Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Dmytro Razumkov, has noted that Ukraine is concerned about the undermined effectiveness of the Council of Europe's key bodies.
Addressing the European Conference of the Heads of Parliament of the Council of Europe member states, Razumkov called for participants to work toward a return to the basic principles and ideas laid by the founders of the Council of Europe, namely the observance of high standards in the field of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law, reads the report on the Rada website.
The Speaker stressed that Ukraine is now concerned over the undermined effectiveness of key bodies of the Council of Europe because double standards in the decision-making process cast doubt on the organization’s value guidelines.
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"Our consistency and integrity must be inviolable if we really strive to establish international law as a value. And the only guarantee of free and democratic development is our willingness to ensure, not just in words, but in practice, the observance of human rights, the rule of law, and democratic freedoms," the official stressed.
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada also pointed to the fact that the organization "responds poorly to the constant trends of human rights violations in individual countries."
However, Ukraine, together with other states, is not ready to put up with attempts to discredit the authority of the Council of Europe, according to Razumkov.
"The decision to drop participation of Ukraine Parliament's permanent delegation in the PACE session in protest to the return of the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly is quite motivated. This decision is a response to the total and systemic violation by the aggressor of human rights in the temporarily occupied territories," Razumkov emphasized.
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It is noted that at the end of his address he expressed the position that the foundation for the development of Europe for the next 70 years should be the concept of democratic security based on the principles of the European Charter of Human Rights.
"Without democratic principles, there can be no stable Europe. I am convinced that the restoration of respect for such values should be the cross-cutting topic of further debate within these walls," the Verkhovna Rada chairman stressed.
UNIAN memo. The PACE on June 26, 2019, lifted sanctions from Russia, which were in effect since April 2014 over the annexation of Ukraine's Crimea. All the powers of the Russian delegation to the PACE were reinstated in full.
After this, the delegations of Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Ukraine decided to leave the PACE summer session ahead of schedule. One of the arguments for the return of Russia to the PACE was the fact that Russian citizens need to have access to the European Court of Human Rights to be able to protect their rights.
