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 28.11.2012 - Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights: Democracy in Action

Strasbourg, 28 November 2012 - Intercultural understanding, citizenship and human rights education are core priorities for democracy in practice: the Council of Europe analysed the impact of the Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education in an international conference (see programme) organised in the framework of the Andorran Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers, in co-operation with the European Commission and the European Wergeland Centre.

Following the Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)7, education is seen as playing a pivotal role in the prevention of human rights violation and as a defence against the rise of violence, racism, extremism, xenophobia, discrimination and intolerance.

The Conference was opened by Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland, the Minister of Education and Youth of Andorra Roser Suñé, and the Director-General for Education and Culture of the European Commission Jan Truszczyński. The closing session was addressed by Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks.

More information about the conference