Retour Award Ceremony - Moot Court Competition in co-operation with the European Law Students’ Association (ELSA)

European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg , 

Check against delivery

Ambassadors, Judges, members of the Jury,
Dear Law Students, Members of ELSA,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Secretary General, patron of ELSA, who was unable to be present today, I am happy to welcome you to the Council of Europe, house of human rights, democracy and rule of law. These values form the basis of our action in Europe and stem from the European Convention on Human Rights as well as many other of our legal instruments. By sharing these values, the European Law Students Association, ELSA, is a trustworthy and important partner of the Council of Europe.

72 teams from 29 countries have applied this year for the competition simulating the procedure of complaints to the European Court of Human Rights.

The teams have been working on a fictive case concerning a subject, dear to the heart of our Organisation, namely freedom of expression and media freedom in relation to defamation and hate speech. I take this opportunity to inform you that the Council of Europe has launched a youth project on combating Hate Speech Online, which aims to fight racism and discrimination on the Internet.

16 teams have been selected for the final rounds held at the Strasbourg Court to compete before a panel of leading international experts in law and human rights.

The 16 finalists come from all parts of Europe illustrating the geographical span and cultural diversity of both ELSA and the Council of Europe, which gathers nearly all nations of our continent.

The Council of Europe strongly supports this challenging project. As you know, the current reform of the European Court of Human Rights aims at improving the implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights at national level. We feel that this project can also contribute to this objective.

Today's law students are tomorrow's law professionals and they should have a sound knowledge and understanding of the Convention system and the possibility it offers at national level. It will be your role to ensure that the provisions of the European Convention of Human Rights are fully applied in your respective countries.

Let me also take this opportunity to highlight another flagship Council of Europe treaty, namely the European Social Charter. As a distinct complement to the European Convention on Human Rights which establishes civil and political rights, the Social Charter is a pillar of social and economic rights. These economic and social rights need to be properly and fully implemented, or else human rights and democracy is affected.

In light of the on-going economic crisis, many European governments have resorted to austerity measures which have disproportionately affected the poor, the unemployed, the elderly and the sick and have sometimes led to unequal treatment of migrants. Let me echo our Secretary General as he said in a recent statement: "The need to protect everyday rights for workers and non-working people is a core European value which becomes all the more important when times are tough".

Dear friends, the unrivalled advances that we have made in Europe over the last 60 years must be translated into concrete measures for those that are vulnerable. That is why I am encouraging all stakeholders, including ELSA and its members, to consider this issue and reflect on a possible common project on this important treaty in the future, for example relating to the collective complaints procedure of the Charter.

Let me take this opportunity to thank the Council of Europe member states, in particular Ireland, for their financial contributions to the project, as well as Austria, currently chairing the Committee of Ministers.

I would also like to congratulate ELSA for the impressive work you do to promote the Council of Europe's legal and human rights activities among your 38,000 members from 300 universities in 42 countries.

Finally, I wish to congratulate all finalists for their contributions and competitiveness and all participants for taking part in this ambitious competition.

I wish all of you the best of luck in your future careers.