Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers

Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers: Armenia succeeds Andorra

Strasbourg, 16 May 2013 - The 123rd session of the Committee of Ministers was held today in Strasbourg with Gilbert Saboya Sunyé, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Andorra, in the Chair. At the end of the meeting, the Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers was passed by Andorra to Armenia.

The Ministers' discussions chiefly revolved around a report by the Secretary General on strengthening the impact of the actions undertaken by the Council of Europe concerning democracy, human rights and rule of law. They encouraged the Secretary General to continue his efforts to optimise the functioning and co-ordination of the Organisation's monitoring mechanisms while taking care that better use was made of the conclusions drawn from the monitoring actions. For that purpose, the Ministers invited the Secretary General to present them regularly with a situation report on democracy, human rights and rule of law in Europe founded on the conclusions of the monitoring mechanisms, accompanied by definite proposals for action.

Co-operation with the European Union and Council of Europe policy towards neighbouring regions were also on the meeting agenda.

During the session, the Committee of Ministers also adopted Protocol No. 15 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The Protocol will be opened for signature by member states on 24 June 2013.

Armenia will chair the Committee of Ministers for the next six months.

Back 06.02.2013 - Culture of Democracy and Intercultural Dialogue - an Andorran initiative

Strasbourg, 06.02.2013 - Education, culture of democracy and intercultural dialogue will be at the heart of the international conference "Competences for a culture of democracy and intercultural dialogue: a political challenge and values", organised in the framework of the Andorran Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, in Andorra la Vella (7-8 February). The event will help to define strategic objectives in the field of education for the programme of activities 2014-2015 and provide an input for the Conference of Ministers of Education (Helsinki, 26-27 April).

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Andorra Gilbert Saboya Sunyé, minister of Education and Youth of Andorra Roser Suñé Pascuet, and Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Gabriella Battaini Dragoni will be among the key speakers at the Conference. (more...)

Programme and concept note
Speeches and documents

On the occasion of this initiative, the Andorran Chairmanship of the Council of Europe launched a campaign "Nurturing human rights", which aims at raising awareness of civil society and young people of the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights.

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