Strasbourg, 14.11.2013 - The Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe passed from Armenia to Austria today, at a meeting at the Organisation's Strasbourg headquarters, attended by representatives of its 47 member States.
Before handing over the chairmanship to his successor, the outgoing Chair Edward Nalbandian, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Armenia, gave an overview of his country's achievements during its chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers.
The new Chair of the Committee of Ministers, Michael Spindelegger, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Austria, presented the priorities of the Austrian chairmanship which will run for six months as of today.
At a brief ceremony during the meeting, Minister Spindelegger solemnly handed over to the Secretary General, Thorbjørn Jagland, the instrument of Austria's ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, known as the Istanbul Convention (CETS no. 210). Austria pledged that, during its chairmanship, it would "promote measures for an early entry into force of the Convention", which requires 10 ratifications. (more...)
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18.06.2013 - The 2013 HELP Annual Conference : adoption of the 2014 Roadmap and election of the HELP Consultative Board
On 18-19 June 2013, under the auspices of the Armenian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers, the HELP Network Conference gathered representatives of national training institutions and bar associations of the 47 member states in the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.This year, the HELP Annual Conference addressed "cross-cutting issued in human rights training of legal professionals". The Conference was opened by eminent speakers, such as M. Philippe Boillat, Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law, Mr Armen Papikyan, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Armenia to the Council of Europe and current Chairman of the Committee of ministers, Mr Nils Muižnieks, Commissioner for Human Rights, and Mr Lech Garlicki, former Judge and Section-President of the European Court of Human Rights. The Conference was the opportunity to exchange views on the needs to ensure coordination and synergies between the various training initiatives for legal professionals. Indeed, in the nowadays context of economic and social austerity, it is crucial to join forces and avoid duplications and waste of human and financial resources.The Conference allowed the HELP Network to set up the Roadmap for 2014 and identify the priority topics to develop future e-learning courses, such as Business and Human Rights, Internet Governance, Asylum and Traffic king in Human Beings, to quote only a few examples. For the first time, the HELP Network has elected its Consultative Board, embodied by six members representing the national training institutions for judges and prosecutors and the bar associations. The Board will have the responsibility to make sure that the Roadmap is implemented according to the wishes of the HELP Network.
