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COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS DECLARATION ON THE RAPE OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN THE TERRITORY OF FORMER YUGOSLAVIA (adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 18 February 1993 at the 488th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies) 1. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe recalls its Declaration of 9 December 1992 on the practice of systematic rape in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in which it stated that "such a degree of barbarity, rarely seen, is intolerable ..." and that "those who perpetrate such crimes must realise that they shall not go unpunished". 2. The Committee of Ministers considers it unacceptable that controversy regarding the exact number of victims and the exact scale on which rapes have been committed has been deliberately encouraged and considers that such controversy can in no event detract from the gravity of these violations of human rights. 3. The Committee of Ministers considers that urgent action must be taken to end this barbaric practice, directed in particular against women and children belonging to the Moslem population of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and to provide the victims concerned with the support and assistance they need. 4. In view of the foregoing, the Committee of Ministers, having regard to the specific responsibility of the Council of Europe to safeguard human rights and fundamental freedoms: - considers that rape, since it constitutes an attack on the physical and mental integrity and on the dignity of the victims, is a violation of human rights; - reaffirms that the use of rape as an instrument of warfare and within the context of a strategy of ethnic cleansing - as is the case in the territory of former Yugoslavia - is a war crime and should be considered a crime against humanity; - demands that those concerned put an end to these flagrant violations of human rights; - appeals to member States and the international community at large to ensure that these atrocities cease and that their instigators and perpetrators are prosecuted by an appropriate national or international penal tribunal; - declares its readiness to take part - together with other international agencies concerned - in the efforts to coordinate the assistance and support organised by individual member Governments and non governmental agencies for victims of rape and enforced procreation in the territory of former Yugoslavia. COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS DECLARATION ON THE SYSTEMATIC PRACTICE OF RAPE IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA (Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 9 December 1992 at the 484bis meeting of the Ministers' Deputies) The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe recalls its previous declarations on the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and in particular its condemnation in the strongest terms of the brutal violations of human rights and international humanitarian law perpetrated during this conflict. On this International Human Rights Day, it denounces one particularly vile aspect of the treatment meted out in recent months, namely the systematic practice of gang-rape of women and children, in particular those belonging to the Muslim community. Numerous reports, notably that of Mr Mazowiecki, point to the organised and planned use of these rapes as a commonplace military measure intended to totally humiliate the enemy and drive it into exodus. Such a degree of barbarity, rarely seen, is intolerable in the eyes of our nations. On this day of human rights, those who perpetrate such crimes must realise that they shall not go unpunished. COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS DECLARATION ON THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN EUROPE GUARANTEEING THE LONG-TERM EFFECTIVENESS OF THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS (Adopted by the Committee of Ministers at its 109th Session Strasbourg, 8 November 2001) The Committee of Ministers 1. reiterating its conviction that the European Convention on Human Rights must remain the essential reference point for the protection of human rights everywhere in Europe both in terms of rights guaranteed and of its judicial mechanism of control; 2. expressing the determination of the member States of the Council of Europe, in the interest of legal certainty and coherence, to guarantee the central role that the Convention and the Court must continue to play in the protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of 800 million people in Europe; 3. underlining that the effective protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Convention must be secured first and foremost by the States Parties; 4. preoccupied by the challenges faced by the Court on account of the increasing number of individual applications submitted to it 5. determined that urgent and significant steps must be taken to ensure that the Court can deal with these cases within a reasonable time, whilst maintaining its judicial nature, the unique right of individual petition and the quality of its jurisprudence; 6. noting with satisfaction that the Court itself is implementing and studying measures to improve its internal procedures for example by establishing a new streaming of individual applications; 7. considering that the fulfilment of its own role of supervising the execution of the Court's judgments is an essential factor in preserving the efficiency and credibility of the Convention mechanism; 8. wishing to give full effect to the Resolutions and the Declaration adopted by the Ministerial Conference held in Rome in November 2000 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Convention, 9. URGES all States Parties to ensure the existence of effective remedies at national level in respect of the exercise of the human rights and fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Convention and to take the necessary measures as appropriate; 10. WARMLY WELCOMES the Report of the Evaluation Group established to examine possible means of guaranteeing the continuing effectiveness of the European Court of Human Rights and INSTRUCTS the Ministers' Deputies to pursue urgent consideration of all the recommendations contained in the report concerning: a. the follow-up to the Rome Ministerial Conference with particular regard to improved national implementation of the Convention, teaching of its case-law, human rights awareness and training, the availability of effective domestic remedies and responses to slow execution or non-execution of judgments; b. the use of every means at their disposal to ensure the expeditious and effective execution of judgments of the Court, including those involving issues generating repetitive applications; c. the human resources, budget and accommodation needs of the Court; d. measures involving amendment of the Convention; 11. INVITES the Ministers' Deputies to share information with the Parliamentary Assembly on the implementation of this declaration; 12. INSTRUCTS the Ministers' Deputies to conduct, in consultation with the Court, regular reviews of the implementation of this declaration and to report back at its 111th Session, at the conclusion of the chairmanship of Luxembourg in November 2002.
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