The committee on Democracy, Social Cohesion and Global Challenges contributed to this second edition of the World Forum for Democracy in proposing the framework of the City of Porto Alegre Wikicity - lab 13
The Chair of the Committee, Anne-Marie Chavanon was one of the discussants in this lab in which intervened many NGO members
See the defferred transmission

In the framework of the upcoming  Warsaw Climate Change Conference  to be held in Warsaw (11-22 November 2013), the Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe (382 international NGOs) adopted  a declaration by the  Committee on Democracy, Social Cohesion and Global Challenges and the committee on Human Rights, a statement claiming an indissoluble link between climate Change and Human Rights.

We assert of the utmost importance to put climate change at the top of the priorities for action to ensure the future of humanity ;

We are convinced that urgent and necessary solutions can only be found by involving civil society at all levels of commitment and decision-making ;

We call for international negotiations beyond the strict framework of reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, integrating the protection of human rights, and taking into account the involvement of all phenomena related to climate change on the enjoyment of those rights

We call for the respect to the right to life, dignity and mobility to include the establishment of international rules and urge States and regional institutions such as the EU, to take immediate consideration of :

•  the threat on habitat, water and food supply of extreme weather events
• regular assessment of natural and industrial risks exacerbated by climate change
• the prevention of political and social conflicts related to resource sharing
• hosting populations forced away from their place of residence by rising waters, the scarcity of vital goods and esources or deprivation of essential services
• assistance to the populations deprived of their land and property
  

We request the Heads of States and Governments  to integrate the human rights  into the treaty to be adopted in Paris in 2015 and to officially recognize the right to a healthy environment as a fundamental human right.

How can we celebrate the European   Democracy Week opening  today,  while many of those who want to join our democracies die every day so close to our shores ? It took so many deaths till  finally  European peoples and governments are moved !
Driven by poverty, political, racial, tribal or religious persecution - thousands of men, women and children take the greatest  risks  to try to survive or live better.

Many of our NGOs are committed with migrants and survivors of disasters, in Lampedusa on other shores. The Council of Europe cannot  stand by and do nothing to prevent such tragedies which cannot be left under the sole responsibility of the gateway cities of Europe, as courageous as they are.

We demand respect for the European Convention on Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights so that the interceptions thrown by Frontex, the '' European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders", go along with measures of effective rescue, consistent with human rights and the rights of refugees. Physical strength, in case of shipwreck, must not be the only criterion of admission on our soil !

We call for a review of international treaties on the rights of refugees

We invite the European Union and the Council of Europe Member States to foster a common and effective cooperation and asylum policy, and to intensify the fight against the criminal activity of traffickers and smugglers.

We urge all colleagues to relay this call to parliamentarians and national and local governments of the 47 Member States of the Council of Europe.

Anne -Marie Chavanon             Israel Mensah              Vera John Mikolajewski
           President                         Vice-President                    Vice-President          

Above, Amnesty international campaign

EU background notes
Articles 77-80 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Council Directives 2009/50/EC , 2004/83/EC, 2003/9/EC and 2001/55/EC of July 20, 2001 ; Council Regulation (EC) No 343/2003

Council of Europe recent texts
Asylum seekers and refugees: sharing responsibilities in Europe
 Doc. 12630, report of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population, rapporteur: Mr Chope). Text adopted by the Assembly on 21 June 2011 (22nd Sitting).
Resolution 1820 (2011)1
 Recommendation 1973 (2011).

 The Committee actively participated in the 13th Meeting of the Council of Europe Workshops for the implementation of the European Landscape Convention, which was held in Cetinje, Montenegro, on 2-3 October 2013.
The main theme of the meeting was: "Territories of the future: landscape identification and assessment, an exercise in democracy."

Anne-Marie CHAVANON, president of the Committee was pleased, on behalf of NGOs, that these workshops be held "in a country with multiple identities: cultural, religious, ethnic and certainly landscape identities crossing five borders, uniting Montenegro to its neighbours (Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo and Albania), a country of extreme complexity, which wanted to place in the wake but also the prospect of Europe "

Luc-Emile Bouche-Florin, Honorary President of the NGO, presented the landscape dimension and the role of civil society in the Charter of European urban planning of the European Council of Town Planners (CEU)

Dirk Gotzman, director of the NGO Civilscape presented the action taken by a group of NGO  named "Alliance " to associate the European Landscape Convention in the European Year of citizen

While the European Landscape Convention considers the landscape, "as perceived by the people," the Aarhus Convention calls understandable information at a time when the project is still reversible, most of the time, the presentation of highly technical projects does not allow this exercise in democracy. New technologies have to be promoted at all levels.

