Interview with Thomas Hammarberg, Commissioner for Human Rights

Thomas Hammarberg is the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights with 47 member states to keep an eye on. We asked him six questions. We wondered, for example, whether the Council of Europe is really needed now that the EU is constantly enlarging.

You came to the Council of Europe after having worked at the UN, the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Save the Children. Has the Council of Europe lived up to your expectations so far? Was there anything that surprised you or that was unexpected?

The first thing that struck me was that the Council of Europe does much more than I was aware of. There is a great deal of expertise and competence, primarily when it comes to support for the development of human rights, democratic processes and well-functioning legal systems. One weakness is that knowledge about this important work is not spread outside the innermost circle and that little is known about the Council of Europe.

You have been the Commissioner for Human Rights for two years now, responsible for monitoring all the 47 member countries. That is quite a lot! How do you manage this task?

Well yes, it is a lot. So far I have managed to visit just over half of them. What is difficult, of course, is to continually monitor the development of human rights in all 47 states thoroughly enough to be able to make meaningful recommendations. We are helped considerably by the ombudsmen and NGOs in these countries - they have become partners. Governments are represented at ambassador level here in Strasbourg, which makes the dialogue easier. But of course I could do with more resources than the 20 employees I have at present.

What have been your strongest impressions or biggest surprises so far?

On the plus side this has been the skills of the NGOs and also the preparedness of governments to genuinely engage in a dialogue - during my travels I can see the political leaders at the highest level, which has opened the way for meaningful contacts. My negative impressions have included the extremely poor conditions in prisons in a number of countries. It is more the rule than the exception that prisons are overcrowded and material standards very low. The workings of justice are still poor in a number of countries, particularly those previously ruled by communist regimes. My impression is that an alarmingly large proportion of prisoners in those countries are completely innocent or have been given unreasonably severe punishments for minor offences.

Are there any countries or issues that you have given particular priority to in your work?

This year we are giving priority to measures against discrimination - of refugees and minorities, disabled people and people who tend to be discriminated against on grounds of sexual orientation. The rights of the child and gender equality are permanent themes - and this year particularly, priority is being given to the rights of young offenders and preventing violence against women. Another priority is to monitor that human rights are respected in the fight against terrorism.

I avoid pointing out specific countries over others. The idea is that all countries are to be monitored. The different sizes of countries and the number of warning signs means of course that in practice we devote more time to some than others - I have visited Caucasus and Russia a great deal, for example.

The EU is increasing in size and can, using cooperation agreements and membership negotiations, influence a growing number of European countries in the right direction as regards the development of the rule of law and human rights.

How do you see the role of the Council of Europe in this context? Is the Council of Europe needed now that we have the EU?

The EU has played an historically important role through the requirements set by the Union for membership. On the other hand, Europe is not so good at following up these requirements after decisions about membership - and this makes the Council of Europe particularly important since it has programmes for regular monitoring, and also a Court of Human Rights.

The Council of Europe is a value-based organisation and has the best system in the world for monitoring respect for human rights. The other thing that distinguishes it from the EU is that the Council of Europe is a pan-European organisation that includes Russia, Caucasus and Turkey - which provides opportunities for talks that can be important for the future of the whole of Europe.

Sweden will become chair of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers on 7 May. What are your hopes for the Swedish chairmanship?

Sweden always manages these roles well - almost as well as Finland& The programme drawn up for the months of the chairmanship is excellent, and includes a conference in September on the rights of the child and another conference in November on how governments should plan so as to effectively implement their commitments to protect human rights.

But what I have said to Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt is that he and Sweden should not stop at that, but that they should also take responsibility for the future of the Council of Europe - the role of the organisation in the Europe of the future needs to be more clearly articulated and tough measures are needed to guarantee that the Council has a management and an administration that truly meet the requirements that are now necessary. In other words, that the Council of Europe is given the priority merited by its task.