Latvia and the Council of Europe – bringing human rights from the conference table to your kitchen table

The Council of Europe works for you. We want to give visibility to the role, standards and work of the Council of Europe in its member states, to show how Council of Europe membership has helped achieve particular results or changes. Our aim, through a variety of events and actions, is to highlight ways in which the Council of Europe’s action has helped improve the life of individuals and contributed to improving people’s enjoyment of fundamental rights.

Agnese Vilde, Vēstniece Latvijas Pastāvīgajā pārstāvniecībā Eiropas Padomē/p>

Whether it is the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights at national level, or the Council of Europe's work in many fields, such as working to abolish the death penalty or to ensure freedom of expression and freedom of the media, or to adress online and technology-facilitated violence against women through the Istanbul Convention and Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, the Council of Europe has achieved a lot since 1949. View achievements »

Events

20 May 2026

• Latvia deposited its instrument of ratification for the Convention establishing an International Claims Commission for Ukraine.

08 April 2026

• The Head of Latvian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Zanda Kalniņa Lukaševica chaired a discussion in the margins of the PACE spring session “Democracy in danger: Politicians and experts from Latvia debate at Council of Europe”.
• Watch the discussion: https://www.youtube.com/live/lV-SQjYmjmM

23 March 2026

• In Riga, a Conference on the role of the media in strengthening the security of a democratic state.

20 March 2026

• Participation of Viktors Makarovs, Special Envoy on Digital Affairs, MFA of Latvia at the high-level conference on Media Literacy and Information Integrity in Chișinău.

20 February 2026

• Annual Conference on Current Human Rights Issues in Latvia.

10 December 2025

• Meeting of justice ministers of Council of Europe member states, attended by Latvian minister of justice Inese Lībiņa-Egnere, where it was agreed to draw up a joint declaration on the challenges posed by migration in the application of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

25 November 2025

• Latvia ratifies Protocol No.16 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

25 April 2025

• International conference organised by the Constitutional court of the Republic of Latvia on the role of constitutional courts in defending democracy and human rights in conditions of geopolitical tension.

10 February 2025

• Latvia celebrates 30 years as member of the Council of Europe.

16-17 March 2023

• Secretary General mission to Latvia, including TV interview and speeches by the Secretary General and the Ambassador at the Riga School of Law, again relating to the Presidency priorities and the impact of CoE membership on the lives of people in Latvia

31 May 2023

• “Curtain raising” communications to coincide with the first meeting of the Committee of Ministers under the Latvian Presidency, highlighting the Presidency’s priorities