Council of Europe must unambiguously condemn illegal annexation of Crimea
Council of Europe must unambiguously condemn illegal annexation of Crimea
Russia’s annexation of the Crimea is a clear transgression of international law, SP Senator Tiny Kox said today while speaking on behalf of the United Left Group, which he chairs, during a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). ‘As long as Russia fails to retrace its steps, the country will be isolated from the rest of the international community. It is the job of the Parliamentary Assembly to condemn this annexation unambiguously in order to do what we must do: preserve the rule of law and protect all of our citizens.’
The proposal to deprive the Russian delegation of its voting rights did not receive Kox’s support, however. ‘As long as Russia is a member of the Council of Europe the Russian government, which is first and foremost responsible for the illegal annexation, and can participate fully in all organs of the Council of Europe, it makes little sense to deprive Russian parliamentarians of their right to vote.’
Kox promised that the members of the Council of Europe’s United Left Group would continue to do all they can to point out to the Russian authorities, the Russian parliament and Russian citizens that the illegal annexation is a dead end and should be turned away from.
Below is Tiny Kox’s speech at the Council of Europe
Contribution of Tiny Kox, Chair of the United Left in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in the debate on ‘Reconsideration on serious grounds of the previously accepted credentials of the Russian delegation ', 10th April 2014:
In the name of all members of the United Left, with the exception of the Russian members, I declare that the annexation of Ukraine by the Russian Federation is a clear violation of international law and an infringement of the territorial integrity of one of our member states, Ukraine, by another member state, the Russia Federation.
The standpoint of our own Venice Commission (of legal experts) leaves no room for doubt. The great majority of our member states condemn this illegal annexation and the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe has adopted a clear standpoint regarding this transgression of international law just as has the president of our Assembly.
I call on the Russian authorities and especially on the Russian Parliament, represented here by its delegation, not to continue along the dead-end street which they have taken with the illegal annexation of the Crimea. As long as the Russian Federation refuses this, they will be further isolated from the international community, and damaging themselves, Ukraine and the international community. My group will make use of every possibility to continue to repeat this message to the authorities, to the parliamentarians and to the citizens of the Russian Federation. With this clear and unconditional message this Assembly is doing what it must do: preserving the rule of law and protecting all of our citizens.’
The question is: what measures must we take now in addition to disseminating this clear message?
The rapporteur’s proposal to confirm the Russian delegation’s credentials is welcome. We need the Russians in this Assembly in order to continue to make it clear that they are going the wrong way and that as quickly as possible they must reverse their course.
I respect the rapporteur’s proposal that we should withdraw the Russian delegations voting rights until January 2015, but my group does not support this. As long as Russia is a member of the Council of Europe, and the Russian government, fully and without conditions, can participate in the Council of Ministers and all other organs of the Council of Europe, it makes little sense to deprive Russian parliamentarians of their right to vote, their right to do their work in the committees, to participate in the presidium and the presidential commission of the Assembly and in election observers’ missions. According to our rules the right to nominate members for these tasks falls in any case to the political groups. If we want the Russians to follow the rules, we have to do the same ourselves.
My group’s members will be following this debate closely and at the end of the debate we will determine our position regarding the proposed resolution.