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 09.11.2012 - Education will be top priority of Andorra´s Council of Europe chairmanship

Tirana, 09.11.2012 – Education in human rights, democracy and the rule of law, the Council of Europe essential values, is the top priority of the Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Principality of Andorra, which starts today.

The Andorran minister for Foreign Affairs, Gilbert Saboya Sunyé, is presenting his country´s priorities to the Council of Europe member states at a Committee of Ministers meeting in Tirana, just after the ceremony in which Albania is transferring the six month chairmanship to Andorra.

The Andorran Chairmanship will carry out a number of activities relating to education for democratic citizenship and human rights, with a particular focus on youth. One of the key actions will be the launch of a campaign using online social networks to promote knowledge of the European Convention on Human Rights in co-operation with youth organisations and schools.

Three conferences related to education will be held during the chairmanship on:
· the impact of the European Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights (Strasbourg, 29-30 November 2012),
· competences for a culture of democracy and intercultural dialogue (Andorra La Vella, 7-8 February 2013), and
· the 24th Conference of Ministers responsible for Education (Helsinki, 26-27 April 2013) under the theme "Governance and quality education", organised by Finland.

The Andorran chairmanship will follow up the decisions of the Interlaken, Izmir and Brighton conferences in order to ensure the long-term effectiveness of the European Court of Human Rights, as well as European Union accession to the Convention.

During its chairmanship, Andorra will work to promote local and regional democracy, the effective implementation of Council of Europe standards for the efficiency of justice and awareness on the importance of education in sports.