The General Secretary of the Council of Europe,
Terry Davis, hopes the Information Bureau of the CoE in
Minsk will open before the end of 2008, he said
n an interview with BelaPAN.“I believe, having the Bureau would be very important for people in
Belarus, it will make them see what they are
losing and realize the differences between
Belarus
and the rest of
Europe”, said T. Davis. He reminded
that 47 countries were members of the Council of Europe. “All of them adhere to
a certain level of democracy, human rights and the rule of law principles.
Belarus is not
yet among them”, stressed the General Secretary.
Mr. Terry Davis specifically pointed out to the fact that the Belarusian
authorities still had not granted permission for the registration of the
Eastern
European
School
of Political Sciences. “The work of School has only started however it already seems
to be a successful project. Now the authorities have to make a decision
regarding its registration. In a democratic country it would have been
registered”, said T. Davis.
For reference, the
Eastern
European
School
of Political Sciences opened in
Vilnius on 12
November 2007 due to the fact that the School could not be registered in
Minsk. The “
School of
Political Sciences” is a
non-governmental, non-commercial organization established under the auspices of
the Council of Europe. Its major task is to educate and to provide support for
the new generation of the Belarusian intellectual elite: politicians, state
officials, leaders of the civil society, entrepreneurs, journalists and
lawyers.
The first
School of
Political Research under the auspices of the Council
of Europe, focusing on studies of various aspects of democracy, was established
in
Moscow in
1992. Today similar schools exist in
Azerbaijan,
Armenia,
Albania,
Bulgaria,
Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
Georgia,
Moldova,
Kosovo,
Russia,
Romania,
Serbia,
Ukraine,
Croatia and
Montenegro.
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