TWENTY-SIXTH ORDINARY SESSION

RECOMMENDATION 756 (1975)1
on humanitarian aid to the distressed populations in Cyprus and reactivation of its economy

The Assembly,

1. Deeply concerned by the situation of displaced persons in Cyprus, and in particular by the economic recession in the country;
2. Thanking the member states of the Council of Europe and those international organisations which have made a considerable effort in the field of immediate aid;
3. Greatly appreciating the decision of the organs of the Council of Europe Resettlement Fund to grant Cyprus a social loan at a very low rate of interest;
4. Noting that the south of the island, where industry and agriculture are scarcely developed, has experienced a massive influx of refugees;
5. Noting that in the north of the island, which was particularly hard hit by the fighting, and many of whose inhabitants have fled to the southern zone, the previously flourishing agricultural and industrial sectors have experienced a disturbing recession and are even partially paralysed;
6. Convinced that the Council of Europe can play an important role with respect to medium and long-term aid;
7. Aware, however, that other measures can only be considered once the future of the Republic of Cyprus has been determined by a political settlement;
8. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers;
9. speed up the adoption of a medium and long-term aid plan in cooperation with the Special Representative of the Council of Europe for National Refugees and OverPopulation, with a view to reviving the economy in the north of the island and developing the economy in the south, taking fully into account the real needs of the inhabitants, but nevertheless without prejudicing a political settlement;
10. appeal to the two ethnic communities to arrange for their representatives to submit to the Council of Europe Special Representative as soon as possible formal requests concerning their greatest needs in the matter of medium and long-term aid, and their suggestions for its swift and direct transmission;
11. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers invite member governments:
12. to undertake without delay to provide the Special Representatives of the Council of Europe each year, from 1975 to 1978, with an outright contribution equivalent to at least one tenth of each member state's contribution to the Council of Europe budget, as the Assembly has already proposed in its Recommendation 737 (1974);
13. to make generous contributions to the Council of Europe emergency fund, if they have not already done so;
14. to extend special facilities to Cypriot students living in other Council of Europe member states whose parents, having become refugees, can in consequence no longer give them the financial support necessary for the continuation of their studies.