Prague/Strasbourg, France, Jan 27 (CTK) – Emil Ruffer, current head of the Foreign Ministry’s EU law section, will be a new Czech ambassador to the Council of Europe (CE) replacing Tomas Bocek who has become the CE’s special representative on migration and refugees, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
CE Secretary General Thorbjoern Jagland has decided about Bocek’s appointment in reaction to the reports on violations of the refugees’ human rights in Europe, the CE portal announced yesterday.
Bocek has been the ambassador to the CE since 2010. He will assume the new post on February 1.
The main task of the special representative on migration and refugees will be to collect and analyse information about the observance of humans rights of refugees in Europe. This will enable the CE to provide a better assistance to the member states that face an increased influx of migrants and have problems to observe their fundamental human rights, the CE said in its press release.
Jagland said the migrant crisis brought serious challenges concerning solidarity, security and human rights.
Attacks on the migrants’ shelters have been reported, along with a disproportionate use of force by the police on the border and unsuitable conditions in the refugee accommodation facilities, Jagland added, commenting on Bocek’s new position.
Bocek will be appointed for an interim three-year period, the Czech Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry helps fund the new post. Diplomat Bocek remains its employee, though he will be directly subordinate to the CE head.
The Czech Republic will thus gain a very high and influential post within one of the most urgent current agendas.
“It is important for the Czech Republic as an EU member state, strongly interested in the existence of the functioning Schengen system, which is threatened by the current migrant crisis, to be able to present its views and try to seek solutions even in the non-EU European countries that have a fundamental influence on the migration and refugee situation, and consequently also on the functioning of the Schengen system (mainly Turkey, but also the Balkan countries and Ukraine),” the Foreign Ministry said in its press release.
The primary task of the CE, founded in 1949, is to promote human rights, democracy, and the rule of law in its 47 member states. It is seated in Strasbourg along with its most significant institution, the European Court of Human Rights.
