Newsroom
Empowering the Future: Making the Social Rights of Youth Real
As part of the UN Summit of the Future Action Days, a side event on "Empowering the Future: Making the Social Rights of Youth Real" will take place on 20 September 2024, in New York, at the...
Republic of Moldova: PACE delegation concerned about significant foreign interference in forthcoming election
A pre-election delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), concluding a visit to the Republic of Moldova on 17-18 September 2024, stressed that the country is at a critical crossroads. The upcoming presidential election and constitutional referendum on 20 October...
The Bern Convention celebrates its 45th anniversary
The Bern Convention, a key international treaty for the protection of Europe's fauna, flora and natural habitats, celebrates its 45th anniversary today. Signed in 1979, it was the first treaty to provide a framework for cooperation on biodiversity conservation. Since its entry into force in 1982,...
Commissioner’s video message to the Berlin Process Ministerial meeting on Roma integration within the EU enlargement process
Video message delivered to the Ministerial meeting on Roma integration within the EU enlargement process, organised in the context of the Berlin Process Meetings 2024, Berlin, 18 September 2024...
Council of Europe experts call for measures to boost regional and minority languages in the UK
Experts from the Council of Europe have urged the United Kingdom to adopt language strategies for Irish and Ulster Scots, in particular, and to strengthen the teaching of all regional or minority languages in the UK – including Cornish, Scots, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh – as well as Manx Gaelic on...
Council of Europe experts give guidance on applying the recovery and reflection period for victims of trafficking
A new Guidance Note published by GRETA, the Council of Europe anti trafficking body, highlights the purposes and principles of the recovery and reflection period and its legal basis and procedures. Provided for in Article 13 of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in...
Alain Berset, new Secretary General
Addressing the Ministers' Deputies, the Secretary General highlighted the vital importance of the Organisation's ongoing work and the importance of delivering results, saying: "In this, the Council of Europe’s 75th anniversary year, it is hard to quantify the amount of good that this Organisation...
Congress President deplores adoption of anti-LGBTI legislation in Georgia
Marc Cools, President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, has made the following statement: “I am deeply concerned about the adoption by the Parliament of Georgia of the legislation “On protecting family values and minors”, despite the persistent calls from the Council of Europe...
New guidelines to protect voters' personal data
The Council of Europe has issued guidelines aimed at protecting individuals' personal data when registering as voters and when their identity needs to be authenticated to participate in elections. The guidelines, prepared by the Consultative Committee of the Convention for the Protection of...
ECHR Grand Chamber ruling against Spain
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has found a violation of the human rights convention in the case of Pindo Mulla v. Spain, concerning blood transfusions given to a Jehovah’s Witness against her wishes. The Court found in particular that the authorisation to proceed with...
Study visit to Austria sets groundwork for a free, post-war Ukraine
As part of a project to prepare for a free and independent Ukraine, ten representatives from six pilot territorial communities in Ukraine (local authorities and civil society organisations or CSOs) will participate in a study visit to Austria from 17 to 21 September 2024. The five-day visit,...
PACE committee urges steps to prevent violence and discrimination against lesbian, bisexual and queer women
PACE’s Equality Committee has called for a series of measures to combat violence and discrimination against lesbian, bisexual and queer (LBQ) women in Europe, pointing out that these women are now “especially targeted by anti-gender movements” which attempt to silence them or deny them their...
Committee calls on the Council of Europe Development Bank to boost support for reconstruction in Ukraine and focus on social dimensions of climate change
The Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development, meeting in Lisbon on 13 September, congratulated the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) for “its flexible and tailored support to its member states” in the context of the pandemic and natural disasters, and for the rapid...
Secretary General’s farewell statement to the Ministers’ Deputies
“In my remarks here five years ago, I said that: “The Council of Europe must…remain the benchmark for the promotion and protection of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law on our continent. In fact, this must be strengthened. This is the path that I intend to pursue.” I have pursued it,...
PACE committee proposes a ‘right to food’ in national constitutions
A PACE committee is urging steps to ensure accessible, sustainable and adequate food for all – including enshrining a “right to food” in national constitutions and giving priority to a coherent legal framework to make food distribution, processing and marketing systems fairer and more stable....
Secretary General receives Légion d'honneur in Strasbourg
“The Légion d'honneur is a recognition of efforts made, but it is also a call to continue to strive tirelessly for peace, justice, and solidarity between peoples. Today, these values are more necessary than ever. In receiving this award today, I reaffirm my commitment to continuing this work with...
Implementing European Court of Human Rights judgments
The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers is holding its quarterly meeting to oversee the execution of judgments and decisions from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg from 17 to 19 September. Cases proposed for detailed examination concern Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium,...
European Audiovisual Observatory: new report on the share of women in today’s European film industry
The proportion of women working in the various different roles in European film production only grew from 19% in 2015 to 24% in 2023. Between 2019 and 2023, the proportion of women in the cinema industry represented around 30% for producers, editors, screenwriters and directors, and only 12% for...
“I did not realise that human brutality could have such expressions”
In just over four years, 52,000 human beings – Jews, Roma and Sinti, LGBTI people, political opponents and others – were imprisoned at Natzweiler-Struthof. 22,000 people lost their lives there. The utter cruelty – the blatant evil – came as a huge shock to many of the prisoners and was very hard...
Congress examines the application of the European Charter of Local Self-Government in San Marino
A delegation of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, composed of rapporteurs Alexander Boomgaars, Netherlands and Tanja Joona, Finland, will conduct a monitoring visit to the Republic of San Marino from 17 to 18 September 2024 to assess the application of the European Charter of Local...
