Deputy Secretary General closed the 8th edition of the Youth Peace Camp at the European Youth Centre (EYCS) which brought together 45 people from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Israel, Kosovo (Albanian and Serbian ethnic communities), and the Palestinian Authority, to engage in dialogue by living and working together. Parallel to the activity in Strasbourg, a Caucasus Peace Camp was held at the Europa Park in Rust (Germany), with 25 participants from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and the Russian Federation.
Speech

Deputy Secretary General Maud de Boer-Buquicchio has said it is necessary to ensure freedom on the Internet, but also to protect vulnerable users by preventing and punishing all forms of abuse. Speaking in Belgrade, she stressed that the Council of Europe is in favour of ensuring a maximum of rights, a minimum of restrictions while ensuring an adequate level of security. (more ...)
Speech

The Council of Europe opened its premises in Venice on 1 June. The framework agreement was signed by the Deputy Secretary General, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio and the Mayor of Venice, Giorgio Orsoni. The Council of Europe joins the international hub created by the City of Venice in Procuratie Vecchie on Piazza San Marco, along with other organisations: UNESCO and International Organisation for Migration. Deputy Secretary General also visited the Roma Pavillon at the Venice Biennale, where she presented a quilt, a work of art created by Roma women in Strasbourg.
Speech at opening of a Council of Europe centre in Venice [it]
Speech at the Venice Biennale

''If we wish to build a child-friendly Europe, governments and society as a whole need to endorse an approach which is based on zero-tolerance for violence'', Deputy Secretary General said at the international conference in Kyiv. Bringing together around 200 participants from twenty three countries, the conference addresses implementation of national strategies for protection of children’s rights, with a focus on Central and Eastern European countries. (more ...)
Speech

In an open letter to the women of Europe, published on 21 April, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio highlights the relevance of the new landmark Council of Europe treaty: the first legally binding instrument in the world creating a comprehensive legal framework to protect women against all forms of violence, and prevent, prosecute and eliminate violence against women and domestic violence. (more ...)
Council of Europe adopts new convention to prevent and combat violence against women

'Recent events in Northern Africa and the Wikileaks affair have shown how access to the Internet can be easily disrupted, while the freedom of expression and values of democracy are put in question. What kind of responsibility do states have with regard to the Internet? The Council of Europe conference, to take place in Strasbourg on 18-19 April, will try to answer this question. (more ...)
Speech by Maud de Boer-Buquicchio
More information

''The Council of Europe Budapest Convention on cybercrime should be the legal framework of reference for fighting cybercrime at global level,'' said Deputy Secretary General at the Ministerial Conference on Cybercrime in Budapest, on 13 April. In their opening remarks, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio and EU Commissioner Cecilia Malmström stressed the urgent need to strengthen co-operation among states as well as with the private sector. (more ...)
Final speech
Opening speech

Millions of women victims of violence suffer mostly in silence. Their cries may be heard, but their voices are rarely listened to. As from today, governments throughout the world have a chance to give voices back to these women. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a landmark new Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. This Convention contains a very ambitious set of measures to prevent violence, to protect victims and to end with the impunity of perpetrators. (more...)

The Deputy Secretary General made an introductory speech at the GRECO on the occasion of its 50th Plenary Meeting. She underlined that, over the past 11 years, GRECO has set an exemplary standard for international anti-corruption. She also made reference to the issue of match-fixing and illegal betting, a new threat which corrupts the "rules of the game", the need for standards to be set to fight it and the key role GRECO could play in monitoring the implementation of such standards. Photo: GRECO President, Drago KOS with Deputy Secretary General, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio (more...)
Speech

On 21 March the Deputy Secretary General awarded a pro merito medal to the Netherlands Study Centre for the Judiciary (Stichting Studiecentrum Rechtspleging). During the last 25 years, the Stichting Studierechtspleging has been organising study visits to the Council of Europe and in particular to the Court of Human Rights. It was the first national school of magistrates to do so. (more...)
Speech

In her opening speech at the seminar ''Improving detention conditions through effective monitoring and standard-setting'', in Antalya (Turkey) on 17 March, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio stressed the problem of increasing numbers of children in detention, and presented the Council of Europe Guidelines on Child-friendly Justice. (more...)
Speech

Maud de Boer-Buquicchio joined forces with the United Nations Special Representative on violence against children, Marta Santos Pais, at an UN event on 28 February in New York. Both high officials are avid campaigners for children’s rights. In her speech, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio called for an urgent action to eliminate all forms of sexual violence against children. (more...)
Speech

