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 21.01.2013 - Andorran Chairmanship to promote knowledge of the Convention among civil society and youth

21.01.2013 - Speaking today at the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) Gilbert Saboya, Foreign Affairs Minister of Andorra, announced that the Andorran Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers will soon launch a campaign to promote the European Convention of Human Rights.The campaign will aim to mobilise civil society and youth to increase awareness on human rights protection, in accordance with the main theme of the chairmanship: the promotion of human rights and democracy through education.

Gilbert Saboya explained work in progress in the reform of the European Court of Human Rights, in particular with regard to the draft text of protocol 15, which aims to reinforce its efficacy. The draft has already been sent for opinion to PACE and to the Court, with the objective of submitting it for approval by the Committee of Ministers in May this year.

Speech
Video of the speech