Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities: situation in Ukraine; local democracy in Europe; fake news and violence against mayors

Strasbourg and online 22-24 March
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 The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities will hold its session in which a debate on the situation in Ukraine will take place (Tuesday 22 March afternoon).

Reports on the application of the European Charter of Local Self-Government by Germany, Luxembourg, Turkey and United Kingdom, as well as reports on the observation of the elections in Armenia, Georgia, Denmark, and Morocco are also on the agenda, as well as on the participation of children in the sustainable development of their cities, regions and diaspora; rural youth and the role of local and regional authorities; and on pressures on mayors generated by fake news, threats and violence.

Special page of the Session - Draft agenda - Contact: Tatiana Baeva, tel. + 33 3 88 41 21 41


Presentation of the conclusions 2021 of the European Committee of Social Rights relating to health, social security and social protection

online event (9.30 a.m.-11 a.m.) 23 March
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The European Committee of Social Right (ECSR) will present its conclusions and findings for 2021 via an online press conference.

In 2021, in the framework of the reporting procedure, the Committee examined 33 state reports on the provisions of the European Social Charter relating to health, social security and social protection:

- the right to safe and healthy working conditions (Article 3),

- the right to protection of health (Article 11),

- the right to social security (Article 12),

- the right to social and medical assistance (Article 13),

-  the right to benefit from social welfare services (Article 14),

- the right of elderly persons to social protection (Article 23/ Article 4 of the 1988 Additional Protocol),

- the right to protection against poverty and social exclusion (Article 30).

Furthermore, the Committee will make public its Findings 2021 in respect of the Netherlands, Sweden, Croatia, Norway, Slovenia, Cyprus and the Czech Republic (in the framework of collective complaints).

Link to the press conference (with Google Chrome). For smartphones and tablets, use application Kudo Live and ID 771112000091.

Contact: Giuseppe Zaffuto, tel. +33 6 86 32 10 24


And also…

21 March, Podgorica (Primary School Bozidar Vukovic Podgoricanin)

A roundtable on how schools and sport can foster inclusion and fight against discrimination of kids with disabilities will take place as a part of the initiative of the European Union and the Council of Europe, “Block the Hatred. Share the Love!”.

Bojan Božović, State Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Human and Minority Rights; Snežana Mijušković, Deputy Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro; Igor Tomić, President of the Paralympic Committee of Montenegro; representatives of the Ministry of Education; Friederike Wuenschmann, European Union Delegation to Montenegro; Evgenia Giakoumopoulou, Head of Operations, Council of Europe Programme Office in Podgorica, will give introductory remarks.

Open to media, the event will begin at 11 a.m. and will be held in Montenegrin language.

Pre-registration is required (no later than 20 March, 2 p.m.). Programme

Contacts: Tatiana Baeva, tel. +33 3 88 41 21 41; Marija Simić, tel. +381 63 601 337


21 March, Sarajevo, (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

The third meeting to take stock of the joint European Union/Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022” actions implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina will gather representatives of the beneficiary institutions directly involved in the implementation of the programme.

Opening remarks will be given by Josip Brkić, Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Verena Taylor, Director of the Office of the Directorate General of Programmes of the Council of Europe; and Nicolas Bizel, Head of Operations, Section for Justice and Home Affairs and Public Administration of the Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The event begins at 3.30 p.m. The media are welcome to cover the opening speeches. Programme

Contacts: Dušan Vojnović, tel. +33 3 90 21 56 99; Marija Simić, tel. +381 63 60 13 37


21 March, Strasbourg (Palais de l’Europe, 2-3 p.m.)

The youth campaign to revitalise democracy “Democracy here. Democracy now.” will be launched. In these difficult times, this campaign will give a message of unity and commitment to the values that the Council of Europe stands for: democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. Initiated by young people in the Joint Council on Youth, it seeks to encourage youth at local, national, and international level to stand up to the challenges to peace and democracy in Europe.

Bjørn Berge, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe; a representative of the Italian presidency of the Committee of Ministers; Laura Lauro, Spokesperson on Youth of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities; Gerhard Ermischer, President of the Conference of INGOs; Carole Zielinski, Deputy Mayor of the City of Strasbourg; Miriam Teuma, Chair of the Joint Council on Youth; Andrea Ugrinoska, Chair of the Advisory Council on Youth; and Frédéric Piccavet, Vice-President of European Youth Forum are expected to address the event participants.

The event is open to media. Livestream

Contact: Tatiana Baeva, tel. +33 3 88 41 21 41, Giuseppe Zaffuto, tel. +33 6 86 32 10 24


21-25 March, Strasbourg

In a plenary meeting, the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) will examine, with a view to their adoption, its first evaluation report on Kazakhstan - dealing with the independence, specialisation and means available to national anti-corruption bodies, immunities, recovery of proceeds of corruption, among other topics - and an evaluation report on Serbia on measures to prevent corruption and promote integrity in central governments and law enforcement. In addition, it will examine and adopt follow-up reports assessing the implementation of its recommendations on preventing and fighting corruption in respect of MPs, judges and prosecutors in Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey, and on the criminalisation of corruption and the transparency of political funding in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Contact: Jaime Rodriguez, tel. +33 6 89 99 50 42


22 March, Strasbourg

The European Court of Human Rights will notify in writing nine judgments concerning Armenia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, the Republic of Moldova and Russia.

More information - ECHR Website, tel. +33 3 90 21 42 08


23 March, Strasbourg

The European Court of Human Rights will hold a Grand Chamber hearing in the case of Macatė v. Lithuania (9.15 a.m.).

This case concerns a complaint by an author that her children’s book of LGBTI fairy tales was labelled as possibly harmful to children

More information - ECHR Website, tel. +33 3 90 21 42 08


24 March, Strasbourg

The European Court of Human Rights will notify in writing 14 judgments and/or decisions concerning Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Greece, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia and Turkey.

More information - ECHR Website, tel. +33 3 90 21 42 08


25 March, Tirana

A joint Council of Europe and European Union anti-hate speech “Block the Hatred. Share the Love!” awareness-raising campaign, will be launched at the Concert Hall of the School of Arts “Jordan Misja”, from 4 p.m. onwards.

Opening remarks will be given by high-level officials, including Mayor of Tirana Erion Veliaj and the heads of the Council of Europe Office and the European Union Delegation, Jutta Gützkow and Luigi Soreca. Prominent rights activists, artists and athletes will also take part in the launch as “No-Hate Speech” ambassadors.

The event is open to the media and consecutive translation will be provided.

Programme

Contacts: Dusan Vojnović, tel. +33 3 90 21 56 99; Besnik Baka, tel. +355 692 178 430


Contacts Contacts

Council of Europe Media Relations Division:
 

pressunit@coe.int
 

+33 3 88 41 25 60