''Last night's tragic death of 4 Roma children is a sad reminder of the state in which many Roma citizens are living in Europe today. While the causes of this incident still have to be determined, it is clear that the Roma are a vulnerable minority and deserve our protection. This is why in October last year the member states of the Council of Europe agreed on specific measures to support the Roma communities'', said the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, in her statement today. (more ...)
More information on Roma and the Council of Europe
High-Level Meeting on Roma

During the first European bioethics forum, a round table session ''Ageing in Europe: perceptions and practices'' took place on 3 February in Strasbourg. It was opened by Maud de Boer Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, which has given its patronage to the forum. (more ...)
Programme
More information
Speech [fr]

''The Council of Europe is seriously concerned about the fate of the journalist Ernest Vardanyan, the circumstances of his trial and the very harsh sentence imposed in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova'', Maud de Boer-Buquicchio says in her statement on 22 December.  (More...)

Governments must do more to prevent the ''double discrimination'' faced by Europe’s most vulnerable people with disabilities, said Maud de Boer-Buquicchio on 2 December, urging governments to use the International Day of Persons with Disabilities to make a firm commitment to those most in need.  (More...)

 File ''Disability''  

On 29 November in Rome, in the presence of the President of the Republic of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano, Deputy Secretary General Maud de Boer-Buquicchio launched the Council of Europe campaign to stop sexual violence against children. ''Prevention, prosecution, protection'' – Maud de Boer-Buquicchio thus summed up the Council of Europe action. ''The Council of Europe action aims at eliminating risks to children from all forms of sexual exploitation and abuse'', she stressed. Photo: Maud de Boer-Buquicchio and Mara Carfagna, Italian Minister for Equal Opportunities (more ...)
More information on the event
Website of the campaign

Modernising justice and prisons are on the agenda of the 30th Council of Europe Conference of Ministers of Justice taking place on 24-26 November in Istanbul. The conference was opened by Sadullah Ergin, Minister of Justice of Turkey, and Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe. (more...)
Website of the conference
Speech by Maud de Boer-Buquicchio
Photo gallery

We need pressure to advance children’s rights
Speaking at the World Child and Youth Forum, on 19 November in Stockholm, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio stressed the need to bring children’s rights to the top of the political agenda. She also underlined that the promotion of children’s rights is one of the Council of Europe’s priorities, through development of legislations, policy models, and campaigns to empower both adults and children.
Speech
World Child and Youth Forum
Swedish Royal Court

The Committee of Ministers adopted on 17 November new guidelines on child-friendly justice which give European governments guidance to enhance children’s access to and treatment in justice. ''The justice system cannot be blind to the fact that children have specific needs and rights'', said Maud de Boer-Buquicchio when she welcomed the adoption of the guidelines. (more ...)

Award ceremony of the European Crystal Scales of Justice: speech by Maud de Boer-Buquicchio
In her opening speech at the Lisbon Forum 2010, which takes place on 4-5 November, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio gave an overview of the recent Council of Europe work in promoting intercultural and interreligious dialogue, and stressed the contemporary challenges in reconciling freedom of religion and freedom of expression, and the discourse of exclusion and rejection and that of dialogue and peace.
Speech
More information on the Forum

Award ceremony of the European Crystal Scales of Justice: speech by Maud de Boer-Buquicchio
In presence of the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Ministers of Justice Secretaries for justice as well as eminent judicial and political persons, the 2010 European Crystal Scales of Justice prize for innovative court practices was awarded to Administrative Court of Yambol, Bulgaria. Also, the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) presented its evaluation report on European judicial systems.
Award ceremony: speech by Maud de Boer-Buquicchio
Presentation of the Report: Introduction by Maud de Boer-Buquicchio

Maud de Boer-Buquicchio: On rights and responsibilities
For the Parliamentary Assembly’s urgent debate on Europe’s Roma, Deputy Secretary General addressed the ''delicate subject'' of rights and responsibilities. ''On the one hand, human rights are absolute,'' she said. ''On the other hand, we – Roma and non Roma – have responsibilities.'' But ''conditions in which these responsibilities can be meaningfully exercised'' too often are lacking for the Roma, she explained. She hopes that the high level meeting on 20 October can help ''reconcile these two notions''.
Speech