In a letter to Manuel Montobbio, President of the Executive Committee of the Council of Europe’s North-South Centre, Congress President Anders Knape welcomed the collective mobilisation campaign for solidarity launched by the Centre in the context of the Coronavirus crisis.
Announced by President Montobbio in his Appeal "One Humanity, Our Humanity", this participatory campaign aims to promote solidarity-based citizen initiatives that are developing at all levels in Europe and beyond in response to the political, economic and social fragilities of today's societies highlighted by the current crisis. It is intended to be the first step towards a global public commitment and will be used as a basis for reflection in order to build a common political commitment against inequalities and for a healthy and sustainable global governance for all.
In his letter, President Knape underlined that the current COVID-19 crisis was an unprecedented challenge affecting all of us, beyond borders, cultures and ideologies, and highlighted the urgent need to join forces in overcoming the crisis and designing new ways for the future. "We, at the Congress, both political members and Secretariat, are convinced that solidarity and co-operation are the way to go, not only to save lives from the virus, but also protect human rights and democracy," he wrote.
The President shared the support of the Congress for the North-South Centre’s initiative, in particular through its "COVID-19: Congress hub of partners' actions" aimed at gathering and disseminating the worldwide responses by cities and regions to COVID-19. The consequences and follow-up actions demanded by the crisis will also be addressed during targeted debates on the occasion of the Congress upcoming plenary sessions.
The Congress invites its members, as well as its partners from all horizons, to participate in the campaign by sending their solidarity initiatives by email with the subject line #solidaction.
The Congress is an institutional stakeholder of the North-South Centre, whose mission is to spread beyond the European continent the universal values of the Council of Europe: human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
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