The News (Site updated Wednesday, December 16, 2009 | 17:30)
Cooperation between Council of Europe and EU: Secretary General and EU foreign minister discuss closer relationship
[15/12/2009 16:00:00] The Secretary General met on 15 December with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Baroness Catherine Ashton, for the first introductory visit, focused on ways to reinforce cooperation between the EU and the Council of Europe against the background of the changes resulting from the Lisbon treaty entering into force. Thorbjørn Jagland and Baroness Catherine Ashton agreed that these changes, and notably the setting up of the External Action Service and the EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights, provide an opportunity for a new, much closer relationship between Strasbourg and Brussels. They agreed to meet regularly and maintain open communication lines for consultations on areas of mutual interest and concern.
The Council of Europe Commemorates Andrei Sakharov
[14/12/2009 09:00:00] December 14, 2009 marks the twentieth anniversary of the death of the leading human rights activist Andrei Sakharov. To commemorate his work and writings, a conference 'Andrei Sakharov’s Ideas Today' was organised on 14 and 15 December in Moscow, with the support of the Office of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, in cooperation with the Council of Europe Information Office in Moscow.
(more ...) Commissioner’s website
Dubravka Suica: ''Mitigation and adaptation are two sides of the same coin''
[16/12/2009 16:00:00] ''Adapting our communities to the impact of climate change before it happens, reducing their vulnerability and improving their resilience is as much a priority today as dealing with the consequences,'' Congress Vice-President stressed at a meeting on citizens’ mobilisation for climate protection, in Copenhagen on 16 December.
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Monitoring of local and regional democracy in Russia
[15/12/2009 10:30:00] From 16 to 17 December in Moscow, the Congress will carry out a general monitoring mission to assess the state of local and regional democracy in the Russian Federation. This visit opens the second cycle of monitoring for this country since it ratified the European Charter of Local Self-Government in 1998.
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Assembly rapporteur John Prescott issues stern warning to US at Copenhagen
[16/12/2009 15:00:00] The rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly on climate change, former British Deputy Prime Minister and EU Kyoto negotiator John Prescott (United Kingdom), issued on 16 December a stern warning to the US that they must do much more to help a secure a deal at Copenhagen.
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Electoral systems: call to decrease legal thresholds over 3 per cent
[16/12/2009 10:30:00] Political Affairs Committee, meeting in Paris on 15 December, said that Council of Europe member states should consider decreasing legal electoral thresholds that are higher than 3 per cent and removing other obstacles, including high financial deposits, which bar minor parties or independent candidates from being represented on elected bodies.
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Spain ratifies Protocol 13 concerning abolition of death penalty in all circumstances
[16/12/2009 15:00:00] Spain is the 42th member state to ratify Protocol 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which bans the death penalty in all circumstances, in wartime as well as peacetime. Abolition of the death penalty remains a central political objective of the Council of Europe, and a core value of the organisation.
Protocole No. 13 File: ''Council of Europe is a death penalty free zone''
Launch of project against corruption in Albania
[16/12/2009 12:00:00] The Council of Europe and the European Union have launched in Tirana a three-year joint project to assist the Albanian Government in implementing the new Strategy for Preventing and Combating Corruption and for Transparent Governance.
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European prison reform
[01/12/2009 17:30:00] A driving force for prison reform since the 1960s, the Council of Europe is working to improve the treatment of those imprisoned or deprived of their liberty. Its committees develop standards on the basis of relevant judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, criteria determined by the European Committee for the prevention of torture (CPT), and recommendations made by the Commissioner for Human Rights.
Photo: Gamma(more ...)
Ministers’ Deputies: Interlaken conference on the future of the European Court of Human Rights
[15/12/2009 16:00:00] The Deputies held an exchange of views with the Commissioner for Human Rights on his contribution at the high-level Conference on the future of the European Court of Human Rights to be held in Interlaken, on 18-19 February 2010. In this connection, they also considered the opinion of the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) on the issues to be covered at the conference.
(more ...) File ''Reform of the European Court of Human Rights''
Human Rights Commissioner
Germany: Thomas Hammarberg stresses need to halt returns to Kosovo
[15/12/2009 09:30:00] ''The forced return to Kosovo of people who have found shelter in European states should be halted'', said the Commissioner for Human Rights publishing on 15 December a letter to the Chancellor of Germany, Dr. Angela Merkel. He notes that Kosovo lacks infrastructures allowing refugees’ sustainable reintegration.
(more ...) Read the Letter to Germany
Enhancing cooperation of human rights protection mechanisms
[15/12/2009 17:00:00] The objective of the regional workshop, which takes place in Strasbourg on 16 and 17 December, is to enhance cooperation between the various components of the Regional Human Rights Mechanism (RHRM) in Europe and the UN system, and national actors in the region.
(more ...) Agenda Concept note
Protection of national minorities: report on Poland
[16/12/2009 12:00:00] The Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM) published on 16 December their second Opinion on Poland, together with the Government’s comments. The report focuses on linguistic rights of persons belonging to national minorities as well as their participation in social, political and economic life.
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Council of Europe launches family policy database
[16/12/2009 15:30:00] The database was set up to address the demand for up-to-date and comparative data on family policies across greater Europe. It contains information on subjects varying from financial policies aimed at families to family law and children rights.
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International Human Rights Day
Europe’s first human rights talk show
[10/12/2009 10:30:00] ''We should fight crime, including on the internet, but not at the expense of freedom of expression'' - Kristian Bartholin, Deputy Secretary to the Cybercrime Convention, summed up the general opinion of the participants of the first edition of ''Viewpoint'', Europe’s first human rights talk show
(more ...) Watch the programme
Secretary General: Human rights must go online !(more ...)
Fundamental values and national referenda: statement by Lluís Maria de Puig(more ...)
Forum of the Intercultural Cities
[11/12/2009 11:30:00] In her speech at the Forum of Intercultural Cities on 11 December in Bari, Italy, on the occasion of the launch of the campaign ''Speak Out Against Discrimination'', Maud de Boer-Buquicchio stressed that cities are the best places in which policies and practices which encourage interaction, understanding and respect between different cultures and ethnic groups can be promoted.
(more ...) Speech Forum of the Intercultural Cities ''Speak-out discrimination'' campaign
Sweden makes voluntary contribution to Action Plan in Ukraine
[11/12/2009 16:30:00] The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency has made a voluntary contribution of 30 Million Swedish Crowns (approx. 3 Million Euros) for the implementation of the Council of Europe Action Plan in Ukraine for 2008-2011, focusing on local and regional democracy.
Manual on the wearing of religious symbols in public areas (2009)
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The Council of Europe Commemorates Andrei Sakharov
Dubravka Suica: ''Mitigation and adaptation are two sides of the same coin''
2009 Internet Governance Forum
European prison reform
Ministers’ Deputies: Interlaken conference on the future of the European Court of Human Rights
Germany: Thomas Hammarberg stresses need to halt returns to Kosovo
Europe’s first human rights talk show
Forum of the Intercultural Cities
Sweden makes voluntary contribution to Action Plan in Ukraine
