On June 25, 2019, the Council of Europe has voted to lift its punitive measures against the Russian Federation (118 for, 62 against and 10 abstentions). Measures were first imposed in 2014, in response to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, and its involvement in gross human rights violations on the territory of Ukraine. In retaliation, Russia withdrew its financial contributions, and threatened to leave the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights. Members of the Council had a difficult choice to make: lift measures and keep Russia in the Council of Europe with the hope that continued membership has a positive influence on its behavior, or maintain measures to protect the Council’s integrity and European peace and risk Russia’s departure. Faced with evidence that over the past decade the Council and the Court have had no influence over Russia’s foreign policy and human rights record, the authors believe that the Council of Europe made the wrong choice.
The 47-member Council of Europe was created in 1949 to achieve a greater unity between its members for the purpose of safeguarding and realizing human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Its most praised achievement is the European Convention on Human Rights establishing the European Court, which hears thousands of cases on human rights violations across Europe.
In response to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, and the country’s subsequent involvement in the grizzly conflict in Eastern Ukraine, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) voted to suspend Russia’s voting rights, and admonished it for ‘violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity in Ukraine’ and ‘threatening the stability and peace in Europe’. Multiple resolutions made it clear that lifting these measures would require Russia to ‘fully and transparently investigate’ the disappearances, abuses and human rights violations at the hands of its security forces and paramilitary proxies, and to ‘withdraw all its troops, including covert forces, from Ukrainian territory [and] refrain from supplying weapons to the insurgent forces’. In retaliation, Russia withdrew its EUR 33 million annual financial contribution and threatened to leave the Council of Europe.
Today, the Council had to decide whether keeping Russia and its financial contributions are worth the cost to its integrity. In our view, it is not.
Whilst we appreciate the argument that keeping Russia within the Council provides a legal recourse for victims of Russia’s human rights violations and an opportunity for positive influence – Russia has successfully demonstrated that this is not the case.
For over a decade, Russia has consistently ignored European Court decisions, refused to pay compensation awarded to the victims, and failed to implement changes ordered by the Strasbourg Court. In 2015, a Russian law gave its Constitutional Court primacy over the European Convention and Court jurisprudence. Similarly, Russia has failed to comply with PACE resolutions calling for its withdrawal from Ukraine. This disregard for key institutions and opinion of fellow member states gives little hope of Council membership having any influence over Russia’s behavior in the future.
On the other hand, lifting sanctions sends a clear message to Russia and other member states – that the Council is prepared to renege on its core values. Russia has failed to meet any of the conditions imposed by PACE for lifting its measures – maintaining its unlawful occupation of Crimea, violating fundamental rights and continuing to arm and support the insurgency in Eastern Ukraine. Her conduct in Ukraine continues to pose a serious threat to peace and security on the European continent. Her disregard for Council of Europe institutions undermines their authority. Her divisive foreign policy is a threat to European cohesion and its core values. The unintended consequence of keeping Russia within the Council of Europe at all costs might be the loss of the Council’s role in the advancement of human rights and the rule of law in Europe, and its gradual disintegration.
Russia considers itself to be a European nation. In spite of its threats to withdraw, membership of the Council of Europe gives Russia the international recognition and status that it values. Many in Russia would perceive leaving the Council as further distancing from the European community and its values, and a return to international isolation of the Cold War era.
Dozens of leading civil society organizations have called on the Council of Europe to reconsider its decision and to impose new measures on Russia until such time that it complies with Council of Europe resolutions calls for its full withdrawal from the sovereign territory of Ukraine.
Simon Papuashvili is project coordinator at the International Partnership for Human Rights in Brussels.
