Seminar on the European Social Charter to be held in Belgrade (Serbia)
[19/03/2010] Following Serbia's ratification of the Revised Charter in September, a seminar will take place in Belgrade on 24 March with the aim of providing information and assistance to Serbian authorities to allow for a wider application of this instrument. This seminar will be attended by two members of the European Committee of Social Rights, Mr Rüçhan IŞIK and Ms Jarna PETMAN, as well as two adminstrators from the Department of the European Social Charter, Ms Niamh CASEY and Mr Gerald DUNN.
Programme
Serbian factsheet

25-26 March, Strasbourg Second meeting of the Committee of Experts on New Media (MC-NM)
[19/03/2010] The MC-NM will consider possible policy answers to issues of protection of human rights in the context of social networking services and search engines. It will look into action to be taken by the CoE as regards network neutrality and the guarantee to access information. Finally it will continue working on a new notion of media, to determine what kind of mass communication should nowadays be considered media and what freedoms and responsibilities those media actors should have.

Octopus Interface Conference on Cooperation against Cybercrime (23-25 March 2010, Strasbourg)
[19/03/2010] The Octopus Interface Conference 2010 will take place on 23-25 March 2010 in Strabourg. It will be launched with a high-level panel on “Security and fundamental rights – what rules for the internet”. The conference will focus in particular on the need for a global capacity building effort to enable countries worldwide to cope with crimes committed on the Internet. (More)
Agenda
Octopus Conference website
Special file on the Octopus Conference

Exchange of views between the European Committee of Social Rights and Mr Skouris, President of the Court of Justice of the European Union
[17/03/2010] At his 242e session on 15 March, the European Committee of Social Rights held a exchange of views with Mr Vassilios Skouris, Président of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the presence of Mr Jean Paul Costa, President of the European Court of Human Rights. (More)

242 Session of the European Committee of Social Rights
[11/03/2010] The next session of the European Committee of Social Rights will be held in Strasbourg from 15-19 March 2010.
Agenda

Committee of Ministers publishes decisions on execution of judgments of European Court of Human Rights
[11/03/2010] The Committee of Ministers concluded on 4 March its first special human rights meeting devoted to the supervision of the execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. The decisions adopted directly at the meeting in some 25 cases or groups of cases against Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Italy, Moldova, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Turkey, Ukraine and United Kingdom have just been published. (more ...)
Bosnia and Herzegovina asked to eliminate discrimination in standing for elections
Russia asked to improve conditions of detention in remand prisons

Contribution of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to the UN Crime Congress (12-19 April 2010, Salvador, Brazil)
[11/03/2010] The contribution of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to the UN Crime Congress  is now available.
Contribution of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe

Call for applications for the European Crystal Scales of Justice Prize for innovative practices contributing to the quality of justice
[10/03/2010]In 2010, the Council of Europe together with the European Commission is organising the 5th edition of the "Crystal Scales of Justice" Prize. The aim of the prize is to identify and promote innovative practices in civil and in criminal matters, in respect of conduct of proceedings, court organisation and general functioning of the justice system. Applications must be submitted by 30 June 2010 (more).
European Crystal Scales of Justice Prize

The Committee of Ministers adopts a Recommandation on human rights of members of the armed forces
[08/03/2010] The Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to member states on human rights of members of the armed forces (CM/Rec(2010)4) was adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 24 February 2010 at the 1077th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies.
Link to the Recommendation 
Human Rights Law and Policy Division website

Montenegro is the 30th State to ratify the Revised European Social Charter
[08/03/2010] The President of the European Committee of Social Rights, Mrs Polonca KONCAR welcomed Montenegro's ratification of the Revised Charter on 3 March 2010, making it the 43rd State Party to the Charter (and the 30th to the Revised Charter). She commended Montenegro for its commitment to core social rights and noted with satisfaction that the ratification had been helped along by good cooperation between the Montenegrin authorities and the Council of Europe. Ms KONCAR also expressed her hope that the four member states that have not yet ratified the Charter (Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and Switzerland) will do so in the near future.
Table of signatures and ratifications
European Social Charter Website

First meeting of the Ad hoc Advisory Group on Cross Border Internet (MC-S-CI)
[04/03/2010] The Ad hoc Advisory Group on Cross Border Internet (MC-S-CI) met for the 1st time in Paris on 1 and 2 March. It discussed the shared responsibilities of states with respect to the preservation and reinforcement of the protection of the cross-border flow of Internet traffic and the protection of critical Internet resources. The MC-S-CI meeting concluded that a rights based approach should be adopted in the examination of these issues and that consultation with stakeholders will take place in EuroDIG in Madrid (April 2010) and IGF in Vilnius (September 2010). The report will be issued soon and published on the web site.
Site web Media and Infomation Society

Workshop to be held on decisions of the European Committee of Social Rights against Bulgaria
[02/03/2010] A workshop organised by the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), the Commission for the Protection against Discrimination and the Bulgarian Committee for Helsinki, will take place in Sofia (Bulgaria) on 4 March 2010 and will be attended by Mr Petros STANGOS, member of the European Committee of Social Rights and Mr Régis BRILLAT, Head of the Department of the European Social Charter. The aim of this workshop is the analysis of decisions taken by the Committee since 2006, in which Bulgaria was found to be in violation of the Revised Charter (notably concerning Roma and handicapped persons and the rights to housing, education, and to social and medical assistance).
Programme

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