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
+33 3 88 41 25 60