Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers

Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers: Armenia succeeds Andorra

Strasbourg, 16 May 2013 - The 123rd session of the Committee of Ministers was held today in Strasbourg with Gilbert Saboya Sunyé, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Andorra, in the Chair. At the end of the meeting, the Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers was passed by Andorra to Armenia.

The Ministers' discussions chiefly revolved around a report by the Secretary General on strengthening the impact of the actions undertaken by the Council of Europe concerning democracy, human rights and rule of law. They encouraged the Secretary General to continue his efforts to optimise the functioning and co-ordination of the Organisation's monitoring mechanisms while taking care that better use was made of the conclusions drawn from the monitoring actions. For that purpose, the Ministers invited the Secretary General to present them regularly with a situation report on democracy, human rights and rule of law in Europe founded on the conclusions of the monitoring mechanisms, accompanied by definite proposals for action.

Co-operation with the European Union and Council of Europe policy towards neighbouring regions were also on the meeting agenda.

During the session, the Committee of Ministers also adopted Protocol No. 15 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The Protocol will be opened for signature by member states on 24 June 2013.

Armenia will chair the Committee of Ministers for the next six months.

Back 05.02.2013 - Conference: "Making diversity work for cities"

05.02.2013 - Experts and local authority representatives from across Europe, North America, China and Japan will gather in Dublin, from 6 to 8 February 2013, for an Intercultural Cities Milestone Event entitled "Making Diversity work for Cities". This event is organised as part of Ireland's EU presidency and Andorra's chairmanship of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers.

Migration, urban integration and new policy approaches to improve social cohesion will be under discussion at the conference. Mr Albert Esteve Garcia, Minister of Culture of Andorra, will contribute to the debate.

Migration, urban integration and new policy approaches to improve social cohesion will be under discussion at the conference. Mr Albert Esteve Garcia, Minister of Culture of Andorra, will contribute to the debate.