George Monbiot expressed his indignation about Serbia taking up the chairmanship of the Council of Europe, proving that high moral ground is not the best place for shooting from the hip (The price of being left alone has been the tolerance of mass murder, May 8).Monbiot argues that Serbia's human-rights record should disqualify the country from running "Europe's official human-rights organisation". He also writes that a decision that this country is unfit to run the Council of Europe "looks uncomplicated and free from political cost".
Monbiot is missing the point. The issue is not the Serbian chairmanship of the committee of ministers, but whether Serbia should be allowed to be a member of the Council of Europe at all. Serbia and Montenegro became a member of the Council of Europe in April 2003, only a month after the assassination of Zoran Djindjic, the prime minister. The decision was clearly meant as a sign of support for, and solidarity with, the Serbian people - whose hopes following the departure of Milosevic had been gradually replaced by frustration and, ultimately, shock following the murder.
The record of the Serbian membership in the past three years has not been brilliant, but there has been steady progress in most areas. Clearly, the most important unfulfilled obligation is the extradition of Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb general wanted for war crimes. We are disappointed and impatient, and have used every opportunity to make this point to the Serbian authorities and the Serbian public.
According to Monbiot, the way to assess the value of an institution is to "imagine what the world would be like if it didn't exist". I agree, so what would have happened to Serbia and its citizens if they were expelled from the Council of Europe?
First, none of the Council of Europe conventions would apply in Serbia. These include the conventions for the protection of national minorities, and against torture and inhuman treatment or punishment. All our assistance programmes helping the Serbian authorities to modernise the judiciary and other state institutions for the benefit of their citizens would be terminated. Finally, the people living in Serbia would no longer be able to bring any cases against their government to the European court of human rights.
All this may not mean much to Monbiot, but it makes a huge difference to everyone living in Serbia - especially those who hope for a better future rather than a recycled version of the past. They may be frustrated, disillusioned and even desperate, but they are still a majority and need our help.
Monbiot is not the first to criticise Serbian involvement in the Council of Europe. I remember the Serbian politician and indicted war criminal Vojislav Seselj saying more or less the same. His reasons were different, but the consequences for the people of Serbia would have been the same.
Terry Davis, secretary general of the Council of Europe.