0.4.5.1. Declaration of the Parliamentary Assembly of the CSCE in Helsinki, 9 July 1993

The Parliamentary Assembly of the CSCE, meeting in Helsinki from 6 to 9 July 1993, adopts the following resolutions:
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CHAPTER III

Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian questions

The CSCE Parliamentary Assembly,

A. Refugees and displaced persons
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17 Expresses the wish that representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly will join CSCE missions sent to the centers of potencial conflicts and tension, as well as the activities of the CSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities;
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B. Minorities issues
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33 Welcomes the creation of the office of the CSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, and urges that a broad interpretation of the HCNM's mandate be applied, so that the HCNM might address the widest possible range of minority concerns within the CSCE region;

34 Supports the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in its efforts for an additional protocol on the rights of national minorities in the European Convention on Human Rights;

35 Hopes that the forthcoming summit of Council of Europe Heads of State and Government (Vienna, 8-9 October 1993) will agree on an additional Protocol on the rights of minorities to the European Convention on Human Rights;

36 Expresses its determination to assist in the full implementation of relevant CSCE commitments in this area, including, inter alia, those relating to persons belonging to national minorities, women, human rights education, and promotion of tolerance and non-discrimination;
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41 Commends the Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) for the seminar on National Minorities held in May, 1993 in Warsaw and urges the Council of Ministers to provide additional resources to the ODIHR so that it could play a more active role;
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F. High commissioner for national minorities. Report

51 Requests the Council of Ministers to be held in Rome in November-December 1993 to give a new mandate to the High Commissioner for National Minorities to work out a report on the national minorities situation in CSCE participating States with regard to:

a) The size of the minority according to direct census or census on people speaking the minority's language as "mother-tongue"; changes in the size of the minority -if possible- in the last 50 years;

b) Legal guarantees of minority rights in the respective country;

c) The factual situation of a respective minority as represented by the total number of schools teaching in the minority's language, deputies of the minority in local and national parliaments, etc.

The report should be submitted to the next Parliamentary Assembly in 1994.