Co-operation between the Council of Europe and the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), built on complementarity, has consolidated over time, Deputy Secretary General Tanja Gonggrijp underlined during her meeting today with FRA Director Sirpa Rautio.

Areas where the co-operation has proved particularly effective include the use of FRA findings in the work of the Council of Europe’s monitoring bodies and the European Court of Human Rights, co-operation in a number of areas, such as children’s rights, migration and social rights, as well as joint publications and events.

The Deputy Secretary General discussed how the New Democratic Pact for Europe can contribute to strengthening protection of fundamental rights and outlined the priorities of the reform of the Organisation proposed by the Secretary General, aimed at reinforcing its key competences and its capacity to address new challenges, including misinformation. In this context, the Deputy Secretary General stressed the importance of data gathered through FRA surveys.

Cooperation between the Council of Europe and the Fundamental Rights Agency is regulated by the FRA founding Regulation and the Agreement between the EU and CoE on cooperation between CoE and FRA. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe appoints somebody with experience in the management of public or private sector and with human rights knowledge, to sit as an “independent person”, on FRA’s management bodies. FRA participates in the work of most Council of Europe intergovernmental committees and maintains regular exchanges with the Organisation’s monitoring bodies such as anti-discrimination commission ECRI, anti-trafficking body GRETA and GREVIO, an independent expert body monitoring the implementation of the Istanbul Convention.