European peoples, it positioned itself as a depoliticised entity destined to become the humanitarian and legal fabric of Greater Europe from Lisbon to Vladivostok. Russia has always been committed to equal cooperation within the Council of Europe in the interests of its people. Over the years and through joint efforts, much has been done to build on Russian legislation and law enforcement and to strengthen the human rights system in our country, including through incorporating the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) into Russian legislation.
However, the unifying potential of the Council of Europe has been destroyed by the EU and NATO countries. They see this organisation only as a means of ideological support for their military-political and economic expansion to the east and are imposing a rules-based order that is beneficial to them and that is, in fact, a game without rules. The CE institutions, including the ECHR, have been systematically used to put pressure on Russia and interfere in its internal affairs. The organisation is mired in double standards. Our desire to advance a unifying agenda in accordance with the goals and objectives of the CE Charter was vehemently rejected. In particular, all our attempts to draw attention to the plight of the people in Donbass, who have been subjected to barbaric shelling for eight years now, ran into a wall of indifference.
The organisation has, in fact, lost its multi-dimensional character and turned into an entity that aggressively imposes a neoliberal approach to human rights in violation of the principles and values enshrined in the CE Charter and the foundational conventions.
Considering what the Council of Europe has become, we part ways without regret. Our country’s withdrawal from this organisation will not affect the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens. The Constitution of the Russian Federation does not provide lesser guarantees of them than the European Convention on Human Rights. The provisions of the core CE treaties and legal acts are incorporated in Russian legislation. Rulings of the European Court of Human Rights issued to date will remain in force provided they do not violate the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
Russia is a party to the key universal international human rights treaties concluded within the UN. This includes the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other treaties that guarantee a wider range of human rights and freedoms than regional CE documents.
As it departs the Council of Europe, Russia remains open to pragmatic and equitable interaction with members of this organisation on matters of mutual interest and within the framework of the conventions we decide to remain in.”
Image over the headline.- Council of Europe headquarters.© Council of Europe.
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Related external links:
Russia before the European Court of Human Rights
Statement of the European Council on the exclusion of The Russian Federation
