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News
Transfer of the Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers from the United Kingdom to Albania122nd Session of the Committee of Ministers
[24/05/2012] On 23 May 2012, the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the 47 member States of the Council of Europe held their annual session in Strasbourg.
On this occasion, the representatives of the leading Organisation for the protection of human rights in Europe adopted a certain number of measures aiming to secure the long term effectiveness of the supervisory mechanism of the European Convention on Human Rights. These measures follow on from the Conference held in April in Brighton on this issue in the framework of the United Kingdom Chairmanship.
The Session also allowed the ministers and their representatives to take stock of the policy of the Council of Europe towards neighbouring regions, which entered into force a year ago. Council of Europe action to support democratic transition in countries of North Africa, the Middle East and central Asia was encouraged. The participants also expressed their determination to continue to develop this policy on the basis of the values of the Council of Europe. They subsequently held an informal discussion on the best way of achieving this objective.
The 122nd Session was marked by the transfer of the Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers from the United Kingdom to Albania. Mr William Hague, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, presented a stocktaking of the United Kingdom Chairmanship which had begun on 7 November 2011. For his part, Mr Edmond Haxhinasto, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Albania, presented the priorities of the new Chairmanship for the next six months.
At the end of the formal part of the Session the ministers discussed, over an informal lunch, ways to close gaps in human rights protection in Europe.
Session file

British Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers
Albanian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers

Photo gallery

International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia
[17/05/2012] In light of the UK Chairmanship's priority on combating discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers wishes to endorse the statement of his colleagues Jeremy Browne and Stephen O'Brien on the occasion of International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia.
Statement by Jeremy Browne and Stephen O'Brien

Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on the situation in Syria
[11/05/2012] The Committee of Ministers condemns with the utmost firmness the continued violations of international human rights law committed since the beginning of hostilities in Syria, despite the current presence on the ground of an advance team of UN observers. The Committee calls for an immediate respect of the ceasefire which should have come into effect on 12 April.
It expresses full support to the UN Supervision Mission in Syria and to its endeavours. It calls upon all parties in Syria to cease immediately all forms of violence. The Committee of Ministers urges the Syrian Government to follow its commitment and to apply immediately, completely and unconditionally the six point plan devised by the Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the League of Arab States, Kofi Annan, and endorsed by UNSC Resolutions 2042 and 2043.
The Committee of Ministers commends neighbouring countries namely Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon for the humanitarian assistance provided to Syrian refugees.
A peaceful and democratic solution founded on full respect for human rights is the only way forward for Syria.

Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on the death penalty
[02/05/2012] In a declaration adopted today, the Committee of Ministers calls on all countries which still apply the death penalty, including those holding observer status with the Council of Europe, to immediately apply a moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolition.
Declaration
UK Foreign Minister, William HagueDeclaration of the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the Sejdic & Finci case
[25/04/2012] The Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, and the United Kingdom Minister of Foreign Affairs, William Hague, published today the following statement:
Statement
More information on the case of Sejdic and Finci
Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Council of Europe

Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers
UK Europe Minister Lidington urges continued cooperation on Court reform following Brighton conference

[23/04/2012] Governments must work together in a spirit of cooperation to ensure that the package agreed at the Brighton Conference for reform of the Court of Human Rights is brought into the European Convention of Human Rights by 2013, UK Europe Minister David Lidington told the Parliamentary Assembly today.
He also welcomed progress on other UK chairmanship priorities - promoting LGBT rights, the rule of law and regional and local democracy.
Speech
Video of the speech
Communication on the activities of the Committee of Ministers

Brighton Conference: Final Declaration
[20/04/2012] Ministers and senior representatives from the Council of Europe's 47 member countries gathered in Brighton from 18 to 20 April to discuss possible reforms to the European Court of Human Rights.
UK Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor, The Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke MP, formally opened the conference, followed by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, the President of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, Jean-Claude Mignon, and the President of the European Court of Human Rights, Sir Nicolas Bratza.
Brighton declaration on the future of the European Court of Human Rights

Photo gallery
Execution of Strasbourg Court judgments: considerable progress but concern about major structural problems
[12/04/2012] In 2011 the number of Strasbourg Court judgments found by the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers to have been fully executed by member states grew by almost 80% compared to 2010 (up to 816). Whilst the number of new cases remained high (1, 606), for the first time in ten years it decreased (by 6 %). The number of repetitive cases decreased by even more.
The number of old cases still not fully executed after more than five years continued to grow (by 48 % from 2010 to 2011), and is a special source of concern. Most of these cases concern important structural problems.
These are some of the main conclusions of the Committee of Ministers' annual report on its supervision of the execution of the judgments and decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, which was published today.

