Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers

Armenia hands over chairmanship to Austria

Strasbourg, 14.11.2013 - The Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe passed from Armenia to Austria today, at a meeting at the Organisation's Strasbourg headquarters, attended by representatives of its 47 member States.

Before handing over the chairmanship to his successor, the outgoing Chair Edward Nalbandian, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Armenia, gave an overview of his country's achievements during its chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers.

The new Chair of the Committee of Ministers, Michael Spindelegger, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Austria, presented the priorities of the Austrian chairmanship which will run for six months as of today.

At a brief ceremony during the meeting, Minister Spindelegger solemnly handed over to the Secretary General, Thorbjørn Jagland, the instrument of Austria's ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, known as the Istanbul Convention (CETS no. 210). Austria pledged that, during its chairmanship, it would "promote measures for an early entry into force of the Convention", which requires 10 ratifications. (more...)

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Back 12.11.2013 - Armenian Chairmanship supports No Hate Speech Movement

Armenian Chairmanship supports No Hate Speech Movement

Strasbourg, 12 November 2013 - The Armenian Chairmanship welcomed the No Hate Speech Movement launched by the Secretary General and supported activities in this framework. In order to raise the visibility of the campaign, the Chairmanship devoted special attention to it during the High-Level Conference on Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Intolerance in Europe, held in Yerevan on 21-22 October, and called on member states to promote the implementation of the youth campaign ,,No Hate Speech Movement'' across all the Council of Europe member states.

Ambassador Armen Papikyan, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Armenia, together with the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Gabriella Battaini Dragoni, opened the "No hate speech"' conference on 7 November in Strasbourg (more information).

With the agreement signed on 8 November between the Permanent Representation of Armenia to the Council of Europe and the Council of Europe, the Government of the Republic of Armenia has made a voluntary contribution of 15,000 Euros to the Council of Europe for the project "Young People Combating Hate Speech in Cyberspace".