Governance of large metropolises:
The international NGOs of the Committee on Democracy gathered to discuss on governance in large metropolises at the Council of Europe, on June 26th.
They called on the President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan to "restore dialogue between the authorities and civil society and see to it that evreryone's fundamental right and freedoms are protected and that bodies for mediation and direct democracy, citizens' assemblies, neighbourhood councils, conciliation conferences or any other form of direct participation are set up. "

The round table moderated by  Anne-Marie Chavanon, chair of the Committee, included :
Rt Hon. Jeffrey Donaldson, Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Rapporteur on "The Governance of Large Metropolises", among which Berlin, Istanbul and London
Kayhan Karaca, Europe correspondent of NTV Turkey, on the developments in Istanbul
Nicolas Detrie, director of "Yes we Camp", the challenge of a bottom up initiative in the metropolis of Marseille (France)
Antonella Valmorbida, director of Alda, coordinator of the Committee Working group on the promotion of the "Code of Good Practice for Civil Participation in the Decision Making Process"  translated into 19 languages

We, Doctors of the World, are calling for all parties to respect the rules of international law in times of war, including respecting medical care providers and their ethical obligation to provide care.

Health professionals are murdered and tortured; hospitals are inaccessible to the wounded who fear reprisals and there are constant barriers to receiving medical care in hospitals and in bombed and besieged areas. Secretly carrying medicines is now a crime. Today, violence toward civilians knows no bounds...

There are an estimated 70,000 dead, in addition to thousands of prison detainees, hundreds of thousands of displaced people or refugees, and how many wounded with no medical care?

Those are the first lines of the call for Syria launched by Doctors of the World  and presented bay its Director General, Pierre SALIGNON

A call to be supported by all NGOs attending the committee last June 26th, in Strasbourg

Links to be put on our websites :

• http://appelsyrie.medecinsdumonde.org/EN/
• http://appelsyrie.medecinsdumonde.org/

The commission also heard on June 26th  the intervention of Jean-Pierre Estival, political scientist and economist, author of a recent book on Syria ("The Syrian tragedy, popular revolt or conspiracy" published by Harmattan). The speaker exposed the political , sociological, cultural and religious complexity of this key country in  the Middle East and the ongoing conflicts in the region

The International NGOs gathered in the framework of the Committee on Democracy, Social Cohesion and Global Challenges, January 22, 2013 at the Council of Europe took a position prior to the conference on "Poverty and inequality in societies human rights conference: the paradox of democracies. Proposals for an inclusive society ", organized jointly by the Council of Europe and the European Commission:
 
These International NGOs ,

1. welcome the objectives of the declaration signed on 17 October 2012, inviting the Committee of Ministers to intervene with the Member States and Observers to the Council of Europe to eradicate extreme poverty ;
   
   
2. welcome the holding of the Conference on « Poverty and Inequality in the Societies of Human Rights : the Paradox of Democracies. Proposals for an inclusive society », organized jointly by the Council of Europe and the European Commission ;
   
   
3. support the objectives of the Guide « Living in dignity in the XXIst century: poverty and inequality, paradoxes in societies of Rights and Democracy? » and particularly the adoption of more responsible and participatory approaches in the production, consumption and management of both material goods and community spaces as well as the necessity of an appropriate legislative and regulatory framework
   
   
4. recommend the implementation (cf. Annex) of the actions proposed by ELISAN – European network of local authorities-  and particularly : -  taking account of the territorial dimension of poverty problems ;
   

• conceiving new indicators, further to SPIRAL, to target and assist persons in situation of precariousness and to develop benchmarks of well-being;
• mapping European social policies in Europe so as to improve the analysis of the situation in the Council of Europe Member States;
•   the research, assessment and evaluation of the sources and consequences of waste
•   the drafting of a European Charter of Social innovation ;
  
  Below the full text
  

CIVIL SOCIETY ADOPTS DEMOCRACY CHECKLIST

Strasbourg: 24.01.2013:  Civil Society representatives from all over Europe agreed  on a “Declaration on Genuine Democracy” setting out the basic requirements of a democratic system. This declaration, proposed by the working group led by Giuseppe Guarneri, is based on a valuable work undertaken a few years ago at the Council of Europe.

The statement by the Council of Europe’s Conference of International Non-Governmental Organisations, which represents nearly 400 Europe-wide INGOs, comes at a time when a growing number of countries and political parties are pursuing often questionable populist and nationalistic goals.