Meeting of the Ministers' Deputies (4 April 2012)
[04/04/2012] At their 1139th meeting on 4 April 2012, the Ministers Deputies adopted a statement on the recent executions in Japan. Questions linked with the selection of judges at the European Court of Human Rights were on the agenda of the meeting once again. At their previous meeting, the Ministers' Deputies adopted Guidelines on the selection of candidates for the post of Judge. At this meeting, they held an exchange of views with Mr Luzius Wildhaber, Chairman of the Advisory Panel of Experts on Candidates for Election as Judge to the European Court of Human Rights. The Committee of Ministers also adopted two recommendations to member States in the field of Internet governance addressing respectively the protection of human rights with regard to search engines and the protection of human rights with regard to social networking services. Finally, the Committee of Ministers held an exchange of views with Mr Vladimir Nechaev, Chairman of the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of anti-money laundering measures and the financing of terrorism (MONEYVAL).
Meeting file

Statement of the Committee of Ministers on the recent executions in Japan
[04/04/2012] The Committee of Ministers deplores the three executions which took place on 29 March 2012 in Japan, an observer State to the Council of Europe.
These executions go counter to the growing trend against the death penalty at the international level.
The Committee of Ministers reaffirms its unequivocal opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances. It remains determined to continue its efforts for the global abolition of the death penalty. It calls on the Japanese authorities to put an end to this practice.

Council of Europe adopts recommendations to protect human rights on search engines and social platforms
[05/04/2012] The Council of Europe has adopted two Recommendations in which it calls on its members states to safeguard human rights, notably freedom of expression, access to information, freedom of association and the right to private life, with regard to search engines and social networking services.
In the Recommendation on search engines, the Committee of Ministers invites states to engage with search engine providers to increase transparency in the way access to information is provided, in particular the criteria used to select, rank or remove search results. The Committee calls for more transparency and respect for users' rights in the processing of personal data, for example of cookies, IP addresses and individual search histories.
In the Recommendation on social networking services, the Committee of Ministers' calls on states to work with operators to raise users' awareness of their rights and the challenges to them, by using clear and understandable language. It also recommends helping users understand the default settings of their profiles - which should be privacy-friendly - and make informed choices about their online identity.
The Recommendation contains a number of actions to protect children and young people against harmful content and behaviour, such as the setting up of easily accessible mechanisms for reporting inappropriate or apparently illegal content or behaviour.
The Committee invites states to work both with search engine and social platform operators to ensure better access to those services for people with disabilities. It also recommends that self and co-regulatory mechanisms are set up in order to contribute to the respect of human rights standards.
Chairmanship of the CM
Current Chairmanship
Albania
23 May - 9 November 2012
Chairmanship website
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Next Chairmanships
Andorra: 9 November 2012-16 May 2013
Armenia: 16 May-November 2013
Austria: November 2013-May 2014
Azerbaijan: May-November 2014
Belgium: November 2014-May 2015

Previous Chairmanships
Photo gallery: Former CM Chairs (1992-2011)
  Priorities and programmes  
More information
 
 
Activities
The Committee of Ministers is the Council of Europe's decision-making body. It is composed of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the 47 member states or their permanent representatives in Strasbourg (more...).
Report by the Chair of the Committee of Ministers (February-April 2012)
Overview of activities - Statutory report 2012
 
 
Who's Who
1. Who sits on the Committee of Ministers?
The Foreign Minister of each Council of Europe member state.
List of Foreign Ministers
Member states
2. Who currently chairs the Committee of Ministers (23 May-November 2012)?
Albania - Mr Edmond Haxhinasto, Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Foreign Affairs
Chairmanship site
3. Who are the Ministers' Deputies?  
The Deputies, acting on behalf of the Ministers, conduct most of the day-to-day business of the Committee of Ministers.
List of Permanent Representatives
4. Who currently chairs the Ministers' Deputies (23 May-November 2012)?
Ms Margarita Gega, Permanent Representative of Albania
5. What are the Deputies' subsidiary groups?
These working groups help to prepare the meetings of the Deputies.
List of groups
6. Who are the Observer states?
Holy See, United States of America, Canada, Japan, Mexico
 
 

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