The purpose of the text is to provide a check list of the fundamental principles of democracy in order to expand and consolidate democracy in Europe and elsewhere.

The Conference also advocates its use for determining the conditions required not only for becoming, but also for remaining, a member state of the Council of Europe.

The text (see the appendix) is based on Council of Europe Conventions and Declarations as well as the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.

It is divided into 3 main sections, (A) Principles and Values of Genuine Democracy, (B) Political Conditions for the Achievement of Genuine Democracy and (C) Economic, Social and Cultural Conditions for the achievement of Genuine Democracy.

The document sets out to define more clearly the Council of Europe’s 3 distinguishing features: respect for the universal and indivisible rights of the individual, the rule of law and the genuinely democratic nature of political systems.

The views of the INGO Conference will be brought to the attention of relevant bodies and in particular the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.


La déclaration de la Conférence des OINGs sera transmise aux différentes entités intéressées et notamment au Comité des Ministres du Conseil de l’Europe.

Declaration on genuine democracy

From left to right :  Dmitri Marchenkov,  Keith Whitmore, Anne-Marie Chavanon, Jean-Marie Heydt, Alfonso Zardi, Israel Mensah, Anje Wiersinga

During its summer session, the committee  adressed a most important  issue for its future work in the frame of the quadrilogue :  how to contribute and share the agenda in commun wished by the last two presidencies of the Council of Europe (Spain and UK) in the democracy field

• The Council of Europe  2012 Commitments on Democracy were presented by the Congress, the CDLR and the Conference of INGOs
• Giuseppe GUARNERI, Head of the Ad hoc Working Group, presented the  Chart on Democracy project ,one of the  Committee’s contributions to the World Forum for Democracy  and the European Democracy Week

UNCSD - RIO + 20 - :
Among the Major 2012 Global issues, the committee listened to three viewpoints by Cyril RITCHIE, President of the Conference of UN-NGOs, Maguelonne DEJEANT-PONS, Head of the Heritage, Landscape and technical Assistance Division  of the Council of Europe and Anne-Marie CHAVANON, Delegate from the International Federation for Housing and Planning (IFHP) – Committee’s Contribution
 (link to the declaration adopted by the committee)


UNFCCC - DOHA Conférence des Nations Unies sur le Changement climatique – Qatar (26 Novembre  –
 7 Decembre 2012) – The chair informs the committee of the proposition of the Parlimentary assembly of a commun work to the Conference

Gender equality : a condition for success of the Arab Spring

The committee supported the appeal launched by the IFHR  through the adoption of a resolution and a recommendation to the member states (texts presented by Anje WIERSINGA, Head of the Working group on "Including Gender perspectives in political and democratic processes, in particular during and after conflicts” )

Report on the Committee’s working groups activity

- Climate Change and Human Rights (Edith WENGER) link
-  European Citizenship (Hélène DUQUIN) link
-  Health Risks and Mobility, a Global Challenge (Thierry MATHIEU)
-  Housing and Health (Bernard AUBERT) link
-  Landscape, a social Cohesion Tool at Threat (Gerhard ERMISCHER) link
- Migrations and democracy: situation, problems and provided examples of answers (Jean-Claude GONON) link
-  Relations with EU Bodies of Civil Society (Claude-Laurent GENTY) link
-  Social and political evolutions in Southern Mediterranian Countries (JP ESTIVAL) link
- Women's participation in political and democratic processes particularly dealing with  conflicts (Anje WIERSINGA) link

Representations or the Committee and/or the Conference of INGOs

-  European Committee on Local and Regional Democracy (CDLR) -  2-3 April  2012 - Anne-Marie Chavanon
-  European Steering Committee for Youth and Advisory Council on Youth mars2012 -  Israel MENSAH
-  Steering Committee for Culture, Heritage and Landscape (CDCPP): 15 – 16 mai 2012 - Patrice COLLIGNON (RED), Gerhardt ERMISCHER (CIVILSCAPE)
- European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) – Hearing of Anne-Marie CHAVANON and Antonella VALMORBIDA (ALDA)
-    Sub/committee of the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe – 23 mai 2012 - Paris – Audition d’Anne-Marie CHAVANON on the Committee’s contributions to Rio and Doha Summits
- International Observatory on participatory democracy (OIDP) – 12 Jun 2012 - Porto Alegre (Brésil) – Participation to a round table - Anne-Marie CHAVANON